I thought I'd give you guys a run down of my experience with American Express. You can take it for what it's worth. I have no idea if this is typical or atypical, it's just what has happened to me. Or even if this would bring the same results to someone else
In January of 2008, when I started my first career as a consultant who would be travelling 70% of the time, I applied for a Hilton Honors American Express. At that time, I had no idea that an American Express was somewhat difficult to obtain, which is why I applied in the first place. I applied with two collections and 5 late payments (2 30s, 60, 90, 120) on my credit report, all between 12-24 months ago. I was approved for a $1,000 credit limit. It was backdated to 1984 which makes me believe that my approval had something to do with my dad's AmEx that he had had since 1984.
I used the card for every purchase and paid it down as soon as the balance reached about $100 or immediately after a business trip, which often approached the credit limit. I paid upwards of 5-10 times per month. Because this was starting to be a hassle, I applied several times on the website for a CLI during the first year having the card. It was denied each time. Discouraged, I stopped requesting CLI's until about 18 months. All the while, I continued to charge everything and immediately pay it off. At 18 months when i applied for a CLI, the CSR asked me what I would like my limit to be. I told him $5000. He came back and said that if I would request $3000 then it would be approved. Of course, I accepted.
For the next 7 months I continued the same pattern, paying off the entire balance 5 or 6 times per month and never letting it get above about $300 for more than a day or two. Yesterday, I called to request another CLI as it had been six months. I confirmed with the CSR that they didn't grant CLIs more than 3x the current limit. So I requested $9000 and was approved. That is by far my largest credit limit and I couldn't be more thrilled.
I will say, that during this time I used the assistance of this site to get rid of the two collections on my credit report. Although, I'm not sure if that was a factor as they didn't do a hard pull on my credit either time.
Also a factor that could haved affected my CLIs, in the two years that I've had the card, I've run through $45,000 through the card.
Just thought I'd share in case this could possibly help someone out.
