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Finally got my first Amex but had some questions.....

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Finally got my first Amex but had some questions.....

This is a weird thing so hear me out. I am currently getting my credit together. As of this post, my scores are 607 Eq, 624 Tu, 634Ex. In the past two years, I have 2 accounts that I was 30 days late on. One of those accounts early this year. I have a ton of inquiries. To put that in perspective, my EQ has 80 inquiries. 50 from car shopping, then I went back saying they could get me done, and they did it again.. Went to another dealer, hit me also. I knew better, but really needed a car. The other two credit places have about 40 each. The good thing is by august 2018, 51 will fall off of equifax and 30 off of transunion. Experian has about 37. Only 16 will remain until august. Besides all of this and and the two accounts that have been paid on time for at least 11 mos and the other for 16 months. Im trying to be transparent with this to get a solid answer to my question to you all. The rest of my file has been paid on time no issues. Several increases through several cards. I have great positive credit. Oh, I have a bankruptcy ch 7 thats 7 years old, with two collections. I have come from a 398 score to where im at now in the before mention score range. 

 

I had been trying  for years to get a amex card. I knew i couldnt get one, but hell i tried anyways. I mean it didnt hurt me as i used the pre-qualified tool. Well today out of all days, this day of january 31,2017, I was pre qualified for an Amex Green card! I couldnt believe it. I had all this bad history, terrible history on my back. I eventually was approved for the card. I called to see if they had a card with monthly payments. I didnt qualify for one of those. I just got the charge card. The rep told me that i could get the gold rewards in addition to the green.Hell, he said i could get the Silver Platinum as well, but $595.00 per year is crazy.  That was also on pre-qualify. I decided to accept that too. Now, with my luck, i'll get a call tomorrow saying that there was a glitch in the system. Lol. Also let me know about eveything needs to be paid on the due date.

 

So what do you guys think? What could have helped me? This is a real true story. Just dont know what to make of it. Am I part of "the experient group"? I just feel weird about it. Like i said i have turned things around 95% from where i was in march 2016 when i started this journey. I mean, the negatives are still showing. My income is fair  at almost 50K and have accumulated some savings since i started rebuilding. . Im just floored. I wont use these for anything heavy. Just thought they might make my credit file a little more respectable. I mean have 2 credit one accounts with 2k combines limit, merrick bank 1.1k, total visa 350, and indigo 300. See what i mean? I pay all of my balances off every month for the most part. I have other cards as well but im talking bank cards. I did try the spending power tool when I set up my online account. I tried $2000 and i was approved for that amount if i wanted to spend it. I left it alone after that. Lol.

 

Give me your thoughts. Thanks guys.

 

 

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4 REPLIES 4
Gidgetmom
Frequent Contributor

Re: Finally got my first Amex but had some questions.....

Happy New Year!

 

Hopefully others will join in, but at this point, IMO, time is the only thing that will help your file.  Let those inquiries age off and the “lates” impact on your score will diminish over time (won’t fully go away until their gone, but they seem to be viewed less harshly with time.)

 

If I were you, I would garden for for a year at least and then revisit new cards.  I would also start a Goodwill letter campaign for the lates and see if they would be kind enough to remove those.  You might get lucky!  Never hurts to ask.

 

Good luck with Amex.  You have your foot in the door now and it can only get better from there.

Message 2 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally got my first Amex but had some questions.....

sorry i miss spoke. I did not get the platinum. I got the green and the gold.

Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally got my first Amex but had some questions.....

You don't need Green and Gold. That is pointless. The Gold has everything the Green has but more. Choose one or the other.

Message 4 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Finally got my first Amex but had some questions.....

Okay, so first off, congratulations on the approvals. Now, I do not want to be a buzzkill, but a lot of people assume Amex is a very hard card to get. True, most of the revolvers (credit cards) are more difficult to get; however, the charge cards are actually quite easy. Why would Amex allow people with lower scores to get a charge card, with no pre-set spend limit and that has to be paid in full? Because, they love collecting the annual fees and they can proactively decide what charges and for how much they will approve. No preset spend limit does not mean unlimited, so they may approve you but at first they may only allow up to $300 spend until they get to know your spending habits. I got an Amex Gold when I was 20....I actually had a harder time being approved for Discover than my Amex. 

 

Secondly; the car shopping inquiries...yes, there are 51, but because they were made the same day they are counted as 1 because you were "rate shopping." 

 

Thirdly, please join a credit union. Credit unions are awesome and the next time you need a car, you can go to your credit union, get approved through them and then bring a check to the dealer and buy like a cash customer. The worst part about buying a car is dealing with the finance guys...ugh. Take the power away from them and you win.

 

Lastly, keep in mind that Amex limits the number of sign up bonuses you can get for each card to once per lifetime! That Premier Rewards Gold (PRG) card you accepted likely has a sign up bonus of between 25,000 and 50,000 Membership Rewards points. If that matters to you, be sure to make the spending requirements (for example, spend $3,000 in three months to get 25,000 Membership Rewards) so that you earn that bonus because even if you close this PRG card and open another in the future, you will most likely not get another sign up bonus-even if you didn't earn it on this PRG. Simply having the same card type invalidates future sign up bonuses. 

 

Again, I am not trying to rain on your parade and I am glad that you are over the moon for your approvals! Amex is a great company to business with and those charge cards are downright sexy. But understand the charge cards are fairly easy to get so you were not part of an experiment; they just can't wait until next year when they can charge you $280 in annual fees Smiley Wink

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