Complete guide to Amex approval rules - My Opinion Only

[patoot10]

Hello,

American Express along with Chase offer the best credit cards out there when it comes to points and rewards. Amex underwriting is more lenient that Chase so let me dive into Amex approval rules from my experience.

The only things standing between you and a new Amex card are derogatory marks on Experian. Amex is not inquiry or new accounts sensitive. Anyone with a clean report will get approved for a new card unless you have extremely high utilization that's dragging your score in low 600s. With that being said Amex cli and total exposure are a little bit more complicated but at the very least they are willing to give you $1,000 credit limit that you can recycle easily and get a lot of value be it MR points, SPG points, Delta miles or cashback.

If you are not an Amex customer definitely check for prequalification offers and usually they are very solid but try to wait for a historic high offer for the desired card and don't make the mistake of getting a card without signup bonus that will enroll you in "Amex credit steps" because then you will lose on the signup bonus since Amex has once in a lifetime rule for signup bonuses meaning that if you have/had a specific card at some point in your life you will never be eligible for signup bonus on this card even if you never got one in the first place.

If you are an existing customer with Amex DON'T rely on qualification page. First it's probably going to ask you to login and not show you any offers. Second it's rare to get historic high offers on that page. Instead login into you account and go to view all credit cards then click apply now on the desired card and see if it says "You are pre-approved" OR "Extend your membership". If it says pre-approved then you will most probably get approved with SP for that card. If it says "Extend your membership", then you will get approved with HP. If you got denied in any case you will not get a HP as you are an existing customer. Keep in mind that you will rarely see high historic offers when you are logged into you account and viewing all cards. You will probably be able to pull those offers from external links or using incognito mode in chrome to check Amex cards without logging in. With that being said if you are pre-approved for a card, what you can do is signup for that card using a higher signup offer link without logging into your account and you would still get approved with SP even if you have to fill out a full application and full SSN unlike signing up for a card from within your account where you only enter income and even if you are not pre-approved for a card and willing to take a HP anyway to get it, you should still apply from outside of your account using a higher signup bonus.

For example, Amex green card rarely shows with a signup bonus, BUT in incognito mode you might be able to pull 25,000 MR points after $1,000 of spend and using that page to signup for the card with you being pre-approved already for it will lead to a SP and a signup bonus if approved. Think of that VS actually being pre-approved and signing up for the card while logged on and not getting any signup bonus. Same works out for Hilton Honors card, currently you can attempt a booking on Hilton.com and an offer will pop up with 75,000 Hilton points and $50 statement credit after first purchase on card VS signing up from Amex website and only getting Hilton points.

Also keep in mind that you can only have 5 credit cards and any number of charge cards, so if you apply for a 6th credit card they will force you to close one of your 5 credit cards to get approved. I read a lot about Amex application rules where you only get 2 approvals in 90 days and 2 cards (one credit, one charge) in one day but I don't think that's true or at least not enforced according to my experience and people's data points, so if you are already getting a HP to get one card then apply for a second one to merge HPs given that you will be able to satisfy the minimum spend required on both cards.

[UpperNwGuy]

Very informative!  Thanks for posting this.

[NRB525]

Thanks for posting this.

I will agree that the information in here is generally correct. I have 5 Revolvers, 1 Charger so I have experienced all these situations.

My suggestion is that your post is not clearly written. There are quite a few jumps, sentences that go through multiple topics. This makes it hard for someone new to AMEX, who has not applied, to connect it all

My suggestion is to try to edit for clarity. It’s good info, but you can do better.

[DaveInAZ]

What I think would be useful is an explanation of the different cards Amex offers, they have so many it's confusing to me. For example it's said you can only have 5 credit/revolver cards, I didn't know they have 5 revolvers cards. I have Blue Cash Everyday & Everyday, and there's the preferred version of both so I guess that's 4 revolvers, but I don't think you can both the everyday & preferred versions and even if you could it wouldn't make much sense to have both. And they seem to have 4-5 versions of a Delta card and the same for Hilton.

And what about Annual Fees? Many if not most of their cards have AFs, I don't/won't do Annual Fees, period. My attitude is these days they pay me to carry & use their card, not the other way around. Yeah, I get that for some high income and/or frequent travelers it can make sense when the rewards far outweigh the AF, but I don't fit either of those categories. I have a current offer to upgrade my BCE to Preferred with $250 SUB, but that doesn't make financial sense to me: I'm single and don't spend that much on groceries, and much of my grocery spend is at Costco and Walmart which aren't included in the 6% rewards on groceries, and I already have a 3% gas card. I also have an offer for Premier Rewards Gold Card, that's above my spend grade, and as I rarely travel I much prefer cashback rewards over Membership Rewards.

[pizza1]

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@patoot10 wrote:

Hello,

American Express along with Chase offer the best credit cards out there when it comes to points and rewards. Amex underwriting is more lenient that Chase so let me dive into Amex approval rules from my experience.

The only things standing between you and a new Amex card are derogatory marks on Experian. Amex is not inquiry or new accounts sensitive. Anyone with a clean report will get approved for a new card unless you have extremely high utilization that's dragging your score in low 600s. With that being said Amex cli and total exposure are a little bit more complicated but at the very least they are willing to give you $1,000 credit limit that you can recycle easily and get a lot of value be it MR points, SPG points, Delta miles or cashback.

If you are not an Amex customer definitely check for prequalification offers and usually they are very solid but try to wait for a historic high offer for the desired card and don't make the mistake of getting a card without signup bonus that will enroll you in "Amex credit steps" because then you will lose on the signup bonus since Amex has once in a lifetime rule for signup bonuses meaning that if you have/had a specific card at some point in your life you will never be eligible for signup bonus on this card even if you never got one in the first place.

