Lower interest rate with AmEx? CLI?

[Weights]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@improvingmycredit wrote:

Yes- there's been a lot of success with APR reduction.  I personally have had them reduce my APR.  Take care of the account if you decide to keep it and it will grow.

As 370Z said- check out the thread about 61 day CLI.  As long as your profile stays the same or improves- you'll likely be at $1500 CL At the 61 day mark.  

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@+1 - and your CL could be as high as $4.5k in about 241 days (3xCLI request @ day 61, another 3xCLI request 180 days thereafter).  My first AmEx starting CL is @ $1k.  Not disappointing primarily because of its potential growth within the next year.  Not sure how about AmEx's guidelines for interest rate reductions - but,. as the previous posters mentioned, the recent threads re: successful interest rate reductions w/AmEx is definitely encouraging.  PIF is what I typically try to do, but knowing that a lower interest rate may be possible in the future is a good thing to know!

Anyway, I agree with the others that keeping your AmEx is advisable.  I think, in the long run, you'll be happy that you did.

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+1.  I know it doesn't seem like much right now, but AMEX is better about CLI than most other creditors out there.  You'll know how frustrating this same thing can be if you ever have an account and try it with the likes of Capital One and Chase for example.  Capital One almost never allows customer initiated CLI, unless you get lucky through the EO route, and Chase almost always insist on a HP with rare auto CLI.  I'm not sure it would help, but you could try calling the new applications department, and ask them if they would manually review your application for considreation of a higher initial limit.  Keep in mind, that with the 3X CLI,  you may even end up with a five figure limit in just a little over a year. 

[Anonymous]

^^^ Funny you mention CapitalOne. They were the FIRST card I ever got. I was 18 years old and 32 now and still have it. But here's the thing: When I first got it I had a $500 limit. Within just a few months this was bumped to $1500. But 14 years after that and it is STILL at $1500. I did request a CLI a few months ago and was denied. It is a CapOne Platinum card. 

Sounds like I'm in for an adventure with this AmEx card. At least, I hope so. I'll be curious to see what happens with it over the next year. I'll certainly be working to improve my standing with them.

[Weights]

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@Anonymous wrote:

^^^ Funny you mention CapitalOne. They were the FIRST card I ever got. I was 18 years old and 32 now and still have it. But here's the thing: When I first got it I had a $500 limit. Within just a few months this was bumped to $1500. But 14 years after that and it is STILL at $1500. I did request a CLI a few months ago and was denied. It is a CapOne Platinum card. 

Sounds like I'm in for an adventure with this AmEx card. At least, I hope so. I'll be curious to see what happens with it over the next year. I'll certainly be working to improve my standing with them.

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I'm sure that if you treat AMEX right, they'll return the favor.  They really like spending and PIF, even on their revolvers like BCE.  Your experience with Capital One doesn't surprise me.  This, in addition to their overall seemingly subpar customer service, is personally why I'll never apply for one.  Not even one of their premiere cards.  The only advantage I see with them is no FTF, but with my credit union cards that only charge a 1% FTF, it's not that big of a loss to me.  

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm still okay with CapOne for two reasons:

1. They gave me my first card.

2. When I was late on a couple of payments, they did jack the rate up pretty high but nowhere near as high as Providian did (31.99%!), which was the only other card I had at the time. So they kind of came across as the lesser of evils.

While I understand the downside of closing accounts, when Providian pushed my rate up so high I said either lower it or close my account. They wouldn't lower it, so I closed my account. Good riddance. 

[Weights]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I guess I'm still okay with CapOne for two reasons:

1. They gave me my first card.

2. When I was late on a couple of payments, they did jack the rate up pretty high but nowhere near as high as Providian did (31.99%!), which was the only other card I had at the time. So they kind of came across as the lesser of evils.

While I understand the downside of closing accounts, when Providian pushed my rate up so high I said either lower it or close my account. They wouldn't lower it, so I closed my account. Good riddance. 

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Don't blame you there.  I personally have a grudge against Capital One admittedly, because after they sold my Best Buy account to Citi, they refused to delete their tradeline, even though Citi is reporting as well with the same exact information (opening date, payment history, etc).  The duplicate tradeline is impacting my AAoA.  Thankfully, when I called Equifax and Transunion up to explain this, they agreed to delete the tradeline from Capital One. Experian, like it's normal self, is being stubborn about it.  I may have just gotten lucky with the other two.  Hopefully, it's not doing much damage, since I was never late on it or anything like that, but how can I control something like that?  One thing I love about AMEX is backdating if you open other accounts with them in the future.  That's why I say, keep the account open and use it responsibly.  I'm sure Amex will show you some love overtime. 

