AMEX Reinstatement DENIED, scores DROPPED -75, then SUCCESS Reinstatment Story

[Anonymous]

Autopay is a great tool whether you PIF or carry balances (autopay minimum as safety net) , you just have to learn to trust it, this is not to say you shouldn't verify or monitor the system once it's setup.

First you must verify when setting up new payment accounts, one of the common problems we hear about is entering account/routing number incorrectly, the solution is to do a test run with a small payment as soon as a new account is added, don't wait for autopay to find the problem on due date.

Another problem/fear associated with autopay is not  keeping the payment account properly funded leading to NSF, usually a low interest checking needing to be fed by high interest savings. My solution to this was to set myself up with a rewards checking, 4% APY on up to $15K (12 debit requirement), and use it as the payment account. Since the APY of rewards checking, typically ranges from 3-5%, is much higher than most if not all savings options, you can just move your savings into this account (up to the max for APY) and not have to worry about NSF.

Lastly, even with autopay, you still have to monitor your accounts (at least once a week) especially new accounts, setup your alerts properly, catch small problems early before it snowballs.

[Shadowfactor]

Sorry to hear about the trouble.

You can always reach out to the EO office, but it doesn’t sound like Amex wants to budge.

Are the other Amex cards you mentioned still open and active ?

Is there a reason you didn’t use the two cards after opening ? The Delta Platinum and EDP are pretty decent subs for the standard offers. That’s quite a bit of points to loose out on with Amex’s lifetime rule.if you had these cards before, then I can understand that.

I’ve never heard about the 3 month rule for Amex cards inactivity, but my opinion is that it only applies to new accounts. I haven’t touched my Delta Gold in 9 months, hasn’t been closed.

As AJC stated, so many members of this forum would loose their Amex cards if that 90 day rule applied. Having certain Amex cards only for the benefits is quite common. After the Sub offer, I don’t plan on using my Delta Platinum as I solely have it for checked baggage & cert. I do use my other Amex cards heavily though.

[Anonymous]

---

@staticvoidmain wrote:

---

I never auto-pay as well (because I am obsessive compulsive), but I disagree in avoiding it at all cost. Even though I keep track of everything that gets in and out of my accounts like a hawk, not everyone's mind works the same way. I know quite a few wealthy people who just autopays, because they don't have time for things like this. I would just set autopay date early, and not close to the due date, if that was possible.

---

???   I'm obsessive compulsive. I keep track of everything that gets in and out of my accounts like a hawk. And  all my accounts and all my bills are on auto-pay.

For me, to get  30 day  late  in the OP's scenario (newly setup auto-pay going wrong),   each of the following would have  had to happen:

1.   I did not notice that the credit card statement before the due date had no message confirming the upcoming auto-pay.
2.   I did not check online for a  pending  payment (which I would do for a newly set-up auto-pay)
3.   I did not notice the missing transactions  during  my regular monitoring of all my accounts via mint.com.
4.   I forget to check online on the due date  that the payment was made  (which I would do for  newly set-up auto-pay)
5.   I did not look at the credit card statement after the the due date.
6.   I did not reconcile my financial spread sheet with my monthly bank account statement. (I always make sure that my spread sheet and bank statements agree to the penny)
7.   2. again just one month later.
8.   3. again just one month later.
9.   4. again just one month later.

[CreditInspired]

+1 @gmood

My accounts are on autopay also and have been for almost 2 yrs. But I’m also use to taking a peek at my checking account daily to inspect everything—no fraudulent activities, interest/dividends posted, autopay subtracted, payroll & SS checks posted, debits posted accurately.

No way would I cancel autopay.

[CreditInspired]

OP

This is kind of rough, especially since you’ve never had any problems with AMX In the past. I would definitely ask to speak to a supervisor or even send an email with the details.

Now, a couple of questions because that seems to be a huge drop in scores for one 30-date late. Is there anything else going on with your credit profile?

It is also possible that since these are new accounts just opened in June with no payment and your having other AmX accts spooked AmX. Thankfully, they didn’t CLD the other cards due to the score drop. Also, CCCs regularly review our accts to take stock of activity.

Hopefully, you’ll get reinstated.

[Anonymous]

I have autopay on all my accounts but its there simply for insurance, and I still make sure it works correctly on all accounts.  I pay all my accounts manually at 5-7 days before Due Date; in most cases a manual payment will cancel the autopayment for that month.  The exception is Bank of America where a manual payment does not cancel autopay.

[Anonymous]

---

@CreditInspired wrote:
OP

This is kind of rough, especially since you’ve never had any problems with AMX In the past. I would definitely ask to speak to a supervisor or even send an email with the details.

Now, a couple of questions because that seems to be a huge drop in scores for one 30-date late. Is there anything else going on with your credit profile?

It is also possible that since these are new accounts just opened in June with no payment and your having other AmX accts spooked AmX. Thankfully, they didn’t CLD the other cards due to the score drop. Also, CCCs regularly review our accts to take stock of activity.

Hopefully, you’ll get reinstated.

---

Nope just the 30-date late issue that was the only thing
I wondered who I would send the email to though because that's a good idea.

[sjt]

I would write a letter to the Executive Office and explain your situation.

[Anonymous]

!!UPDATE 1!!

So I reached out to Bank of America in regards to the removal of my late payment (delinquency) during Aug from all my credit reports. They confirmed that soon as I called for removal (back on Aug 22), they put in and approved the request for removal right then and it was successful removed from my Bank of America profile completely on Sep 17. On the Bank of America side, they said my BOA profile shows no history of any late payments or delinquent status EVER as of today. 

I let them know that at the moment I don't see this updated on my credit reports. BOA told me that they would be sending me a letter in the mail confirming that on my BOA profile there is no history of late payment/delinquency status and that they have sent out a request to update my BOA profile to all credit bureaus. This will be included in the letter as well.

I wonder should I call AMEX with this information now, or should I wait and send this in? My DENIAL letters from Amex specifiaclly stated denial factors including "The number of accounts that have or had a delinquency" and "The time since your latest reporteddelinquency is too recent or unknown". Hopefully this will help my chances of getting my cards reinstated.  Thanks for the help everyone! I will keep you all posted once I get new update.

[Anonymous]

could the late payment be the real reason they closed those amex cards