Approval for Amex with lower score...

[Anonymous]

Hi all! First post here.  I've got a bit of a conundrum, not that it bothers me much but curiousity has me wanting to ask this question.  My score has gone from a 585 to a 610.  I have some chargeoffs ($36 parking tickets that were eventually paid) about 4 years ago.  I have one CC with a $500 limit and another with a $2000 limit.  I also have two car loans that have never been late. 

My recent activity (past couple years) has been great but prior to that my history is sketchy at best.  When I was 18 (10 years ago) I had a $250 limit CC and ignored it once I couldn't pay it off. It eventually got up to $1600 and I settled for $700 in 2004, not knowing that they'd be reporting it as a chargeoff for the next 7 years.  So that's on my report.  My scores are EQ 615, EX 610 and TU 620. 

Recently I was sent an Amex application and since I do a lot of high dollar transactions I thought it would be cool to have for the points.  I also would be able to eliminate that lower balance card which I presume is pulling down my score. 

To the point, I was surprised that they approved me.  I got the card today and it's not even a practical joke!  It's a real bonifide Gold card. 

So I have to ask, did they lower their requirements or have they changed what they look at to determine approval? 

[Creditaddict]

well they use a modified EX score, so there is not telling maybe your EX that they use is over the 650 mark.  I still think they have lowered there requirments but up until your post 642 was the lowest I knew they went because my friend got the gold and they pulled EX and TU and that was his Myfico TU from same day.

Congrats either way and treat it good!

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all! First post here.  I've got a bit of a conundrum, not that it bothers me much but curiousity has me wanting to ask this question.  My score has gone from a 585 to a 610...

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Can I ask where you got your score? If it's not a FICO score, it could be lower (or higher) than any of your three FICO scores.

Congrats on your new card.

[Anonymous]

Congrats! Now I'm really confused. My husband applied for one and got declined. His score from EX was in the 660's (according to our mortgage lender). Go figure.

[Anonymous]

I'm about to embarass myself... My scores are all via freecreditreport.com.  I realize that isn't the most accurate source for score info but didn't think they could vary by 40 - 50 points over real FICO scores.  Am I wrong?

[Creditaddict]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm about to embarass myself... My scores are all via freecreditreport.com.  I realize that isn't the most accurate source for score info but didn't think they could vary by 40 - 50 points over real FICO scores.  Am I wrong?

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My Fako Scores vs Fico scores are anywhere from 20-40 points higher depending which report

[Anonymous]

Well see, that doesn't make any sense then because if my "FAKO" scores are all ~610 then according to you my real FICO scores are probably lower than that.  So why would they approve me?  I also did the "will your transaction approve" calculator on their site and got it to approve up to $5000 before they told me to call in for a higher amount.

I guess I don't get it.  My total utilized credit is like 5%.  I wonder how much they weigh that.

[Anonymous]

My FAKO score was 30 points lower than my FICO score... 

[haulingthescoreup]

My PLUS scores are EQ: 768 (FICO is 781), TU: 799 (FICO is 791), and EX 764 (no telling what the EX FICO is ) (PLUS scores are an Experian creation, and I'd guess that they're doing a booming business now that we can't buy our own EX FICO scores.)

This is closer than they've been in the past.

Back when I had TrueCredit and had their TransRisk scores, two were always way lower and one was higher.

eta: Oh, and Vantage scores are in the 800's and 900's, so there you go.