@UncleB wrote:
'... the only way to know for sure is to go for it and see what happens!
Right you are. I went for it -- Hilton Honors Ascend. The extra 50K points in SUB alone (125k vs. 75k on HH), even at .6 conversion, seemed worth the $95 annual fee. If I morph into a more serious world traveler I can always upgrade. Or downgrade, should my more dominant reclusive tendencies grab hold.
But not much love from Amex: 1K (sigh)
But I decided. It's done. It's something.
1K seems to be the standard newish SL these days. It's not a bad place to be really, with CLI's it will be up in the teens soon enough. Congrats on the card.
@Anonymous wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
'... the only way to know for sure is to go for it and see what happens!Right you are. I went for it -- Hilton Honors Ascend. The extra 50K points in SUB alone, even at .6 conversion, seemed worth the $95 annual fee. If I morph into a more serious world traveler I can always upgrade. Or downgrade, should my more dominant recluse tendencies grab hold.
But not much love from Amex: 1K (sigh)
But I decided. It's done. It's something.
Congrats. I am with you in the 1K club with AMEX
Finally after 6 + months ( no CLIs), I applied and got two cards with a 2K limit, I am moving up in the world, I then moved 1K off new card onto other new card to get that at 3K. Alot of work for that 3K limit lol
My first Amex was also a Hilton Ascend at $1K, and that was with no baddies or BK’s or burning them. Just 9 months later, my exposure with them is more than $30K. I’m sure with some patience, you’ll be looking at a much higher limit soon.
[2/2019]
Congrats on the approval, @Anonymous!
Don't worry about the credit line... as you know, with a little nurturing Amex cards can grow fast! 
@Anonymous wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
'... the only way to know for sure is to go for it and see what happens!Right you are. I went for it -- Hilton Honors Ascend. The extra 50K points in SUB alone, even at .6 conversion, seemed worth the $95 annual fee. If I morph into a more serious world traveler I can always upgrade. Or downgrade, should my more dominant recluse tendencies grab hold.
But not much love from Amex: 1K (sigh)
But I decided. It's done. It's something.
Congrats dude, I'm thinking of getting the card myself. AMEX is pretty good at CLI so I wouldn't worry about the slow start
@Anonymous wrote:Great comments across the board -- thank you all.
@Jnbmom I remember your frustration with Amex & the subsequent "I'm gonna cancel my card" thread. Seems we're on a similar path.
@jdbkiang I'd love to see an accounting of how to turn 1k into 30k in 9 months. Wow! Give up the details please.
I think it was just a matter of waiting for Amex to warm up to me. At the time I got my $1K SL with them, I'd already maxed out my exposure with Chase at about $50K, so I was fairly certain that they'd eventually grow more generous with me.
About 65 days from receiving the Ascend, I went for the famed Amex 3x CLI and was given a $3K CL. The next month, I applied for their BBP, and was approved for $4K. Then in September, I went for their Gold card just before it was revamped to nab the $0 first year AF. This was actually denied the first time, but was approved after recon. In early November, I applied for the no-AF Hilton and was approved for $3.6K. At this point, I felt like I was approaching my limit with them, simply because of the fact that they gave me a non-rounded CL, haha. Nevertheless, I applied for the Hilton Aspire just a week later and was surprised to see that they instantly approved me for a $10K limit. I then remembered, not too long later, that it had been 181 days since my last CLI, so I requested an CLI for my Aspire to $20K and was also instantly approved. I didn't want to go the full 3x on that one, because I feel doing so would get too close to maxing out my exposure with them, and there are still one or two cards I'd like to get with Amex.
Also, not sure if it matters, but somewhere in there, I did check my pay over time limit on the Gold card and saw that I was approved for $35K on that card as well. It probably helped me feel more comfortable in applying for the Aspire, but I have no DP's to actually support that it helps your approval odds.
Additionally, outside of the first Ascend card, all other cards were pre-approved and SP'ed. Looking back, I probably could have been more cautious and patient throughout the process, but fortunately, I didn't suffer from my quick trigger.