13 months ago, I went 120 days late on 4 student loan accounts. I had good credit before that, but afterwards I obviously didn't. As of June 2017, my scores hovered around 600. After almost a year of rebuilding, my scores sat between 683 and 700, and I had a prequalifcation offer for the Amex Gold.
I wanted to apply, but I wasn't convinced that I could be approved for any good cards with 120 day lates being only a year old. Nevertheless I gave it a go, and to my surprise I was approved immediately for the gold card with an EX Fico 8 of 683, 1% utilization, and 4 HPs. So I suppose it's possible to apply for nice cards once your uber lates reach at least a year old, but that's not all that happened...
After I applied, the HP dropped my score by 4 points, to 679. I was fine with that, but I noticed something strange: When that happened, the "recent late payment" reason code, which disappeared when my lates reached a year old, suddenly reappeared, even though they were only a year old. This only happened on my EX Score. It become even more interesting because a few weeks later, a HP from last year aged to a year, and I received the ponts back - it increased my score back to 683, and the "recent late payment" reason code disappeared again. Bizarre.
I am wondering if anyone has any info on how lenders view severe lates over a year old. I would've thought I had no chance on applying for decent cards, but apparently I do... at least for Amex. I am half interested in applying for the CSR or Amex Platinum in the Fall - but I am not sure how those lates will be viewed in that case. Anyone have any ideas? If it helps, by that time I will have had a perfect 3 year history with Chase (Amazon Prime Signature Rewards Card) and a 6 month history with the Amex Gold, and my EX score will be over 700... I am new to Amex, but I have already noticed a few prompts from them (already) to try upgrading to the Platinum - is that standard? Thanks.
