What do credit card companies look for?!?! Ahhh..

[Anonymous]

Only the lender who issued that particular card/account knows what, when and how often you pay before your statement cut, everyone else including new lenders (Amex in this case) only get to see what is on the statement, not how you got there. For example, if you PIF before statement cut and report $0 balance, lenders (other than the issuer) will probably assume you didn't use the card(s) during that cycle, this is why I often question the merit of AZEO despite the possible slight scoring bump. If you let a balance report to the statement, lenders only know that you've reported a balance (or used the card), none of them will know if you PIF the day after the statement (never understood why someone would do this), PIF by due day or carry it over to the next statement (paying interest). So to answer your original question on whether your payment behavior or if you're an interest paying customer affected your application with Amex, the answer is no, because they have no way of telling by looking at your credit report.

[Anonymous]

The Capital one is completely useless. The Discover has cash back( 200 secured limit though) . The Quicksilver does as well.(300 limit so basically pointless as well) Meijer MasterCard is decent if I just use it at Meijer and double dip those rewards with store rewards( equals like 4% back).
Kohl’s is like 5 years old. Walmart 5-6. Barely use them. The rest are all within the last year of me reestablishing. The newest was the Quicksilver. I didn’t even know the limit until they sent me the card and because I already took the hit with 3 credit pulls I just activated it. I really didn’t want it with such a low limit and $39 yearly fee. It’s hard to even recoup the cost via rewards with such a small limit. Oh well.
I just thought if I used them enough, they would increase credit limits or something.. wishful thinking??

[Shadowfactor]

What’s your average age of accounts ?

Amex likes to see atleast a year of history. If you started over after everything fell off your reports And just started getting credit cards again with a blank report. I could see that being the reason. Not enough history.

[Anonymous]

A lot of times I have no actual amount “due” but have a new balance.. I usually let one or two cards cut with a small amount. The rest don’t. I just use them and pay them. Since I have such a small amount of total available credit I can’t really allow much to report even though I spend quite a bit per month.. So I make a bunch of payments before they do which is maybe what they see.. I didn’t realize they can view your actual payment amounts.. hmmm. If I had a decent card with like 3-5k limit I could just use that one card and pay it completely off in one single lump sum every month. That’s what I’m working towards... It was so much easier just paying cash but now I realize the important of credit so it’s definitely a learning experience.

[Anonymous]

And here I thought I finally had it figured out..Ugh... Then, I am completely confused and even calling for further clarification led nowhere. I guess Amex just doesn’t want my business and that’s their right.. nexttt...lol

[Anonymous]

1 year 3 months after Quicksilver opened.

Wouldn’t they list that as a reason for denial though? They only listed the two reasons.

[Shadowfactor]

They basically did.
The second reason you listed states too few established accounts.

They don’t feel like you have enough positive tradelines on your report.

Amex can be weird. I’ve seen them deny people in the 700’s and let in people in the low 600’s

You also applied for one of the hardest Amex cards to get. The core Amex Revolver’s have the strictest underwriting.

Try the Prequalified site and see if anything comes up, but you have to wait 30 days before applying for anymore Amex products. Otherwise it will be another auto denial based on their policy.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymouswrote:
And here I thought I finally had it figured out..Ugh... Then, I am completely confused and even calling for further clarification led nowhere. I guess Amex just doesn’t want my business and that’s their right.. nexttt...lol

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My own experiance in my 20's parents always gave me cash so I never cared about having a credit card... until later in life my file was non existant or thin after opening a checking account and doing some bill payments,etc I then had a bank take a chance on me... and offer was given for say 800 SL and I took it my score at the time was 700's so I was told, walked out of the bank with a very positive outlook from then on this was 5 years 1 month ago so around 2013... That one card opened up many doors for future cards which I had no doubt in my mind it would everyone's journey will be different some started out with secured credit cards or loans, co-app,etc.

[Anonymous]

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@Shadowfactorwrote:
They basically did.
The second reason you listed states too few established accounts.

They don’t feel like you have enough positive tradelines on your report.

Amex can be weird. I’ve seen them deny people in the 700’s and let in people in the low 600’s

You also applied for one of the hardest Amex cards to get. The core Amex Revolver’s have the strictest underwriting.

Try the Prequalified site and see if anything comes up, but you have to wait 30 days before applying for anymore Amex products. Otherwise it will be another auto denial based on their policy.

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+1

[Anonymous]

You’re right they did.. I guess I jumped the gun. I only applied because Experian and CK suggested it with “very good approval” odds.. hmmm. I guess “very good” is subjective lol. Rejection sucks.
I honestly don’t need any credit cards, but I would love to have a great card one day for travel rewards, ect.. I’m still new to all of this and have no clue about the criteria for certain cards or credit in general. I’ve been cash only for a long time 😬

I appreciate the feedback and help clarifying! Thanks guys!