Amex Blue Cash - Should I apply now or wait?

[Anonymous]

Here's my situation.  After some CC research, I've decided I'd like to apply for an Amex Blue Cash Preferred card to use on my everyday purchases, etc.  I have pulled my Experian credit score and it is 771.  I believe this is my highest score of the 3 as the other two are between 730 & 750 for some reason.

However, I'm not one to open credit cards frequently.  I currently have a little of 30% utilization of total revolving credit lines of about $11K.  I've also recently financed a new truck and refinanced my home, so there are 3 inquiries in the last few months.  The only other negative on my credit report is a 30 day late payment in early 2005 that is getting ready to drop off.

Should I go ahead and apply for the Amex now, or should I lower my utilization and apply after the first of the year?

[Anonymous]

where did you get your EX fico from ?

id wait to lower your util but if your FICO is not FAKO, id say go for it

[Anonymous]

That's from Quizzle, although it should be accurate.  When I financed my truck they showed me the score they pulled from all 3 bureaus and the EX score was right at 770 at that time (Ocotber).

[Anonymous]

Franky i would try to knock down your util. i was scared to apply for amex when i had a high util... id say wait til under 10% but your fico is much higher than mine was when i was approved so YMMV

[pizzadude]

If your only negative is a 30 day late and ~30% util with a few recent inquiries, then I think you should go for it. I would be very surprised if AMEX turned you down.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's from Quizzle, although it should be accurate.  When I financed my truck they showed me the score they pulled from all 3 bureaus and the EX score was right at 770 at that time (Ocotber).

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Quizzle gives you FAKO's, not FICO's. The reports are fine, though.

This is true of all the credit monitoring services --they DON'T give you all three FICO's.

eta: the Experian score pulled for your truck loan might have been a standard FICO score or an auto-enhanced FICO score. The auto-enhanced scores are often higher, because the score range is different (up to 950, I think it is.) But it can vary a lot.

[Anonymous]

I would wait until I got my util down.  If you applied now you would probably get approved, but your APR/CL might not be as good as if you apply with a lower util. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks all.  I think I just have an itchy trigger finger, but I succeeded in resisting the urge to apply.  Going to wait a couple of months to get the utes below 10% and have the 30 day payment drop off my report in January.  Hopefully patience will result in higher CL.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how many CC's you have, but aside from getting your util down, I'd suggest having only one CC reporting a balance when apping for the AmEx, I've read a lot of posts about AmEx and denials, and one common reason for denial from AmEx is..........

"Too many accounts with a balance"

Just a thought.

I think you are making the right decision by waiting till the 30 day late falls off as well.

Best of Luck, and Happy Thanksgiving!!