AMEX Question

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone ! 

       My Fiancee added me to his AMEX card as an Authorized user. Does being an Authorized user with AMEX boost chances of approval when applying for my own card? 

PS:  My BK discharged in January 2017. AMEX was not included because I've never had an AMEX before. 

Current scores: 635 -EQ, 650 -TU, 659 -EX

[Anonymous]

No, being an authorized user of someone else's card does not give you better odds of being approved for an American Express card of your own. Your scores are borderline right now. If you want better odds of getting an American Express card, I'd recommend waiting until your Experian score is 20 points higher (or more).

[Anonymous]

I generally agree with the responder above. I will show this as a comparison:

I have a 659 Experian score and it has been there since December, and I have 3 Amex cards that were all opened as of January. I was approved for an Every day card, then a PRG card, then a Platinum card.

My caveat is I have a lot of accounts, and healthy mixture of accounts. I have a single powerful credit line in the high double digits, and my income is $150K+ a year with substantial investments and savings that are verifiable. 

I do agree... the Experian score alone isn't probably "guarantee" range... but I think my credit profile overall was strong enough to get me cards with them.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Also not sure what kind of bk you had, but that may have an affect on getting an Amex right away. Not sure how far post discharge they need one to be to approve.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure if a manual review was done a human would see good history and it might help but I don't think it would if it's an automated computer system..

[medicgrrl]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi Everyone ! 

       My Fiancee added me to his AMEX card as an Authorized user. Does being an Authorized user with AMEX boost chances of approval when applying for my own card? 

PS:  My BK discharged in January 2017. AMEX was not included because I've never had an AMEX before. 

Current scores: 635 -EQ, 650 -TU, 659 -EX

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Was this a Ch 7 or Ch 13?  Amex wants to see 5 years post filing date before they'll approve.

[Anonymous]

Amex profile calculation is a mystery, I got the EveryDay card with a Experian FICO score of 629 last year, then kept getting preapproved mailers for the Delta Gold Amex card for months after. My guess is that it was because they needed to pad the accounts stats after the Costco swtiching to Chase.

The EveryDay card came as a preapproval.

[jamesdwi]

With a fresh BK on your reports, your chances of getting in with AMEX is slim to none,  there have been rumors of people getting AMEX when there BK is 5+ years old but only rumors. At this point its probably only Credit one  and possibly secured cards that will give you a card. 

[Anonymous]

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@jamesdwi wrote:

With a fresh BK on your reports, your chances of getting in with AMEX is slim to none,  there have been rumors of people getting AMEX when there BK is 5+ years old but only rumors. At this point its probably only Credit one  and possibly secured cards that will give you a card. 

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I agree. Start with a secured card, and this important, at a bank you'd like an unsecured product from in the future that you can pc it to. It helps. I had my secured card for about a year and a half before I applied for and was approved for my Amex. The reason I say to get your secured card from a bank you like is bc I'm stuck with my capital one card now bc it doesn't pc to anything and they won't unsecure it. It served its purpose though and I'm grateful for that.