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It appears that they have given me what I assume is the lowest possible credit limit at $500. And even worse, the highest interest rate at 21.99%. The limit is bad enough but the interest rate is just not acceptable at all. I don't expect to get the best rates out there, but about 15.99% is about as high as I can go without feeling violated.

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What was your credit like when you applied?  What was your utilization like?  The latter can definitely have a significant impact on the limits and APR that you get.  I've posted this many times here so I apologize to those that are reading this again but:

Near the end of 2012 my utilization was over 60%.  I applied for a Slate and Chase approved it with a $2K limit and the highest APR in the bracket.  About 5 months later I dropped my utilization under 10%.  There were no other changes.   Applied for the CSP and UMPE and both were instantly approved with $25K limits each.  APRs are fixed on those but I applied for the BCP at the same time (also an instant approval) and while it didn't received the best APR in the bracket it was at the low end.  I'm not saying that your credit supports such limits and APR's.  I'm just pointing out that utilization can severely hold you back.  If you're trying to decide whether to app now or work on improving your utilization (or other items with your credit) then you might want to do the latter in the future instead of giving in to the temptation to apply and ending up with potentially lower CL's and higher APR's.

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@Anonymous wrote:

What I guess has me stroking my chin a bit is the fact that maybe 4 months ago I was approved for a Discover IT with a $2500 limit and a 15.9% interest rate, and just last week I was approved for a card through Security Service credit union for a $2000 limit at 9.5% interest. So to get such a low limit with a poor interest rate feels kind of like a slap in the face. 

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Underwriting criteria vary by creditor so you can't just assume that because A gave you a certain limit and APR that B will do the same or similar.  While not all are, a lot of credit unions have more lax requirements so be careful comparing them to other creditors (at least factor this in when you're comparing).  Also, your credit can certainly change between apps.  I don't know that you detailed everything that changed with your credit over those 4 months but based on what I quoted above you had at least 2 more inquiries, a reduced AAoA and more available credit -- probably without an increase in income.

It's not AmEx slapping you in the face.  It's your credit.  AmEx has given me much better limits and APR's than Discover.  As with anyting credit related, YMMV depending on credit.  

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@Anonymous wrote:

Because if 20+% is the best they can do on the interest rate I might just close the account and forget I ever opened it. 

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I'd suggest keeping it open and building with it.  The damage from the inquiry and hit to AAoA (unless your MSD would improve your AAoA) are already done.

AmEx can certainly grow with you but it's going to take time.

[Anonymous]

EDIT

[Anonymous]

Takeshi, 

When I applied for the Discover IT (which they actually pursued me on quite aggressively, I got apps in the mail every few days until I finally applied) my score was around 690. The other day when the credit union pulled it my TU score was 677. My utilization is very high though. Most of my existing cards are pretty close to maxed. I know I need to pay them down.

As for keeping the account open, my main thought in potentially closing it was that maybe it would be easier to close the account, wait six months and then apply again when my credit is in better shape than it would be to wrestle with them to get a CLI and lower interest rate. But I really don't know, which is why I asked. 

[chwebb1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Takeshi, 

When I applied for the Discover IT (which they actually pursued me on quite aggressively, I got apps in the mail every few days until I finally applied) my score was around 690. The other day when the credit union pulled it my TU score was 677. My utilization is very high though. Most of my existing cards are pretty close to maxed. I know I need to pay them down.

As for keeping the account open, my main thought in potentially closing it was that maybe it would be easier to close the account, wait six months and then apply again when my credit is in better shape than it would be to wrestle with them to get a CLI and lower interest rate. But I really don't know, which is why I asked. 

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My experience with AMEX so far would say that you should keep the account. I've had my BCE since early June 2013, and at 61 days, they gave me a very nice CLI. They started me at $2800, and they gave me $4300. I PIF that card (and all of my other cards) before the statement cuts, so that could possibly be why they seem to like me. FWIW, I also have a 17.99% APR with them. I plan to ask for an APR reduction around December of this year.

[Anonymous]

^^^ I'm sure I'll hold onto it. Probably will ask for a CLI after 60 days and then a CLI and APR reduction after six months. Hopefully they will be cool about it.

Regarding paying in full, some say it's best to pay BEFORE the statement hits and some say after. Is there any hard data on this?