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The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide

Are you looking to avoid IV? If so, I think $35k will likely be your first pit stop en route to going higher. I would probably start at $50k (actually, that IS what I did exactly) and back it down $1k at a time until you get an instant approval. My guess is that it will be $35k.
Message 3871 of 5,432
Asilomar
Frequent Contributor

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide


@Anonymouswrote:
Are you looking to avoid IV? If so, I think $35k will likely be your first pit stop en route to going higher. I would probably start at $50k (actually, that IS what I did exactly) and back it down $1k at a time until you get an instant approval. My guess is that it will be $35k.

Oh, I only want to avoid IV because it seems like a PITA.  But I can certainly proove my income if it comes to that and I'm left with no options.  

 

So you asked for 50K and backed out 15 times and ended up with 35K on your first trip to the 'over 35 club'?  Should I maybe just ask for the 35K to start out or are you thinking some people manage to get over that without a IV?

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Message 3872 of 5,432
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide

My 61 day is 3/16 for my BCE. The SL is $1000. What % utilization on the card at the time of asking for 3x gives me the best chance for approval?
Message 3873 of 5,432
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide


@AsilomarOh, I only want to avoid IV because it seems like a PITA.  But I can certainly proove my income if it comes to that and I'm left with no options.  

 

So you asked for 50K and backed out 15 times and ended up with 35K on your first trip to the 'over 35 club'?  Should I maybe just ask for the 35K to start out or are you thinking some people manage to get over that without a IV?


Actually, I believe I backed out 21 times on my first non-3X CLI attempt... I went down in $1k increments from $50k to $40k and then in $500 increments from $39.5k to $35k.  I found it amusing about a week later to receive a rubber-banded stack of 21 denial letters in the mailbox from Amex.  I wonder what the mail carrier was thinking?  Smiley Wink

 

I think it all comes down to your profile in terms of what you can get.  For one, your history with Amex.  This was my first Amex card, so at the 8 month mark of history with them it's no surprise they wouldn't go higher than $35k.  Also, while my EX score through them was about 730-735 at the time, I did have a dirty file with multiple major baddies.  My income was around $75k.  I think these are the biggest factors here.  If your Amex history is greater than mine, your credit profile stronger and/or your income greater, I think your chances of exceeding $35k would be better.  I'm always a big fan of "go big or go home," as I never want to question whether or not I left anything on the table. That's the reason I requested Discover CLIs every Monday for 9 months and why I asked for $35k on my Citi card that was given a $7300 SL when I took a HP to bump it up.  If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly.

Message 3874 of 5,432
Gregory1776
Valued Contributor

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide

@brutalbodyshots did you get the 35k on the Citi? What card was it?



Experian [809] TransUnion [823] Equifax [826]

Total Revolving Limits [$224,000]

PenFed Loan: $679/$8,000
Message 3875 of 5,432
Asilomar
Frequent Contributor

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide


@Anonymouswrote:

@AsilomarOh, I only want to avoid IV because it seems like a PITA.  But I can certainly proove my income if it comes to that and I'm left with no options.  

 

So you asked for 50K and backed out 15 times and ended up with 35K on your first trip to the 'over 35 club'?  Should I maybe just ask for the 35K to start out or are you thinking some people manage to get over that without a IV?


Actually, I believe I backed out 21 times on my first non-3X CLI attempt... I went down in $1k increments from $50k to $40k and then in $500 increments from $39.5k to $35k.  I found it amusing about a week later to receive a rubber-banded stack of 21 denial letters in the mailbox from Amex.  I wonder what the mail carrier was thinking?  Smiley Wink

 

I think it all comes down to your profile in terms of what you can get.  For one, your history with Amex.  This was my first Amex card, so at the 8 month mark of history with them it's no surprise they wouldn't go higher than $35k.  Also, while my EX score through them was about 730-735 at the time, I did have a dirty file with multiple major baddies.  My income was around $75k.  I think these are the biggest factors here.  If your Amex history is greater than mine, your credit profile stronger and/or your income greater, I think your chances of exceeding $35k would be better.  I'm always a big fan of "go big or go home," as I never want to question whether or not I left anything on the table. That's the reason I requested Discover CLIs every Monday for 9 months and why I asked for $35k on my Citi card that was given a $7300 SL when I took a HP to bump it up.  If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly.


That's amazing!  How did you even know to do that?  That the CLI algorithm wouldn't shut you out after having denied you even once, let alone another 19 times??  

 

Good thing Amex's letters don't actually say "From the American Express Credit Limit Increase Rejection Department" on them or else your mail carrier would seriously worry about what level of deadbeat he/she was dealing with.  LOL  

 

My current numbers aren't far off of where yours were.  My profile is young since esentially rebooting it and I'll have only had the card (my only Amex product) just 15 months when I try to get over 35K.  My current Ex is 730 and my yearly income fluctuates wildly due to the nature of the work I do (range: 73K - 180K).  I do have some serious baddies (7 late payments) left from a closed auto loan that are dropping off now month by month but won't be totally gone until Dec 2019.  So, no.  My profile inn't stronger than yours.  It seems quite similar, actually.  In that way you make a good model for me.  