If you are an existing customer with Amex DON'T rely on qualification page. First it's probably going to ask you to login and not show you any offers. Second it's rare to get historic high offers on that page. Instead login into you account and go to view all credit cards then click apply now on the desired card and see if it says "You are pre-approved" OR "Extend your membership". If it says pre-approved then you will most probably get approved with SP for that card. If it says "Extend your membership", then you will get approved with HP. If you got denied in any case you will not get a HP as you are an existing customer. Keep in mind that you will rarely see high historic offers when you are logged into you account and viewing all cards. You will probably be able to pull those offers from external links or using incognito mode in chrome to check Amex cards without logging in. With that being said if you are pre-approved for a card, what you can do is signup for that card using a higher signup offer link without logging into your account and you would still get approved with SP even if you have to fill out a full application and full SSN unlike signing up for a card from within your account where you only enter income and even if you are not pre-approved for a card and willing to take a HP anyway to get it, you should still apply from outside of your account using a higher signup bonus.

For example, Amex green card rarely shows with a signup bonus, BUT in incognito mode you might be able to pull 25,000 MR points after $1,000 of spend and using that page to signup for the card with you being pre-approved already for it will lead to a SP and a signup bonus if approved. Think of that VS actually being pre-approved and signing up for the card while logged on and not getting any signup bonus. Same works out for Hilton Honors card, currently you can attempt a booking on Hilton.com and an offer will pop up with 75,000 Hilton points and $50 statement credit after first purchase on card VS signing up from Amex website and only getting Hilton points.

Also keep in mind that you can only have 5 credit cards and any number of charge cards, so if you apply for a 6th credit card they will force you to close one of your 5 credit cards to get approved. I read a lot about Amex application rules where you only get 2 approvals in 90 days and 2 cards (one credit, one charge) in one day but I don't think that's true or at least not enforced according to my experience and people's data points, so if you are already getting a HP to get one card then apply for a second one to merge HPs given that you will be able to satisfy the minimum spend required on both cards.

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You dont need a "clean report" to be approved for an AMEX card. Tons of approvals with folks that have BK on their file, which is the worst derog of them all.  They just have to wait out 5 yrs post file date to apply.  Also, lots of folks approved with lates etc...so, this statement isnt true at all.  But, thank you for the post according to your experience. 

[longtimelurker]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:

What I think would be useful is an explanation of the different cards Amex offers, they have so many it's confusing to me. For example it's said you can only have 5 credit/revolver cards, I didn't know they have 5 revolvers cards. I have Blue Cash Everyday & Everyday, and there's the preferred version of both so I guess that's 4 revolvers, but I don't think you can both the everyday & preferred versions and even if you could it wouldn't make much sense to have both. And they seem to have 4-5 versions of a Delta card and the same for Hilton.

And what about Annual Fees? Many if not most of their cards have AFs, I don't/won't do Annual Fees, period. My attitude is these days they pay me to carry & use their card, not the other way around. Yeah, I get that for some high income and/or frequent travelers it can make sense when the rewards far outweigh the AF, but I don't fit either of those categories. I have a current offer to upgrade my BCE to Preferred with $250 SUB, but that doesn't make financial sense to me: I'm single and don't spend that much on groceries, and much of my grocery spend is at Costco and Walmart which aren't included in the 6% rewards on groceries, and I already have a 3% gas card. I also have an offer for Premier Rewards Gold Card, that's above my spend grade, and as I rarely travel I much prefer cashback rewards over Membership Rewards.

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It's really not restricted to high income/frequent travelers (although they are more likely to benefit).   The BCP is in some way the poster child for this.   Assuming the choices are a free 3% grocery card (BCE or something from other issuers) or the BCP, forgetting sign up bonuses and extra on gas/department stores, you need to spend only $3200 a year on groceries (at "real" supermarkets) for the BCP AF to be justified.   That's not a huge spend for a family.    And there are other examples.

Personally I find this way of viewing things a little misguided.   Instead of considering the AF as a seperate item, just consider net rewards.  Then choose the card that maximizes net rewards for your spend.   You can make this more complex if you wish, e.g.   if I currently buy groceries at Walmart with a 2% card, would I be better off instead using the BCP at another store (or Amazon at Whole Foods etc) but generally saying "No AF cards for me!" might remove good choices.

[longtimelurker]

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@pizza1 wrote:

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You dont need a "clean report" to be approved for an AMEX card. Tons of approvals with folks that have BK on their file, which is the worst derog of them all.  They just have to wait out 5 yrs post file date to apply.  Also, lots of folks approved with lates etc...so, this statement isnt true at all.  But, thank you for the post according to your experience. 

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Yes, the title is a little "click-bait"    Something like "My experience with Amex approval" rather than a claim to correctness and definitiveness!

[CreditCuriosity]

@patoot10 I changed your title and added "My Opinion Only" at the end of it as your post title is misleading/inaccurate.  Alot of the information in the post is correct and alot of the information is incorrect.  Part of this forum is to inform less seasoned people to make informed decisions.  Unless you work for Amex please don't make such claims, etc... Such as clean files, etc. as this simply isn't true although other parts are.  We don't want to give people false information.  

[patoot10]

longtimelurker & pizza1

I didn't mention that a deragatory mark will not get you approved. I merely said its standing in your way (i.e a difficulty).

My point was that with a clean report its super easy to get approved, but I guess you guys just read too much into it.

[patoot10]

You mentioned that I have incorrect info in my topic yet you didn't mention anything except for the clean report part which if you read my previous reply should give an idea what I meant.

The info in this topic is gold and if people are only allowed to post info about lenders if they work for then then I probably missed something in the terms of this website.