@sakhalin070 wrote:
@Alcibiades wrote:
@sakhalin070 wrote:Your best chance at getting in the door with AMEX is through a charge card (since you already got denied for the BCE app). Prepaid cards do not contribute to your credit history and AMEX and other credit lenders won't see/care that you have prepaid cards. If I were you, I'd apply for the Green to get in the door with AMEX and then eventually apply for the BCE.
Amex claims that it monitors usage and activity of its own prepaid cards to identify customers that would be good candidate for charge cards after 6 months activity. In practice, I haven't seen many people on forums saying that this has worked.
I see. Well in that case, it wouldn't hurt the OP to try it out since there is no credit check.
Except it only helps (maybe) with Amex, and it doesn't with any other lender... realistically one's better off spending through some other credit card that will show utilization and therefore profitability for every other lender as well as Amex.
That said, I had the pre-paid for a month and used it fairly regularly; however, after reading the updated fine print (which I likely just missed the first time) it really didn't look all that attractive. I think *maybe* one or two folks here received an email offer to apply for an alternate card; I did not, but was approved for a Zync and a BCP with apparently marginal scores without invitation. Hard for me to say if the prepaid helped or not though I doubt it since I didn't use it much after that first month.
Personally if I were the OP, I'd simply go the charge card route sometime this year instead. In fact, that's what I did. Prepaid really isn't worthwhile when looked at building a credit report, it may help with Amex specifically, but their charge products aren't terribly difficult to obtain anyway within a year of establishing positive history.
@Revelate wrote:
@sakhalin070 wrote:
@Alcibiades wrote:
@sakhalin070 wrote:Your best chance at getting in the door with AMEX is through a charge card (since you already got denied for the BCE app). Prepaid cards do not contribute to your credit history and AMEX and other credit lenders won't see/care that you have prepaid cards. If I were you, I'd apply for the Green to get in the door with AMEX and then eventually apply for the BCE.
Amex claims that it monitors usage and activity of its own prepaid cards to identify customers that would be good candidate for charge cards after 6 months activity. In practice, I haven't seen many people on forums saying that this has worked.
I see. Well in that case, it wouldn't hurt the OP to try it out since there is no credit check.
Except it only helps (maybe) with Amex, and it doesn't with any other lender... realistically one's better off spending through some other credit card that will show utilization and therefore profitability for every other lender as well as Amex.
That said, I had the pre-paid for a month and used it fairly regularly; however, after reading the updated fine print (which I likely just missed the first time) it really didn't look all that attractive. I think *maybe* one or two folks here received an email offer to apply for an alternate card; I did not, but was approved for a Zync and a BCP with apparently marginal scores without invitation. Hard for me to say if the prepaid helped or not though I doubt it since I didn't use it much after that first month.
Personally if I were the OP, I'd simply go the charge card route sometime this year instead. In fact, that's what I did. Prepaid really isn't worthwhile when looked at building a credit report, it may help with Amex specifically, but their charge products aren't terribly difficult to obtain anyway within a year of establishing positive history.
Pretty much what Revelate said. I got a prepaid card about a month or 2 before applying for blue cash. all previouse app were declined. I dunno if it was fact I had prepaid card, or that recently I opened a simply cash card with them.
@Anonymous wrote:Has anyone had experience with Amex Prepaid graduating to another card, namely the BCE? I'm anticipating getting the BCE in September, but I received an offer today for the Prepaid with no credit check (I failed the app on the BCE a few days ago). I'm hoping it'll be a shoe in the door, even though it's a different class of card. So far, Amex CSRs don't know... I'm on hold for my fourth department transfer.
AFAIK AMEX does not graduate any prepaid cards to a credit product. You would have to apply for the card. They may send you a pre-approval invite tho from good usage on the prepaid card.
