Advice moving forward from here

[espnjunkie]

I just asked the "Tweet Amex" reps if my application would be a hard or soft pull and the response was "it would be a hard pull"

Is this true? Or are the csr's on twitter mistaken?

[espnjunkie]

From everything I have heard on myfico.com message boards it would be a soft if denied. I would be irked if I end up being denied and it's a hard pull.

Then again I do trust the posters knowledge here more than a rank-and-file CSR 99% of the time. YMMV I guess

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Espn, you have been given good advice. Amex app first. Soft if rejected, hard if approved. Make sure to app online while logged into Amex account. Also with signp bonus, if you spend 1k in 3 months, it takes very little for bcp to make more sense than bce. You can downgrade to bce before next years af becomes due if needed. You are in weird stage of credit. Amex makes sense as it can move your limits up quickly. Apping for other stuff after is smart. One other thing is to consider credit union. The major lenders basically use very automated systems to determine limits. Unlikely to give you high limit with just cap one showing. Probably give you 1k and think they were helping you. With credit union, you can point underwriter to your Amex green and ask for 5k. Assuming income is good, I think good shot that way. I know my local cu said obviously I can handle 30k limit as my high balance in Amex was in the 40kish at the time.

[espnjunkie]

The more I think about it, the more I believe I should wait to apply for an Amex revolver. One year of credit history is shakey to get approved for a premium revolver like BCE/BCP, but give it another six months or so things could be different. Applying in September sounds about right, get a few more months of credit history (especially with Amex) under my belt might make them more comfortable in approving me. I suppose they could see how I have handled the green card for 8 months or so and paid everything off on time.

For the heck of it I just pulled my Transunion FICO Score and Report which came up with a 702 score. Strangely it counted my current 970.00 balance on my green card and factored it into my utilization (which it said was then 19% because it considered my highest Amex balance to be that cards credit limit). Once that would be paid off I would imagine my TU score would be around 730 or so.

[Anonymous]

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@espnjunkie wrote:

I just asked the "Tweet Amex" reps if my application would be a hard or soft pull and the response was "it would be a hard pull"

Is this true? Or are the csr's on twitter mistaken?

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What specifically did you ask?

[espnjunkie]

"I have been a Green card holder since Feb. 2012. If I apply for another Amex card and am denied will it just be a soft pull?"

Was my original question.

Answer : "Good morning.  It would be a hard pull. ^Courtney"

Second Question : "Really? I have been told it would only be a soft pull if denied if you are already a cardmember as a courtesy"

Second answer : "Regrets, I had checked with New Accounts before answering you and that is what I was advised. ^Courtney"

Now either she is just a misinformed CSR, or pretty much everything I have heard on this message board is mistaken.....hmmmm

[espnjunkie]

So while I do believe the majority of posters who say it's a soft pull if a cardmember is denied, is this still the case? An unadvertised perk? Or what?

[Anonymous]

ESPN,

Trust me.  If you are logged in to AMEX and app for revolver, you will only get new hard pull if approved.  No need to wait 6 months for AMEX app.  Just app now.  If you get rejected, just app a little later (minimum 30 days).  There will be no harm to your FICO score or credit file for apping as current customer as long as AMEX picks up on that fact (hence the fact you want to be logged in and apping as current card holder).  As for AMEX advertising it, I doubt they ever will as it is a very technical point which would mean nothing to 99% of consumers.

Also, in future, buy Equifax score from here.  Much closer to what AMEX will be using to score you assuming the information on both credit reports are similar.  The TU score sold here uses an old FICO model.

[Anonymous]

It could very well be a case of "Cover my buttocks" from the rep. The last thing they'd need is to tell you that it's a soft pull, you apply, it comes through as a hard pull and then you have this tweet...

Or, maybe she asked "New Accounts" the question wrong.

Or maybe the policy changed over the weekend.

Too many variables, so I go with what I've seen chronicled from the past. Denial of credit to current AMEX holders is a soft pull if denied, hard pull if accepted. At least with CLI, I got denied two months ago, and it was a soft for me. That's as far as my experience goes with them.

[espnjunkie]

I just paid off my current balance, so I can try to apply in a day or two. If I get denied there's no harm done, I just wait a bit then try again. They could dock me for short history and thin file, but aside from that they can see that I have six months of good history on the Green card and nearly a year on cap one. I know charge cards are 'easier' to get than revolvers, but if they approved me for the green in Feb. I can't be THAT far off getting approved for BCE/BCP right?