I have only ever seen the thing about "expanding your membership is easy" until tonight. I did get a prequalification (not preapproval, prequalification) for Delta Gold starting about a week ago. I applied for it and was rejected, reconned and was still rejected. Tonight, I noticed I was "preapproved" for every credit card (interestingly, not for charge cards). The two things I know changed are 1) I hit my one-month anniversary with the Gold Card, maybe a month is meaningful for internal scoring, 2) I closed a couple of secured cards yesterday. But maybe they just like how I'm using/paying my Gold Card. I wonder why there isn't more transparency on this stuff, so we're left to wonder. Who would it hurt to remove the guesswork?
@Anonymous wrote:
More transparency how? They told you that you’re preapproved.
For starters, if you asked 100 people the difference between prequalified and preapproved, most would say there is no difference. That should be spelled out. Asterisk the word and put a sentence or two at the bottom of the page saying what it means.
But in my example, I was denied (even on recon) last week, then approved this week ... why? Some things may have changed in a way that's significant in their internal scoring (I may have gone from having the prior card for 25 days to having it for 31 days or something), but in reality, nothing significant changed in that week. Same FICO scores, actually a few points worse for unrelated reasons, same income etc. How do you go from turned down even on recon, to preapproved, in a week? By the way, I did get the card when I applied again last night ... the same day I received the letter saying my prior recon was turned down! If there is, for example, a rule that you can't get a second card until you've had the first card for a month, just say that. Who would it hurt?
And, that's one example. If you've been on this board for any length of time, you've seen many, many examples of approvals and denials that don't seem to make sense. I am sure they do make sense for some obscure internal reason, and that is what I am talking about. They can do what they like, but I really don't know who the secrecy helps.
@Anonymous wrote:
...Now the incognito method... for your card in question is offering 50K/$2K spend vs 35K when just a normal browser window.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/?category=all
Okay, I checked. Signed in, I'm pre-approved with a 35K offer for a card offering 50K incognito. How do I get the larger offer?
@Anonymous wrote:Doesn't matter which method you use other than if you want a higher bonus upon approval.
Key things to look for when you click the APPLY button:
"you're pre-approved" = SP
"expand your membership" = HP
Now the incognito method... for your card in question is offering 50K/$2K spend vs 35K when just a normal browser window.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/?category=all
Now, if you're pre-approved for 1 card you're typically pre-approved for all of the cards. IF you don't have a specific need for Gold w/ $250 AF then look at the other offers and find something that fits better.
Expand your membership is not a guaranteed HP. It can result in an HP, but it usually isn't.