 

I've been a little cowardly in the past with asking for what I wanted and I'll have to grow a grizzly-sized pair.  Thanks for the pep talk and the valuable information as always!  You're a peach, BBS!

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Message 3876 of 5,432
Asilomar
Frequent Contributor

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide


@Anonymouswrote:
My 61 day is 3/16 for my BCE. The SL is $1000. What % utilization on the card at the time of asking for 3x gives me the best chance for approval?

I'm not one who can answer that but I can tell you my utilization was 1% at the time of my 3X CLI attempt.  I used the card monthly and mostly paid in full but I think the month I hit the button there was like 70 bucks remaining on the balance.  

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Message 3877 of 5,432
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide


@Gregory1776@brutalbodyshots did you get the 35k on the Citi? What card was it?

No, not even close.  They gave me $5k.  A complete waste of a HP and if I could take it back I would.  I had 3 solid data points from others on this forum that were able to take their 4-figure Citi limit to a $20k-$35k limit with a single HP CLI, which is why I asked for $35k.  I honestly thought I'd be countered with something to the tune of $20k, but nope... $5k CLI to $12,300.  I wrote the CEO (EO) and expressed my dissatisfaction with their decision.  They were kind in their response and more or less just cited my limited Citi history (6 months) as the biggest constraint.  With the other 3 data points I had, I don't believe any were only 6 months old, so I shouldn't have expected as much.  Live and learn!  In 2 months I'll hit the 1 year mark and will be able to request more.  Hopefully with a solid year of history now they'll be a bit more generous.  I'll probably shoot for $35k again, hopefully getting a solid $20k counter this time around...  Oh, it was the DC card, BTW.

Message 3878 of 5,432
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide


@AsilomarMy current numbers aren't far off of where yours were.  My profile is young since esentially rebooting it and I'll have only had the card (my only Amex product) just 15 months when I try to get over 35K.  My current Ex is 730 and my yearly income fluctuates wildly due to the nature of the work I do (range: 73K - 180K).  I do have some serious baddies (7 late payments) left from a closed auto loan that are dropping off now month by month but won't be totally gone until Dec 2019.  So, no.  My profile inn't stronger than yours.  It seems quite similar, actually.  In that way you make a good model for me.  

 

I've been a little cowardly in the past with asking for what I wanted and I'll have to grow a grizzly-sized pair.  Thanks for the pep talk and the valuable information as always!  You're a peach, BBS!


Gotcha.  Good to know we have similar profiles!  What was your SL BTW, I think I may have missed it?  I think SL from Amex (any lender, really) is a good measuring stick for how they view you and it can be somewhat indicative of what you may expect going forward.  I was happy to get a $10k SL from Amex.  I think the main reason it was pretty good was because I had a pretty thick/aged file.  I was at about 5-6 years AAoA at the time, 14-15 years AoOA and I had a good 12-15 accounts on my credit report.  I did however have 4 dirty accounts on my credit report, 2 of which had major baddies (90/120) where the other 2 had minors (30/60). 

Message 3879 of 5,432
Asilomar
Frequent Contributor

Re: The Definitive Amex 3X CLI Guide


@Anonymous
Gotcha.  Good to know we have similar profiles!  What was your SL BTW, I think I may have missed it?  I think SL from Amex (any lender, really) is a good measuring stick for how they view you and it can be somewhat indicative of what you may expect going forward.  I was happy to get a $10k SL from Amex.  I think the main reason it was pretty good was because I had a pretty thick/aged file.  I was at about 5-6 years AAoA at the time, 14-15 years AoOA and I had a good 12-15 accounts on my credit report.  I did however have 4 dirty accounts on my credit report, 2 of which had major baddies (90/120) where the other 2 had minors (30/60). 

My SL was 5,000 (that info for all my cards is in my siggy).  Not nearly as good as yours -- which makes sense.  You had/have a much thicker/older file that I did/do.  When I app'd for the card last March my EX score was 652 and the baddie-presence was much worse than it is now:  3 charged-off collection accounts and the auto account had way more of those lates -- 17 to be precise!  I don't recall exactly what my AAoA was then, but it was over 6 years.  Now of course all the new tradelines have caused that metric to plummet to 2 years, 6 months.  My AoOA was 15 years, but from an AU account so I'm not sure how the algo scores that one.  Lastly, I only had 2 open tradelines (plus the AU account) at the time.  So yeah, no surprise your SCL was double mine.  

 

What's your current CL with Amex?  45K?  And which card is it and how long have you had it?

 

Also, you didn't tell me how you figured out the 'browser back-button' method.  

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Message 3880 of 5,432
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