Hi, I had a late which is now removed. When AMEX reviewed me, they saw the late (last Aug 07) and they started chasing my balance. I HAD a 25K CL at about 50% util (I know, that is bad). Anyway, when they saw the late they dropped my CL down to $300 over my balance. They've done this each month and obviously want me gone.
Fast Fwd to today. My late is gone, my EQ is up to 709, there is no baddie on my acct. I want to try and BT that Amex (if not all, then some or most). I have Discover, Juniper and Nordstrom (oldest acct 20 yrs).
I get offers from BofA (FIA) about once a week. I just got an offer for TripAwards bofa. Are these good? Should I try for Citi since they might pull my EQ (only fico I know of now)... I just want to get away from Amex with the least amt of hard inquiries.
Wamu?
Citi?
BofA? I'm not sure where to turn, I am so afraid of wasting a hard pull and not getting approved.
I dream of giving AMEX the bird. 
If you're looking specifically for a card to BT to, Discover caps its BT fee at $75, I'm pretty sure, but of course, I have no idea what interest they'd charge you. No idea what you've got available with WaMu/ Juni/ Nordstrom. BofA doesn't cap its 3% interest, but their new cards generally have 0% on BT's for 15 months. It would be useful to run the numbers on Discover and BofA and see where you come out better.
@Anonymous wrote:
Hi, I had a late which is now removed. When AMEX reviewed me, they saw the late (last Aug 07) and they started chasing my balance. I HAD a 25K CL at about 50% util (I know, that is bad). Anyway, when they saw the late they dropped my CL down to $300 over my balance. They've done this each month and obviously want me gone.
Fast Fwd to today. My late is gone, my EQ is up to 709, there is no baddie on my acct. I want to try and BT that Amex (if not all, then some or most). I have Discover, Juniper and Nordstrom (oldest acct 20 yrs).
I get offers from BofA (FIA) about once a week. I just got an offer for TripAwards bofa. Are these good? Should I try for Citi since they might pull my EQ (only fico I know of now)... I just want to get away from Amex with the least amt of hard inquiries.
Wamu?
Citi?
BofA? I'm not sure where to turn, I am so afraid of wasting a hard pull and not getting approved.I dream of giving AMEX the bird.
Meanwhile, I'd also advise going to the BofA pre-approval site and seeing if they dangle anything at you. Most people, but not all, get a higher CL in real life than what shows on the site. If you're opted-out, this won't work:
BofA Pre-Approval Site
This is definitely a soft pull, and members seem to really like the BofA AmEx, which would be a nice irony for you. There's no connection in the approval between this card and the "real" American Express. The hard would be on EX, so if you're interested, you might want to go ahead and pull it. They also are good at recons, so if your perpetual high util on the AmEx gets a decline or low CL, it would be worth explaining the situation. Also, they will generally approved a higher initial CL if you tell them that you're BT'ing, and you don't want to kill your util all over again on a different card.