I had the gold card, and my SUB at the time was 50K MRs for only $1K spend. I still had one very old late on my file at the time and figured out quickly that the most I could spend without receiving an email or a text about being close to my internal limit was around $2K. I got tired of getting the notices and ended up cancelling the card. I opened my current Amex card to store my MRs. Amex is currently offering me 150K MRs for $6K spend in six months for the Platinum card and 90K MRs for $4K spend in six months for the gold. I'm not apping for either, as I'm not interested in dealing with the previous headache (although I'm probably ok now since my file is clean) and my lifestyle doesn't fit them. I have more than enough credit elsewhere and they aren't my focus right now. They usually take your average spend over several months to get your internal limit.
BCE has a limit and is a Credit Card.
Green, Gold, Plat are not credit cards they are charge cards... You can check your buying power before a purchase to know if you would be approved. Once advantage of chrage cards is they are not factored on utilization meaning you can hide your spending from the fico scoring metrics.
@Beefy1212 wrote:BCE has a limit and is a Credit Card.
Green, Gold, Plat are not credit cards they are charge cards... You can check your buying power before a purchase to know if you would be approved. Once advantage of chrage cards is they are not factored on utilization meaning you can hide your spending from the fico scoring metrics.
True, however I've had to argue with underwriters during physical review that try to factor the reported balance due into monthly DTI. It's frustrating!!
@fury1995 wrote:
@Beefy1212 wrote:BCE has a limit and is a Credit Card.
Green, Gold, Plat are not credit cards they are charge cards... You can check your buying power before a purchase to know if you would be approved. Once advantage of chrage cards is they are not factored on utilization meaning you can hide your spending from the fico scoring metrics.True, however I've had to argue with underwriters during physical review that try to factor the reported balance due into monthly DTI. It's frustrating!!
Well it is a debt owed, FICO score metric or not.
No Preset Spending Limit is not the same as Unlimited. There is a dynamically assigned spending limit, but the overwhelming majority of cardholders never know what this amount is and never have an issue with it. I've had Amex charge cards for 21 years and have never had a charge declined or been asked to make a payment to continue spending. As a rule of thumb, serious delinquencies appearing on your reports and/or previous unsatisfactory relationships with American Express are the most common reasons for bumping up against that limit. Spending amounts or stated income that grossly outweigh income information available to American Express, rapidly escalating debt, and introduction of new delinquencies can also cause this, although in many cases those result in a Preset Spending Limit.
@Beefy1212 wrote:
@fury1995 wrote:
@Beefy1212 wrote:BCE has a limit and is a Credit Card.
Green, Gold, Plat are not credit cards they are charge cards... You can check your buying power before a purchase to know if you would be approved. Once advantage of chrage cards is they are not factored on utilization meaning you can hide your spending from the fico scoring metrics.True, however I've had to argue with underwriters during physical review that try to factor the reported balance due into monthly DTI. It's frustrating!!
Well it is a debt owed, FICO score metric or not.
I'm not sure if this was exactly the circumstance that @fury1995 experienced, but a case I did have was on my first mortgage when I owed over $50k in Pay Over Time balances to Amex. Charge cards always report the full statement balance as the minimum monthly payment regardless of any Pay Over Time or Plan It terms. For DTI calculations, I had over $50k due monthly to Amex at the time according my credit reports although my actual minimum payments were a fraction of that.
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@Beefy1212 wrote:
@fury1995 wrote:
@Beefy1212 wrote:BCE has a limit and is a Credit Card.
Green, Gold, Plat are not credit cards they are charge cards... You can check your buying power before a purchase to know if you would be approved. Once advantage of chrage cards is they are not factored on utilization meaning you can hide your spending from the fico scoring metrics.True, however I've had to argue with underwriters during physical review that try to factor the reported balance due into monthly DTI. It's frustrating!!
Well it is a debt owed, FICO score metric or not.
I'm not sure if this was exactly the circumstance that @fury1995 experienced, but a case I did have was on my first mortgage when I owed over $50k in Pay Over Time balances to Amex. Charge cards always report the full statement balance as the minimum monthly payment regardless of any Pay Over Time or Plan It terms. For DTI calculations, I had over $50k due monthly to Amex at the time according my credit reports although my actual minimum payments were a fraction of that.
Correct the monthly obligation would be weight against income to determine a DTI value, just like any outstanding debt.
I have had the AMEX Platinum for close to 10 months now. It is also my very first charge card. My income is borderline 6 figures and my scores at the time of approval was in the mid-600's. They gave me a POT (Pay Over Time) limit of $4,000, which I used as a guide for how much spend I would put on the card.
The card is okay. The warnings about future transactions possibly being declined and recommending I pay my balance down can be a little annoying, but I've never had a single transaction denied on the card yet. I'm cancelling the card when my next annual fee posts, because after using the credits for my specific lifestyle, the card still ends up having a $210 annual fee. I don't use the AMEX lounges. Domestic first-class airplane tickets and premium-class international airplane tickets normally include lounge access anyway.
If you do decide to get an AMEX charge card, make sure you understand how it works before you get yourself into trouble. lol
Edit: Although, there is a small part of me that wants to keep it open. I absolutely love using AMEX travel. I've booked hotels from California all the way to Japan and it was a very seemless process. Also, their customer service is outstanding.
