Best credit card for travel

[micvite]

Looking to apply for the amex platinum as I will be starting extensive travel and would love to get the points (5x on airfare is going to net me more than the signup bonus will in the first 6 months). Just wanted to triple check that it will be only a soft pull from AMEX since I already have 2 cards with them. Would it help if I gave them access to my bank account prior to the app? Also wanted to see if I should wait a little while longer for my statement to cut on my BCED and GOLD card before applying (PIF, just waiting for them to see the amount of spend on the cards really). This would be my preference just for the lounge experience (unless first class lounges are better than centurion) and the global entry/clear membership. Uber credit I'll probably just shove towards my wife since she doesn't drive. I may or may not be in the doghouse with AMEX, but wanted to see how things were going to plan out.

If by chance I don't get the approval what is the minimum wait to try again?

Current scores are 751 ex 708 tu 718 EQ, and 23/32/16 inq respectively (only 6 in the last 12 months)

Current UTIL is 5% (will be going down to like 1% on the 19th of next month)

Current Debt is 26k (25k is installment loans: 2 motorcycles (one which doesn't even belong to me... 6500 each), 3 student loans 7k total, and my car loan 4800 which is going to show paid off on the 30th).

Income is around 300-400k a year (don't have an exact number since this hasn't been going on for a year yet and it fluctuates month to month a bit)

Oldest acc 6y 3m, AAOA 2y 9m newest is 6 mo. 5 New acc in 12 months (from may and june last year) 22 acc total

Only baddie is 30 day late from 02/18 on a car loan

Was planning to wait until at least the car loan shows paid off then try my luck since I'm flying out in less than 30 days at that point and want to buy my tickets before they run out.

[coldfusion]

If you already have open AMEX cards it will probably be a soft pull but that's a YMMV.   I myself got took another EX HP on my 3rd AMEX card (and yet another on my 8th).

You have to wait at least 30 days to reapply after a denial.

[micvite]

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@coldfusion wrote:

If you already have open AMEX cards it will probably be a soft pull but that's a YMMV.   I myself got took another EX HP on my 3rd AMEX card (and yet another on my 8th).

You have to wait at least 30 days to reapply after a denial.

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Gotcha, so it's a possibility it might just be a soft pull. Is there any benefit to waiting until my statements cut (after today) or a certain time after? Or until my auto loan is reported as paid?

[Anonymous]

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@micvite wrote:

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@coldfusion wrote:

If you already have open AMEX cards it will probably be a soft pull but that's a YMMV.   I myself got took another EX HP on my 3rd AMEX card (and yet another on my 8th).

You have to wait at least 30 days to reapply after a denial.

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Gotcha, so it's a possibility it might just be a soft pull. Is there any benefit to waiting until my statements cut (after today) or a certain time after? Or until my auto loan is reported as paid?

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Why, in your signature, does it list "Amex Gold $2000"?  Did they remove the NPSL from your card and impose a hard spending limit?  If so, I'd be more concerned about that, and it's implications on an approval possibility, than I would be with the possibility of a trivial HP. 

[micvite]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@micvite wrote:

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@coldfusion wrote:

If you already have open AMEX cards it will probably be a soft pull but that's a YMMV.   I myself got took another EX HP on my 3rd AMEX card (and yet another on my 8th).

You have to wait at least 30 days to reapply after a denial.

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Gotcha, so it's a possibility it might just be a soft pull. Is there any benefit to waiting until my statements cut (after today) or a certain time after? Or until my auto loan is reported as paid?

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Why, in your signature, does it list "Amex Gold $2000"?  Did they remove the NPSL from your card and impose a hard spending limit?  If so, I'd be more concerned about that, and it's implications on an approval possibility, than I would be with the possibility of a trivial HP. 

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Yes they did last year in May? Basically I had stopped PIF, and that caused them to be concerned (was trying to manage my other cards since this didn't affect my util) well long story short I ended up maxing out all my credit cards and my scores were high 500s low 600s for a while so they hit me with the preset SL and asked for proof of income which I never realized was requested of me to get it reinstated... well now everything is paid off and it was worth it considering I used the credit to make some risky investments that ended up paying off thankfully. In any case I called to ask about getting the preset sl removed they said it was too late for the income verification (I did end up finding the link and submitted my bank statements and stuff from recent times). In any case I've been pounding 6-10k a month through the card and overpaying so I'm hoping when it gets it's next review in August they'll reinstate the NPSL. But the people at AMEX credit department and stuff said it wouldn't affect my ability to apply for other cards and stuff, because that would be based on my current credit profile rather than what happened a year ago to cause the preset SL and the fact that I missed the 6mo deadline to get it reversed. Not sure how relevant this is, but I have an upgrade offer for the platinum from my Gold, but I intend to keep both as 90% of my spend is restaurants. And yeah another hard pull is a slight concern because I'm trying to limit inquiries since I'm planning to purchase a 140k car later this year (I'd prefer to get it next month or 2, but debating whether I should wait until nov for 10-15 inq to drop off each beaureau.) And a house hopefully as well (looking at around 600-800k for the house) so if I can avoid a hard pull for a potential denial I'd love to haha. 

[Anonymous]

If those are your purchase goals, I'd forget all about apping for other cards, stack money, pay off anything that isn't already (other than one small balance on a single card), and garden to lessen the impact of any inquiries you have now.

[micvite]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If those are your purchase goals, I'd forget all about apping for other cards, stack money, pay off anything that isn't already (other than one small balance on a single card), and garden to lessen the impact of any inquiries you have now.

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Well currently I'm working on saving up for the DP for the house, the issue with paying off my motorcycle loans is they don't belong to me and I don't want to justt pay them off.  And most inquiries will be dropping off by october or nov this year (I only have about 4-6 inq this year most are last year and will be dropping off) which is why I wanted to see if it was a guaranteed soft pull. Now I'm not sure I want to risk another HP

[micvite]

After confirming 100% it would be a soft pull I pulled the trigger to apply for the platinum since I was buying about 40k in plane tickets (ended up using my gold instead and prepaying)

Denied due to:

Nr of inquiries (32 total, 6 last 12 months)

Bad payment history (1 30day late in 02/18)

High balances in relation to credit limits (2% util, was 5% for the software pull they used)

My thoughts are that it was just the inquiries, or that I'm in the doghouse so they gave me arbitrary reasons which is also likely. Going to reapply around Christmas when 26 of my inquiries fall off and will update. 

P.S. this is after recon, I had more reasons for denial before recon. So I guess this is a final decision right?

[FinStar]

@micvite 

Unfortunately, once they've performed a re-review for reconsideration, the final decision typically stands.

[micvite]

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@FinStar wrote:

@micvite 

Unfortunately, once they've performed a re-review for reconsideration, the final decision typically stands.

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I figured as much, but doesn't hurt to ask the experts haha. I'll just give it some more time is all.