Am I on AMEX's Blacklist?

[Anonymous]

I had an American Express Hilton card with a 25K limit that I was doing very well on and paying it off monthly. I ran into a time period where money was VERY hard and I had to pay my mortgage and the most fundamental of necessities (and sometimes not even that; was budgeting mortgage above everything else, thus some months only my mortgage could be covered by savings) with my savings and used my AMEX (and other cards) for other expenses. After about 6 months of financial hardship I got in a bit over my head on my CCs however thankfully I got a new job that paid quite well. Between my mortgage, CCs, and other finances at the time even with the job I was scraping by trying to get everything paid down.

I enrolled in a financial assistance program with American Credit Foundation that reduced the interest rates on the cards (again financial assistance program...not bankruptcy) and setup a payment plan in order to pay back balances but in a far easier to manage way. It gets the banks their deserved repayments for the money I used on the CCs during my hardships (and interest as well, though reduced) and it also allows me a much more manageable monthly payment. Within the next 12 months I will have every single CC paid off from the 30K+ debt I was running after being unemployed/underemployed for 6 months and in a much better position.

Anyways, that being said I received the 70K Delta Platinum offer in the mail and my scores are slightly above 700 (took a hit when Commenity was closing cards due to inactivity...lost a good 20Kish in utilization) and my DTI is very good right now. I was instantly denied when I applied without even a credit pull. I received the letter in the mail that I was denied due to having an account closed by American Express. When I enrolled in the program, they closed all my cards that I was setting up for the repayments. All payments have been on time and when I talked to the other companies they essentially said I could reapply to other cards not in the program if I wanted and could also apply to those same cards (like CSP) after the program and it's fully paid off. I was a bit shocked by the AMEX response though since I didn't think I was burning them as I am continuing to pay them, the account is in "good standing" on my reports and I'm trying my hardest to ensure there isn't a feeling of burning them.

Am I on their blacklist now? Should I request a manual review since it seems to have been system generated?

TL;DR: Enrolled AMEX CC into finance program, card is closed but in good standing while paying it off, automatically declined for new card though I am now in a much better financial and employment situation.

Edit: Do note that during my hadship period I never missed a payment but it did become a snowball effect of only being able to get mortgage and minimums but then needing CCs to get food so just started to build and build. 

[Jnbmom]

I am guessing that they will not approve any new accounts since you are still paying on accounts that AMEX closed . Those will have to be paid back first.

[Anonymous]

^^^ agreed, it's likely a temporary blacklist of sorts where they won't approve new credit until the current debt is handled. The fact that you're making good on the debt to them is big and will likely be the difference maker.

[Remedios]

When someone on your behalf or you enters into negotiations either amount wise or interest wise, that's financial hardship. 

They allowed you to enter into an agreement without needing to default first, which is what most lenders require. 

I know it may not sound "right" to you, but when you started with reduced payments and reduced interest, that broke the original terms and conditions under which you were approved for. 

They specifically list what your apr is, minimum payments etc. 

You did not repay them under original approval terms. 

If the letter is referencing closed account, they aren't ready yet. 

Finish your repayment plan, and go from there. If you had no HP and letter referenced closed account, it is a blacklist for now. 

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

^^^ agreed, it's likely a temporary blacklist of sorts where they won't approve new credit until the current debt is handled. The fact that you're making good on the debt to them is big and will likely be the difference maker.

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Or, perhaps not.

Amex is more likely to do their carrot and stick routine * pay us and we will give you Optima */ with unpaid, defaulted accounts

Payments are already happening here, so no incentive for Amex to pull their favorite trick. 

They will get over it in time, but it might be a while till customer demonstrates their financial troubles are over, especially if payback is taking a long time. 

[Anonymous]

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@Remedios wrote:

When someone on your behalf or you enters into negotiations either amount wise or interest wise, that's financial hardship. 

They allowed you to enter into an agreement without needing to default first, which is what most lenders require. 

I know it may not sound "right" to you, but when you started with reduced payments and reduced interest, that broke the original terms and conditions under which you were approved for. 

They specifically list what your apr is, minimum payments etc. 

You did not repay them under original approval terms. 

I get it and this makes sense but not at the same time. Wouldn't that agreement technically be broken all the time by both the lender and customer? Credit Limit increases, APR changes, minimum payment changes, etc...

Seems like this was a modified agreement by both parties under the same prinicpal as they had to approve the payment plan as well when I enrolled into the program as a modified agreement more than "breaking the original terms." And yes, they could have declined, Discover did just that and would not negotiate on the APR :-\ .

Either way that's just semantics at this point; but it makes sense they would want to wait for the original debt to be paid off (just one more year!) before offering a line of credit...now if only they would stop sending me fliers for their cards. I submitted online to the opt out function for targeted mailers but it seems AMEX still sends me Delta and Gold Card fliers heh.

[K-in-Boston]

Definitely agree that you are blacklisted at least for now.  Give them some time after you finish repaying everything and try applying again.  If you are automatically denied you'll know that you are still on their blacklist, but it's possible they may be willing to take a chance on you once that is all cleared up.

Your situation is a bit unique from what we typically see.  They are unhappy because they had to modify the repayment terms, but there was no bankruptcy, charge off, or collections.  While the account may not be reporting as late on your reports, it's important to keep in mind that their internal metrics may consider the account late due to the extended repayment.

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Remedios wrote:

When someone on your behalf or you enters into negotiations either amount wise or interest wise, that's financial hardship. 

They allowed you to enter into an agreement without needing to default first, which is what most lenders require. 

I know it may not sound "right" to you, but when you started with reduced payments and reduced interest, that broke the original terms and conditions under which you were approved for. 

They specifically list what your apr is, minimum payments etc. 

You did not repay them under original approval terms. 

I get it and this makes sense but not at the same time. Wouldn't that agreement technically be broken all the time by both the lender and customer? Credit Limit increases, APR changes, minimum payment changes, etc...

Seems like this was a modified agreement by both parties under the same prinicpal as they had to approve the payment plan as well when I enrolled into the program as a modified agreement more than "breaking the original terms." And yes, they could have declined, Discover did just that and would not negotiate on the APR :-\ .

Either way that's just semantics at this point; but it makes sense they would want to wait for the original debt to be paid off (just one more year!) before offering a line of credit...now if only they would stop sending me fliers for their cards. I submitted online to the opt out function for targeted mailers but it seems AMEX still sends me Delta and Gold Card fliers heh.

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CLI requests aren't breaking T&C, because approval only states what the starting limit is. It does not negate the possibility of limit going up or down as time passes. 

Consumer can ask for APR reduction, but that's not "Reduce it because I cannot pay it as is" 

It tends to go more along the lines of "My credit has improved significantly"

Besides, apr reduction are possible only with certain lenders. 

Minimum payments do change,but you get advanced notice. If you do not like new terms, you can close the account in order to preserve original terms. 

That wasn't an option for you, because closing the account would reinforce the terms you were trying to avoid, and also it changed payment amount. 

Of course they could have said no to the proposal, but you'd end up with a charge off for considerable future, and Amex doesn't like losing a penny if they can help it. No lender does (well, maybe Cap One).

I think you got a good deal from them, and in time you may get a different card, just not quite yet. 

Amex will do anything for the money, Discover tends to be a bit more capricious. They are usually first to sue, also.