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Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

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WolfMan
Regular Contributor

Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

Hi, Kind of a new guy here, been reading a lot lately though... 

 

Had an AMEX Optima (Oasis) card for the past 7 years (900 Limit). Never missed a payment. Cleaned up all my credit that turned to crap during a bad divorce. ( I had perfect credit, got married, got divorced, got stiffed by ex big time for 30k. )

 

Pretty much, the Optima has been my only credit while fixing things, and waiting for bad things to drop. but pulled a CR and it looked good! Time to ditch the Optima. 

 

Learned the hard way I have to cancel the Optima before trying for another AMEX. Declined for a BCE before cancelling the optima (Recovery product decline)

Cancelled. Tried again. Decliend. Credit score too low. Mailer said my Credit score of 664 was too low. Now I have NO credit. Called and asked for a recon.  Stated I've had perfect history for 7 years, and now a very clean credit report. Declined. Lack of revolving credit, Low score. Won't reopen the Optima. Bah. 

 

And Amex was nice enough to triple hard pull... Twice during this. 

 

Had an offer from Merrick Bank in the mail. No fee 700 CL. Went for it since I had nothing else. 

Same day, figured I'd try a couple online apps, not expecting any success, but why not? Let's try one not quite sub prime, but not quite prime...

Cap 1 Cash Rewards MC ( 39 fee one) - Approved for $1000

And finally, decided to try a prime one too... 

Discover IT - Approved for $5000  (Whoa! Wasn't expecting that.)

 

I almost want to cancel the Merrick, but I get a free Fico score with it. 

 

So time to sit in the garden and let these report for a bit, and let me score grow. 

 

Amex reported my account closed, none of my new accounts are reporting yet. My latest score dropped 19 points because of that, but we'll let time fix that. 

 

Thanks for reading. I'm just happy I've been approved for a real card recently! Hasn't happened in years! 

Maybe someday I'll try again for Amex.

 

 

Message 1 of 15
14 REPLIES 14
MsLadyRover
Valued Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

Congratulations on your approvals and for turning your credit around!  You're doing a great job!



Starting Score: 639 (Walmart TU)
Current Score: TU 715 (Barclay) EX 685 (myFICO) EQ 697 (myFICO)
Goal Score: 700 Across the Board (Mortgage Goal Achieved 1/31/2012!)

Take the FICO Fitness Challenge
Message 2 of 15
searchingfor67
Established Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

Awesome! Keep it up!

TU FICO: 772 (Discover) • Exp FICO: 772 (Citi)

Amex BCE $13K | Amex Costco TE $10.4K | Amex SPG $5K | Chase Freedom Visa Signature $15K | Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Signature $15K | Chase Ink Plus World Elite MC $5K | Citi TY Preferred World MC $10.1K | Citi Forward $10K | Citi Diamond Pref $7.6K | Discover IT $9.9K | JP Morgan Chase Select Visa Signature $9.2K | NFCU CashRew Visa Sig $25K | NFCU LOC $15K | NFL Visa Signature (Saints) $8.1K | USAA Amex $11.3K | USAA World MC $11.5K
Message 3 of 15
SnackTrader
Valued Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

Another recent example of a huge Discover limit without previous limits in that range. Amazing!

I need to get that card if they keep this up.

In My Wallet: Amex BCP (12/12) $50,000, Chase Freedom (12/12) $16,500, Cap1 Quicksilver (6/12) $14,000, Barclaycard Rewards (5/13) $10,500, Citi Prestige (4/16) $30,000

Last App: June 27, 2015
Message 4 of 15
Pilotdude
Established Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)


@SnackTrader wrote:
Another recent example of a huge Discover limit without previous limits in that range. Amazing!

I need to get that card if they keep this up.


Congrats!!

 

If that Merrick card has no AF, what the harm in keeping it just to boost your util?

Maybe stick it in a drawer and just let it marinate. Smiley Happy

 

and...I am with you Snack!!  If they keep that up I will need to move on them as well.  Thats like the 3rd I have heard of in the past couple days.


