The damage from a hard pull is grossly overrated. The sting from a new tradeline reporting and a loss of average age of accounts is far more damaging. Although if someone is typically not going to be approved for most of the cards they apply for, I suppose the SCT and SP strategy could make sense to avoid racking up lots of HPs.
For most current American Express cardholders, new applications have been done with a SP this year. Previously they were a SP if denied and a HP if approved in most cases for existing cardholders.
@K-in-Boston wrote:.....
For most current American Express cardholders, new applications have been done with a SP this year. Previously they were a SP if denied and a HP if approved in most cases for existing cardholders.
Whatttttttttt? AE is a soft pull now if you are approved?
You still can be hp'd for approvals , even if current card holder its just been happening more often. YMMV as always
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
You still can be hp'd for approvals , even if current card holder its just been happening more often. YMMV as always
That's true but the vast majority of new approvals in the last 6 months or so for existing Amex customers have been SPs
Yeah I think for 2017 I have only seen a few rare exceptions to the new gentler "soft pulls all around" method Amex is trying out. My SPG was a SP in March. My last HP from American Express was in 2003.