delta skymiles gold amex - declined :(

[Mey9968646]

i've been getting a ton of e-mails about applying for the delta skymiles gold amex (i used to have a northwest airlines visa which ceased to exist due to nw's merger with delta). i applied and -- DENIED! bummer! the reason is that my equifax score was too low. they cited a delinquent account from about 5 years ago. boo, no 20,000 signup miles for me!

now. i am a little confused about credit cards in general, so here is my question. delta has another amex card, the "regular" card, with less perks, but a lower annual fee. same apr. i'm wondering if it would be worth it to apply for that one. do i have any chance of being approved for the "lower tier" card, or when it comes to amex in general am i just screwed? obviously don't want my score to take a hit by applying if i have no chance of being approved.

my TU and EQ scores are in the very high 600s-low 700s. it's been awhile since i pulled the scores (will likely do so in the near future) but im guessing they're around 705-710 or so, judging from past trends. no problems since that delinquent account was paid off a few years back. 

Message Edited by katellis on 12-03-2009 04:03 PM

Message Edited by katellis on 12-03-2009 04:04 PM

[Creditaddict]

if your going to take another hit from amex, I would look at a charge card only otherwise i would say no to apply again

[westcon5]

I recently received a pre-APPROVED certificate from AMEX for the Delta Gold Skymiles card. I decided to take a shot and accepted online. Well, I got an instant approval (to my surprise). Unfortunately, they pulled all three reports! This is my first AMEX. I've been looking for an AMEX for a few months and the pre-selector site never came up with any cards. All you are going to do is waste another hard (or more than one).

Have you tried their pre-approval link to see if you qualify for any of their cards? This might be a good idea before wasting anymore inquiries. I have also had luck with other companies by calling them before applying and asking them their scoring criteria to see if I was in the ballpark.