NFCU #1 Fan!! NO MOAR APPS TIL 10/13 Minimum!!
TU -746, EX - 721, EQ -745
Cards:NFCU Flag Visa Sig $10000, CSP $8500, AMEX BCP $2000 Freedom $3500, Disc IT $5000, Cap 1 Green $2100, Credit 1 CLOSED! AU on Amex Green, Discover $2000, Cap One Plat $1000
Message 5 of 15
LionLaw
Frequent Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

664 is too low for a BCE, but is borderline for a green/gold; you might want to give that a try if you're looking to get back in with Amex.

Congrats on the Discover CL; for the longest time they had notoriously low CLs, but in the past few months, that seems to have changed. I'm at $2000 right now; the next time I'm eligible for a CLI, I am going to try for $5K.
Message 6 of 15
Pilotdude
Established Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

Hey Lion,  What do you think the lower limit for the BCE might be?  I know things like this vary but I have been just wondering on this particular card.

 

is it lower than the Amex Delta Skymiles one?


NFCU #1 Fan!! NO MOAR APPS TIL 10/13 Minimum!!
TU -746, EX - 721, EQ -745
Cards:NFCU Flag Visa Sig $10000, CSP $8500, AMEX BCP $2000 Freedom $3500, Disc IT $5000, Cap 1 Green $2100, Credit 1 CLOSED! AU on Amex Green, Discover $2000, Cap One Plat $1000
Message 7 of 15
jake619
Frequent Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)


@Pilotdude wrote:

Hey Lion,  What do you think the lower limit for the BCE might be?  I know things like this vary but I have been just wondering on this particular card.

 

is it lower than the Amex Delta Skymiles one?


Well for me it was 680 on TU after a triple-pull.  Included some paid CO's, and a settled mortgage (short sale) from 2009/10.  ~10yr AAoA + positive previous Amex history from 95.

Message 8 of 15
WolfMan
Regular Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

Pilotdude: Good point, I'll let it meranade a bit, plus it's worth keeping for the free FICO score monthly. CL will double in 7 months if I don't miss any payments. 

 

LionLaw: I thought about the green/gold, but didn't bite. Now that may score dropped because the original optima is now showing cancelled, I may put one on my to-do list in 6-12 months. Since all my stuff is now new, and the 7 year AMEX acct is cancelled, I believe that puts my AAoA at zero, so want to build that before trying for anything at all. 

 

SnackTrader: Yeah, Even I thought 5K was crazy. Very Unexpected, but plan to baby that card (Actucally all of them as a matter of fact). I would have been surprised with 1K.  Heres the odd thing, My fiance' has wonderful credit. Score around 770, barely any utilization, and a car loan. (has about 6 credit cards total, not sure of the total amout of credit though ) She liked the perks of the IT. Applied... $2000 limit. 

 

Anyway... I plan to do the same with the IT as I did the Optima. In my job, I get paid once a month (I hate it) - I pay all my bills on my card throughout the month, and PIF on pay day. Rarely run a balance unless a big expense like a major appliance breaks, etc. comes up. 

 

Thanks for the congrats all, Feels good to have my life back. It took a long time to fix things, but it's finally starting to pay off, and I've learned some hard lessons along the way. 

Message 9 of 15
youngandcreditwrthy
Senior Contributor

Re: Bye Amex! Other Approvals! (New Guy)

I think Discover may have lowered their criteria for IT as it is their new flavor of the moment !:-) congrats!!!!!
Marriott PR$25k | BCE $24.5K |BankAmericard Visa $25k| BOA Better Bal $17.5k |Wmt Discover $12.5k | BR Visa $17.5k | Amex Delta Gold $10k | Discover IT $10k | Paypal Extras MC $15k | Amazon Store $10k|Smile Gen $7.25k | Dillard's $10k | West Elm $4k| Express $3.05K | Mypoints.com Visa $4.5k | Freedom Visa $1k| Amex Surpass $1k
Message 10 of 15
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