This has been a long time coming for me. I have wanted an American Express card since I first begin my credit journey back in 2013. The journey started fine-- a $500 Capital One Platinum, and then a few months later, I opened another with BOA for $750 since I banked with them, haha. I then financed a car a few months after that. One thing led to another and due to bad circumstances in part of myself and moving in with my SO at the time, I ruined my credit late 2014. Late 2015, I was given a chance by Discover to get their secured credit cards (which were a new product at the time), and a year later, Capital One allowed me to get another Platinum card with them.
I have spent all these years paying off a car repo, old charged off credit cards, hospital bills when I lacked health insurance, you name it. In hindsight, I learned I may not have had to do any of those things, but it was a better conscience on my end to pay back what I owed.
Flashback to last year with the pandemic, my Secured Discover card I had after all this time finally became unsecured and gave me a $2000 credit limit. A month later, I took a leap and applied for a credit card with my credit union and was APPROVED for $1000. The next day, I took one BIG leap and decided to apply for the credit card Fidelity has since I use them for my retirement and investments. APPROVED FOR $8,500. It was a long 6 year grind, and I honestly had never thought I would make it here.
I held those cards, bought something, and paid them back enough to remain under that 30% limit to show that good ol' "responsibility." All the while, every couple months, I would try for the Amex Pre-Qualify page as I had read it's a good indicator for approval.
Flash to April 17th of this year, and I tried the pre-qualify page... There's pre-approvals there: Amex Delta in three different flavors. I was elated. I was so anxious, I started checking every other day sometimes approvals would be there, some times they would not-- Sometimes the same as before, sometimes different. I honestly never thought I would make it this far. This past week, I ran it everyday, there were offers everyday for the same thing: Amex Gold, Blue Cash Everyday, and Platinum. And so, I decided to pull the trigger two days ago.
I honestly was not expecting to get the Platinum since it was the last on the list. I filled out my information, and watched the browser spin... waiting for the good ol' "Denial" I've been greeted with on occasions... but, the next screen is asking if I want any authorized users, and then APPROVAL!
Coincidentally enough, yesterday, my credit union gave me an upgrade offer on my credit card I have with them to a higher tier with a CL of $10,000. It's been a hard journey, but I'm happy to be here.
I'm ecstatic, I can't wait for this card to come in the mail. If there are any pointers you guys have, please do let me know, and I'm excited to be apart of this community.
