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

[sjt]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

OP, did you ever make a first purchase with the two cards that AmEx cancelled for non use?

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No I didn't but they were activated

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I guess we'll find out soon enough.

But I understand the chronology of events:

1.  Two new Amex accounts closed because they were not used for more than 60 days after activation.

2.  OP request reinstatement; request denied because of derogatory i.e. 30-day late payment on credit report

3. BoA removes derogatory and updates credit reports

The removal of the derogatory does not negate the fact that the accounts were never used which was the original reason given for closing them.

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My gut tells me that inactivity wasnt the only reason why they closed the accounts. 

I had an Amex account that I did not use or activate for 90 days and it was still opened. 

[Anonymous]

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@sjt wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

OP, did you ever make a first purchase with the two cards that AmEx cancelled for non use?

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No I didn't but they were activated

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I guess we'll find out soon enough.

But I understand the chronology of events:

1.  Two new Amex accounts closed because they were not used for more than 60 days after activation.

2.  OP request reinstatement; request denied because of derogatory i.e. 30-day late payment on credit report

3. BoA removes derogatory and updates credit reports

The removal of the derogatory does not negate the fact that the accounts were never used which was the original reason given for closing them.

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My gut tells me that inactivity wasnt the only reason why they closed the accounts. 

I had an Amex account that I did not use or activate for 90 days and it was still opened. 

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So have I.  But you're missing a crucial distinction...the OP says the two accounts were NEW; they were activated but never used.   That's very different from having an existing account that goes unused for a period of time.

[sjt]

My situation was that it was a new account, not activated, and never used. Long story short, I did not authorize the new account and did not no about the account until 3 months after the account opening. 

[FinStar]

Hopefully, the OP can update the thread depending on the outcome of the CRA update and whether AmEx entertains any reinstatement. I suppose it's out of our hands given whatever may have triggered the action.

I think I'll go organize some post-it notes, calculate hurricane Michael's trajectory since my FL will be out of the question, catch up on the laundry and maybe a long road trip somewhere else? 😁 Maybe at that point we'll know for sure.

[Queen_Etherea]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

You still need to monitor autopay. At the very least, check the statement. Better yet, make sure you're notified when payments happen. Options would include e-mail, text, or notifications on your phone via the card's app.

I log in and check in on all of my cards plus one checking account three or four times a week. I want to make sure nothing's amiss, and a quick glance will satisfy me. It takes me about 2 minutes to roll through six cards (and the checking) with four banks.

Back to the main issue, I think the OP's AA had everything to do with not using the cards and nothing to do with the BoA late payment. But the late payment may have factored into the decision not to reinstate.

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I have autopay set up on each and every one of my accounts, but I still monitor all my cards closely. I have a routine in the morning where I wake up, make my coffee, and go through all CC apps and make sure everything is good. I'm so paranoid something is going to fall through the cracks because it happened with my Cap One card. It was a mistake on their end, but I wasn't paying attention and my 2nd payment was technically late because of it. Luckily, it was only like a day late, but it counted against me being in the credit steps program.

I even have an app to help me monitor my spending. I have all my CC's in there and also my bank account. So for everything I spend, I put it in the app so I know how much money I actually have. Payments to credit cards can take a few days to come out of my checking, so sometimes I'll think I have more money than I do. I'm a visual person so this helps me tremendously and I would absolutely recommend it to others.

[HeavenOhio]

If I remember correctly, the AMEX rep made it sound like reinstatement was a rather routine thing. The appearance of the baddies wasn't rountine, though.

[Anonymous]

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@HeavenOhio wrote:

If I remember correctly, the AMEX rep make it sound like reinstatement was a rather routine thing. The appearance of the baddies wasn't rountine, though.

All I know is that when they went to try and reinstate both accounts, that's when AMEX went back to look over my Experian profile and seen the BoA issues. That was stated in the mail letter that I got from them for the denial reasons. Thankfully TU and EQ have my scores back to the 750's and 780's since receiving the update BoA credit profile. Just waiting on EX to update so I can then state my case again with AMEX.

[Gifty16]

I applaud your due diligence and hard work on your financial discipline. 

It will definitely pay off. Keep up the great work!!

[Anonymous]

I am a crazy maniac so I track my spend on each card weekly in a spreadsheet and have the statement dates. I used to pay manually but used auto pay but was still on top of it. I though I had auto pay setup once and it cost me a 30 day derog over an $11.99 HULU charge that went 30 days. Upset wasn’t even the word! I did get the late fee removed but it’s a stain on my report.

In my experiences you have check and double check because only we suffer if something doesn’t work or we forget.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like Amex closed OP’s accounts due to the score drop. I’ve had a 50-60 point plummet and had creditors lower my limits without notice so it’s not unreasonable to think the score change would’ve at least helped in their decision.