Another myth buster for Amex PIF theory

[Fico2Go]

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@Open123 wrote:

Amex's preference for PIF is something that is accepted "in general," not a universal truth.  For instance, Citi & Barclay prefer people carrying balances, but this is true "in general," and not in every case.

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I don't believe a company the size of AMEX would operate business on "generalities."   They like any major corp has a system of doing things.  Perhaps their system favors PIF but in this case what would be the outlier to allow CLI for high balances and relatively low fico scores?  In this case my app guess is telling me that Amex is using internal data for CLI approval since any HP of fico scores and reports would reveal a high UTIL, low AAoA, 10 INQs, etc...

We all are trying to understand the "system" that each uses so that we can optimize our experiences with them. 

[Open123]

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@Fico2Go wrote:

We all are trying to understand the "system" that each uses so that we can optimize our experiences with them. 

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Amex's is a spendcentric business model.  

[Fico2Go]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@Fico2Go wrote:

We all are trying to understand the "system" that each uses so that we can optimize our experiences with them. 

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Amex's is a spendcentric business model.  

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Maybe a better question might be, "What kind of payback model does AMEX want?"  

What kind of customers does AMEX want enrolled in their spendcentric model?  

How interested are they in members in paying back?  In full?  in partial?  in duration?  how long?   

What does they want their members to spend on?  

These are the kinds of questions we are trying to nail down.

[score_building]

As previously posted most issuers (major, regional, and local) respond favorably to card holders who pay back >10% of outstanding balance each month, since this will basically result in a VG+ repayment score.

The questions posed in response to PP seem to reflect a limited understanding of what a spendcentric model is. In any case, we do know that Amex advanced algorithms are used to evaluate ALL lending decisions and are unlikely to be 'nailed down' by conjecture. FTR, Amex uses EX, not EQ.

[B335is]

OP congrats. I don't think this is necessarily ground breaking news though. There's many other factors involved in Amex CLI like new accts, income, ability to repay, does OP have mortgage/car loan, etc...

It is a good reminder that many of us get caught up in these common myths, but for the most part high util when requesting CLI doesnt usually increase chances. Its also a good reminder that ymmv is usually a good rule of thumb when online.

[Ubuntu]

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@robbulous wrote:

That's honestly incredible and it goes against everything I've read here. I guess it truly is YMMV!

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+1 The goes against everything I've ever read abount Amex and pretty much all issuers in general. Maybe not back in the 90s or the early 00s but for recent times it's just amazing.

[Fico2Go]

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@Ubuntu wrote:

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@robbulous wrote:

That's honestly incredible and it goes against everything I've read here. I guess it truly is YMMV!

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+1 The goes against everything I've ever read abount Amex and pretty much all issuers in general. Maybe not back in the 90s or the early 00s but for recent times it's just amazing.

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It's interesting that in October 2013 she apped and got approved for one AMEX card.  The BCP with limit of $2000.  Two months later approved for the BC for $7500.  BAck then her FICO scores were averaging 710.    Now 6 months after the BC approval her score is 653 and she received instant CLI to $20,000.

AAoA is slightly over a year.  Total credit history is 3 years.  

[Fico2Go]

Just wanted to update everyone. 

Yesterday was  the due date for the sixth statement since getting approved for my BCP.   Well today recevied an email saying my BCP cl had been auto increased to 11K.

So it seems the time of my auto increase conincides with the time when my wife received her auto increase of right around the due date of the 6th statement. 

Btw my util ratio is 47% across 5 of my 7  revolvers.  If this trend continues next month will be my 6 month for 3X CLI.

I'm in no hurry to need a cli so I think I'll leave the util ratio right about the same for next month and see what happens.   In the worst case I'll just wait another ninety days to try again.