@AverageJoesCredit wrote:Rack one up for one of the good guys
🏆🥇🏅💰🌟
Awww ... Thanks AJC!
You're too nice!
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@Anonymous wrote:
That approval is fantastic. I bet the denial in May doesn't sting so much now does it? Congrats
That's the fact, ImTheDevil! It does make it much better!
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@randomguy1 wrote:
Congrats on the great offer. In retrospect, good thing you were denied previously.
Yes, randomguy1, there was a silver lining in that cloud.
Sometimes, it's best to trust that things will work out as they should.
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@Vegasr wrote:
That's one heck of an offer, congrats!!!
Thanks Vegasr! I thought so too! $ $ $
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@Anonymous wrote:
Excellent welcome offer with a super reasonable spend goal too. Congratulations. Nice to see that an earlier denial ended up turning into a better deal than it would have been in the first place.
Thanks, Lucienbel! I do like how the spend is spread out more in keeping with people's budgetary needs during the pandemic. The much sweeter offer combined with the approval was just icing on the cake!
@AverageJoesCredit, @Anonymous, @randomguy1, @Vegasr, @Anonymous
@Anonymous wrote:@Aim_High , regarding you comment on the 100k Plat offer, I think it was in the emailed DoC digest recently that an offer as high as 125k was mentioned...
That is an awesome offer! 
I might be tempted to take that if I were prequalifed!
Platinum is not on my list, though. After I studied the travel card options, I picked Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel spending since it offers a wider definition of travel, has great travel protections, and credits that work better for my organic spending. I plan for that to be my "keeper" travel card for the foreseeable future, even with coronavirus. Chase credited me $100 towards AF as a courtesy and also have enabled grocery and gas spending to count towards the $300 travel credit, so the fee is not wasted even with less travel. With restaurant options limited in my pandemic travels, even the Door Dash credits have been useful. I'm satisfied.
I waffled on whether to even add the Gold card but 4x MRs (at up to 8% value) on Dining Out (big category for DW and I) as well as Groceries seemed like it made sense. I studied the AMEX cards for a long time before I made that choice because none of them had really jumped out at me as to which would better fit my needs. But I usually tend to study things awhile before I act.
I do have a longer-term AMEX strategy. My next AMEX card will probably be the AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card. I had planned to eventually move my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless limit over to my CSR anyway. That card will be two years old next May (2021) and there is a 24-month restriction on Bonvoy SUBs. If I cancel it at least 90-days prior to applying for the Brilliant, I can claim the SUB for it and the Brilliant is a better card overall for Marriott loyalists even with the higher $450 AF. With the $300 Marriott credits, the extra 15K Bonvoy points towards an annual free room, and automatic GOLD status, it's a great card. And it gives me a great option for spreading my spending between AMEX and Chase if I choose to do so. Options and diversity are king!
@Aim_High wrote:I am such a lousy gardener, thanks to you guys!
I was going to be in the garden until 04/2021 after my two recent approvals (Bank of America Premium Rewards and Wells Fargo Cash Wise.) But as Don Corleone said in the movie "The Godfather,"
AMEX made me an offer that I could not refuse!
Many of you may remember that I was DENIED for the AMEX Gold in May due to excessive new accounts, which was quite unusual for me. (That stung. I'm used to approvals but I've been much more active with credit-seeking in the past two years.) I thought I had a pretty sweet SUB on the prequalification page for 50K MR points on the Gold. (At the time, 35K seemed the standing offer.) Some other members told me that sometimes a rare even higher SUB will show up for the Gold card. Out of curiosity, I've continued to visit the AMEX prequalification page just to see what it said, but I planned to wait until at least next year to apply for a card with them.
Then today ... *BOOM* ... I sign into prequalification and I see *THIS* ...
Holy cow, a 75K bonus? Worth 50% more than the offer I got in May? Valuing MR points at about 2 cents a piece, that would be a $1500 SUB!
And the offer in May was for 50K MR points for $4K spending in only three months. This offer was for 75K MR points and allowed the $4K spending over twice-as-long a period, six months!! At this point, my Experian Inquiries have already taken a beaten in recent history, especially from repeated hits from Chase. I was already up at 8 in 24 months. What more harm could 9 do to me?
Application in process ....
Then I see a screen I didn't see before, NOT telling me if I was approved but instead asking if I wanted to add an authorized user! My heart skipped a beat because I saw a glimmer of hope. Filled that out with DW's info. Submitted ... waiting and ...
.... *BOOM* ... A P P R O V E D!
The thing is, nothing has changed for the better in my profile in the past three months. I had two cards age over 12 months and I also added two cards. And the SUB was worth 50% more value, but also doubled the amount of time I had to fulfill it. Reading between the lines, this might indicate that AMEX is lightening up some on approving new cards. I wonder if they have lost enough business on annual fee cardholders that they are trying to build up their AF base by attracting new members.
My latest Fico Score 8 from Experian is 824. New accounts prior to AMEX GOLD are 3/6, 8/12, 11/24 (personal) and 12/24 (total counting business.) I have prior satisfactory AMEX relationship dating back to mid-1980's when I was AU on my ex's Green card. I've also had multiple AMEX revolvers in the past, most recently the AMEX Costco card that was closed in 2015 when CITI got the Costco account. (Edit to Add: and yes, another Hard Pull on my Experian file ... but only on Experian.)
I'm grateful for this approval and for the support of the My Fico community in building my credit! Thanks everyone!
*For comparison purposes, here is my denial thread from May 2020:
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/AMEX-wants-my-business/td-p/6025410
Man I could not be happier for you @Aim_High :-)
You give so much to this community,it is great
to see your success. Sit back and ENJOY what
is the result of your financial acumen!!!!
Cheers
Congratulations on the approval and amazing SUB!!!
Congrats on your GOLD approval!
And, catching the 75k SUB! I have no use for the Gold card, however if I got the 75k offered to me it would be hard to resist.
And, catching the 75k SUB! I have no use for the Gold card, however if I got the 75k offered to me it would be hard to resist.
@Aim_High wrote:
With the $300 Marriott credits, the extra 15K Bonvoy points towards an annual free room, and automatic GOLD status, it's a great card.
First off congrats on the AMEX Gold, that is a nice offer! As for the Marriot AMEX, I guess I haven't been paying attention. The $300 in credits does make that a great card, maybe one for myself to consider when travel picks up again. It would come out to be $65 more a year than I am paying for my current card. Gold will be nice when I lose my Platinum Elite due to less work travel, though I am only 46 nights away from lifetime Gold.
Yes, this site makes gardening so hard!
