@Anonymous wrote:Thanks again, guys. I'll probably still wait for the letter before calling the backdoor number. I'm hoping my report will have caught up with my actual utilization by then.
Yes, I know, 38% is probably high. But I've been spending a lot this year, and I pay it all off every month. I've been averaging getting about $40 a month back just on the Chase card. My card balance right now is about $150, so that won't be an issue if they want to do another pull.
I didn't really know much about credit & such before I posted here. But, man, I've learned a lot from you guys. I'll definitely write back on how this plays out.
P.S. Also, I don't have a criminal record.
This made me chuckle 
If criminal record was a requirement, a lot of the rock/rap star wouldn't qualify for jack 
nevermind getting Black AMEX invites
@Anonymous wrote:OK guys, I got my letter in the mail on Saturday. Here are some excerpts:
We evaluated your application using a credit scoring system that considers various pieces of information, including your credit report. The following key factors contributed to our evaluation:
- Amount of credit available on accounts (Experian)
- High utilization of credit lines or insufficient utilization information (Experian)
- Your FICO score (see below)
On April 23, 2012, your FICO score was 752. The following are the key factors that contributed to your FICO score:
- Number of accounts with delinquency.
- Proportion of revolving balances to revolving credit limits is too high.
- Too few accounts currently paid as agreed.
- Length of time revolving accounts have been established.
My current total balance on all 3 credit cards is a whopping $150. I paid off the one card I was using on 4/21, and I haven't been using it much since.
I don't need a credit card, so I'm leaning towards just letting this one go. If American Express doesn't want my business, it's their problem. I was only going to use this card for groceries & gas anyway (6% & 3% cash back).
Opinions?
I understand that your CC balances are $150 now, but what were the balances on your statements? *** (see edit below)
If you have (I'm picking this out of the air; I didn't go back and re-read this thread, I'm afraid) three cards, each with $5,000 CL's, and the statements showed that they had balances of $3,000, $4,000, and $4,500, those are the numbers that were reported, even if you paid them off the moment that the statements popped up. If so, you would have high reported util.
Meanwhile, for the FICO negative factors codes (the section in blue plus the second one in red), these are the factors that are holding your scores down.
The most damaging is that you have multiple accounts with reported delinquencies. Even if they're old, having lates on more than one reporting tradeline is a problem.
Then comes high reported utilization.
Then "too few accounts currently paid as agreed", which generally means that you don't have many open accounts, so there's not much of a track record.
Then "length of time revolving accounts have been established", meaning your average age of revolving accounts is short.
With a 752, it's probably the first two factors that are really affecting your FICO scores, and the third and fourth are sort of "me too's", so I wouldn't worry about them for now. But if you haven't already, learn how to control the balances that report (I think I posted this earlier on this thread), and possibly try to GW off a negative or two.
And as for Amex's decision, which is only partially based on your FICO score, it's util, util, util. Learn how to play that game before apping again, whether with Amex or elsewhere, and you should do a lot better.
edit to add: OK, I saw the first post again, and you said that you had 38% reported util. (Sorry, it's been a busy couple of days. 
) So again, not the highest util in the world, but not what they wanted to see, apparently. You wrote that the most recent late was Nov 2006. How many total do you have, and on how many different accounts, open and closed?
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
edit to add: OK, I saw the first post again, and you said that you had 38% reported util. (Sorry, it's been a busy couple of days.
From my 4/15 reports:
1 TOTAL delinquency on all accounts (30 days, Nov. 2006)
Open Installment: 1
Closed Installment: 5
Open Revolving: 5
Ages of open revolving: 10 years, 7 years, 11 years, 4 years, 8 years
1 delinquency out of 11 accounts = 91% paid on time. I find it hard to believe that this would qualify as "too few accounts currently paid as agreed."
P.S. The delinquency was on an old credit card that I cancelled in 2007, but it's still showing up as "Open" on my report.
P.P.S. On my Equifax report, the status of every single account shows up as "PAYS AS AGREED."
@Anonymous wrote:
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
edit to add: OK, I saw the first post again, and you said that you had 38% reported util. (Sorry, it's been a busy couple of days.
From my 4/15 reports:
1 TOTAL delinquency on all accounts (30 days, Nov. 2006)
Open Installment: 1
Closed Installment: 5
Open Revolving: 5
Ages of open revolving: 10 years, 7 years, 11 years, 4 years, 8 years
1 delinquency out of 11 accounts = 91% paid on time. I find it hard to believe that this would qualify as "too few accounts currently paid as agreed."
P.S. The delinquency was on an old credit card that I cancelled in 2007, but it's still showing up as "Open" on my report.
P.P.S. On my Equifax report, the status of every single account shows up as "PAYS AS AGREED."
Well, that is bizarre. I agree that one TL with a negative isn't usually considered "too many." And certainly you seem to have plenty of open accounts with history on them.
And for that to be listed before high util is incredibly strange.
If only we could still buy our own Experian FICO reports! 
There might have been some sort of clue on that.
User are you going to recon this?? If yes, call this number:
AmEx Executive Office: 800-297-6197
haulingthescoreup wrote:
Well, that is bizarre. I agree that one TL with a negative isn't usually considered "too many." And certainly you seem to have plenty of open accounts with history on them.
And for that to be listed before high util is incredibly strange.
If only we could still buy our own Experian FICO reports!
Is there anything I can do about this? I really don't feel like I'm getting a fair deal with the reports & such.
@Anonymous wrote:
@LS2982 wrote:User are you going to recon this?? If yes, call this number:
AmEx Executive Office: 800-297-6197
Thanks! I'll definitely recon - can't hurt, right?
I just haven't decided whether to do it right away or whether to wait until after my next credit card statement posts (5/11), which will show the lower util. My Experian report from 4/15 listed my statement balance from 4/11, and they dinged me twice on util.
Opinions?
Do it now, they are not going to pull another report unless you allow another HP. Which I don't think is possible for at least 30 days after a denial.