Amex app rules?

[Anonymous]

I know AMEX is pretty strict, do they have any rules like Chase? Credit Karma keeps telling me to go for the Blue Cash card, but i dont want to waste an inquiry.

[Anonymous]

You can see if you pre-qualify on the AMEX website. SP and they are reliable.

[simplynoir]

No rules like Chase has. The signup bonuses are once-a-lifetime though so keep that in mind. Score wise depends on what you're going to app for and what you're expecting to get limit wise. I would hit the AMEX prequal page to see what pops up and go from there.

[RicHowe]

AMEX has several rules or restrictions:

Once in a lifetime rule: Applies to sign up bonuses. Once you receive a sign up bonus for a specific card, you cannot receive the bonus for that specific card again.

2/90 Rule: No more than 2 credit card approvals within a 90 day period.

1 in 5 rule: No more than one credit card approval every 5 days.

These rules do not seem to apply to charge cards so you could theoretically apply for as many charge cards as your profile will allow.

What many do is apply for a credit card and use the same hard pull for one or more charge cards the same day.

Underwriting for the co-branded cards (Delta, Hilton, SPG) appear to have more relaxed underwriting than the bank issued cards (Blue Cash, Everyday)

AMEX pulls Experian.

With your EX Score I would suggest starting with a co-branded card to increase chance of approval and higher SL.

[Anonymous]

Didnt know AMEX had a prequal page, i tried looking before and must have misssed it lol. Tried and said no prequal available, I do have all my reports locked atm dont know if that effects it or not. Had a feeling i wouldnt i have terrible luck with credit. Guess illl sit on my fingers and try again in a few months.

[redpat]

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@Anonymouswrote:

Didnt know AMEX had a prequal page, i tried looking before and must have misssed it lol. Tried and said no prequal available, I do have all my reports locked atm dont know if that effects it or not. Had a feeling i wouldnt i have terrible luck with credit. Guess illl sit on my fingers and try again in a few months.

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Rule number 1 - If you are applying for any credit card you should get your util. a lot lower than 29%.  At least get it to 10%, under would be better.  Follow that rule and you should be good to go where ever you app.

[Anonymous]

Caveats to RicHowe's post:

Once in a lifetime rule applies to any card you've ever had, not whether you've gotten a sign up bonus for it before. May seem benign, but the difference is significant: say you have a Blue Cash Everyday and then upgrade it to a Blue Cash Preferred. You never got a sign on bonus for the BCP, and since you now have the card, you are ineligible for the sign on bonus for life. However, you may have gotten an upgrade bonus, and if you ever end up with another BCE and upgrade it to the BCP again, you will still be eligible for the upgrade bonus, because the upgrade bonus has no such limitations: the upgrade bonus isn't once in a lifetime.

Second caveat: rule #1, once in a lifetime sign on bonus, does apply to charge cards, but not the other rules. Shouldn't be any problem applying for the amex platinum, amex gold, and an amex credit card like the Hilton Honors card all in the same day.

[Anonymous]

In addition to the other responses, absolutely do NOT base your application on what CK tells you.  Purely marketing and in no way represents any kind of preapproval or indicator that you’ll be approved.  Check the Amex prequalified site first and if nothing shows here, post your credit info and we can provide some good feedback on your approval chances,

[K-in-Boston]

To answer the question about locked reports, yes that will absolutely prevent a new lender from being able to soft pull your reports to give you a prequalified offer. And to expand on Irish’s post, Amex uses Experian exclusively and that is the bureau that Credit Karma doesn’t even have access to. Many cases of people like me that it says we only qualify for subprime cards like Credit One (see my signature for laughs) and many cases where someone who may only qualify for a subprime or secured card being told they have excellent chances of getting a Chase Sapphire Reserve.

[Anonymous]

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@RicHowewrote:

2/90 Rule: No more than 2 credit card approvals within a 90 day period.

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Correct, but 2/90 can be bypassed if you're fortunate enough to get a manual review.