Discover > Amex

[Anonymous]

I have 2 revolving accounts. A Citi Platinum select with a 9700 limit, and a Discover Miles with a now 3000 limit. They upped me from 1,000 to 3,000 after a hard pull on transunion this morning. No big deal.  Anyways, I have had the discover now for 6 months, the citi for a year and a half. Just apped for the AMEX bluesky a couple weeks ago and intsant denial. No baddies or lates ever, and i never carry any balances more than like 50$. Discover gave me a chance with only 1 credit card and 1 year of history 6 months ago, which was pretty lenient, considering how everyone on this board claims they are just as hard or even harder to get in with than AMEX. I had around a 720 FICO at the time. I'll pass on AMEX, they lost a  future good paying customer.  I'll just let my discover and Citi grow with me.

[Anonymous]

Mine is the opposite story of yours. I have AMEX blue sky for a year and half now and was instantly approved online back in Dec 08. But when I apped for Discover, I get instant denied, well it was mainly due to excessive inquiries on my TU report, it was like 8 or 10 inquiries. They told me to retry again in the future when the inquiries are off.. So I still have a chance with Discover.

I also got the Citi Platinum Select for 5 months now, waiting for 6 months to get CLI..

AMEX BlueSky is a great card with great rewards, the only problem is that AMEX doesn't accept everywhere.

I'm growing with Citi Plat and AMEX , will try to app for Discover in a year or two from now..

[moonman]

Amex has their own credit criteria as far as scores go so it can be very difficult to get in with them even with good scores.

[TangMeister]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have 2 revolving accounts. A Citi Platinum select with a 9700 limit, and a Discover Miles with a now 3000 limit. They upped me from 1,000 to 3,000 after a hard pull on transunion this morning. No big deal.  Anyways, I have had the discover now for 6 months, the citi for a year and a half. Just apped for the AMEX bluesky a couple weeks ago and intsant denial. No baddies or lates ever, and i never carry any balances more than like 50$. Discover gave me a chance with only 1 credit card and 1 year of history 6 months ago, which was pretty lenient, considering how everyone on this board claims they are just as hard or even harder to get in with than AMEX. I had around a 720 FICO at the time. I'll pass on AMEX, they lost a  future good paying customer.  I'll just let my discover and Citi grow with me.

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Sorry for the unpleasant result on your Amex application, but don't judge Amex based on this one result.  Aside from what a prior poster has said, very, very few people would be approved for an Amex revolving credit product with the short credit history you mentioned.  They like to see a few years revolving credit experience  before approving virtually anyone.

It's also best to apply for a charge card with them first.  Their revolving credit offerings...such as Blue, Blue Cash, Blue Sky, CostCo, etc...are their most difficult to get approved for.  Their charge card products are much easier...such as Zync, Green, and Gold.  If you research Amex on here and other credit sites, you'll see that there's a pattern/game plan to get in with them (charge card first).

If it were me, I'd view this denial as a learning lesson, and let it go.  You simply didn't understand how they operate; that's all.  If you truly want an Amex, go for the Zync Card first.  It's geared toward people with a shorter credit history.   Use their preapproval site to see if you qualify. 

In qualifying credit terms, HSBC, Capital One, etc...are middle school.  Chase, Citi, BoA, etc...are high school.  Discover Card is senior year of high school, and Amex is college level. 

[Anonymous]

I am pre-approved for the zync as well as the gold and green. And i realized that it helps to get a charge card with them first, but i went ahead and apped anyways. I think AMEX's little "getting in with the charge card" game is absolutely stupid. Who do they think they are? I understand the whole short credit history thing, but thinking back, I have heard more negative things about that company BY FAR than any other ccc on this board. I DO NOT want to open a new account for a charge card with a ridiculous annual fee that i will just end up closing (yes i know some will say you can PC but some people have not been able to go from charge to credit card) eventually after i got their credit card i wanted. Not worth it to me. that whole little philosophy they have is ridiculous. For now, I'll say AMEX can keep freezing other peoples accounts with no notice, closing peoples accounts, and snooping into peoples tax records. I'll pass on that.  If they dont want to give me credit like discover and citi, well, looks who's won my business.

[CHARGE_IT]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am pre-approved for the zync as well as the gold and green. And i realized that it helps to get a charge card with them first, but i went ahead and apped anyways. I think AMEX's little "getting in with the charge card" game is absolutely stupid. Who do they think they are? I understand the whole short credit history thing, but thinking back, I have heard more negative things about that company BY FAR than any other ccc on this board. I DO NOT want to open a new account for a charge card with a ridiculous annual fee that i will just end up closing (yes i know some will say you can PC but some people have not been able to go from charge to credit card) eventually after i got their credit card i wanted. Not worth it to me. that whole little philosophy they have is ridiculous. For now, I'll say AMEX can keep freezing other peoples accounts with no notice, closing peoples accounts, and snooping into peoples tax records. I'll pass on that.  If they dont want to give me credit like discover and citi, well, looks who's won my business.

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You are correct, I don't believe you and Amex are made for each other.

CI

[smc733]

I'd be inclined to agree.  Amex is kind of a big spender's card, especially the charge card, where the benefits only outweigh the AF if you spend heavily.  It sounds like the OP should be fine with Citi Visa/MC and Discover.

[Anonymous]

I think you're taking it too personally.  

You've got a year and a half of credit history and applied for one of their most difficult cards to be accepted for.  In the credit world a year and a half isn't much.

[Anonymous]

The OP said he would let his Discover and Citi grow with him and I think that is a smart move. You have to have patience building credit.

Years ago I applied with less than one year of credit history and was instantly denied. I didn't bother applying again until I got an invitation to accept the card about a year later. Even then I still did not get an instant approval online, but I got the card in the mail a week later. It was a great feeling to get that plain white envelope!

[score_building]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I think you're taking it too personally.  

You've got a year and a half of credit history and applied for one of their most difficult cards to be accepted for.  In the credit world a year and a half isn't much.

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+1

When they say in the amex rejection letter that experience has shown them that an applicant who is denied at one time may be approved a short time later -it isn't just lip service.  Amex took AA against me a couple of years ago but is now approving me for new cc and giving CLI on existing accts.  I think we are sometimes too quick to write off an issuer in response to AA, sometimes it isn't an indicator of what the future can hold... *steps down from soap box*