American Express Financial Relief Program - Credit Report Notation?

[shane82388]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any experiance with the AMEX Financial Relief Program?

Specifically, how they mention in the FAQ that the if you are on the long term plan (48 months) that it will not directly affect your credit, but will be noted on your credit report?

"If your account is reported to consumer credit bureaus and if you are enrolled in the long-term payment plan, we will inform the consumer credit bureaus that you are participating in a payment plan, which will not directly impact your credit score, but will be visible to other lenders."

What I'm not quite clear on is if this is something that is literally just a manual note on your AMEX account on your credit reports and wouldn't be seen by anyone except if an underwriter was to do a manual review of your report or something like that?

I'm wondering if this AMEX note would be pretty harmless or would it cause problems for the next 4 years with anything credit related? I could see Comenity and Synchrony instantly start closing accounts I have with them if something were to trigger them (like how a 30 day late would)...but if its just a note I don't think that would raise the alarm unless they manaually reviewed for some odd reason?

Thanks for any info!

[pizzadude]

"we will inform the consumer credit bureaus that you are participating in a payment plan, which will not directly impact your credit score, but will be visible to other lenders"

Your account will be noted as being in a debt management plan which will be viewed negatively by your other creditors, because basically it signals that you're in financial trouble and are not paying as agreed.

It's possible they make take AA such as balance chasing you, or they may do nothing.  

Despite this, I believe it's a better option than late payments and possible default. 

[rmoconn2]

Does anyone know how being enrolled in this program (whether the short-term or long-term version) is viewed by apartment management companies? Specifically, does it influence the likelihood of being accepted or denied by different buildings? I'm applying to apartment buildings in downtown Chicago and am unsure how this will be perceived, despite having a good income ($120k+). I hit a rough patch last year when the startup I was working for went under, leaving me with a significant amount of credit card debt (over $12k), and I currently have around $6k left on my American Express Platinum card under the hardship program.

[pizzadude]

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@rmoconn2 wrote:

Does anyone know how being enrolled in this program (whether the short-term or long-term version) is viewed by apartment management companies? Specifically, does it influence the likelihood of being accepted or denied by different buildings? I'm applying to apartment buildings in downtown Chicago and am unsure how this will be perceived, despite having a good income ($120k+). I hit a rough patch last year when the startup I was working for went under, leaving me with a significant amount of credit card debt (over $12k), and I currently have around $6k left on my American Express Platinum card under the hardship program.

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It's probably a YMMV situation but I think most apartment credit checks just want to look at your overall score and confirm you don't have any evictions or similar items that would be a red flag. 

[SN1209]

FWIW I've been on this for a year plus now, haven't had any issues with it at all. The comment they put on mine was "affected by natural disasters." To be honest I'm not sure how or why, but that's what it shows for me. 

[Backwoods]

Speaking in regard to renting   I at one time managed a lot of rentals.  I only carried about 3 things 1) foreclosure 2) eviction and 3) judgements 

and  4) sometimes auto repo   People will pay for a place to live and a car before credit cards   The only other issue was income to rent ratio  I would not rent to someone  who was paying fifty percent of income to rent   Some of the more top tier rentals may have higher standards  Mine  were  flat middle class nothing fancy just well maintained properties 

[Gregory1776]

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@pizzadude wrote:

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@rmoconn2 wrote:

Does anyone know how being enrolled in this program (whether the short-term or long-term version) is viewed by apartment management companies? Specifically, does it influence the likelihood of being accepted or denied by different buildings? I'm applying to apartment buildings in downtown Chicago and am unsure how this will be perceived, despite having a good income ($120k+). I hit a rough patch last year when the startup I was working for went under, leaving me with a significant amount of credit card debt (over $12k), and I currently have around $6k left on my American Express Platinum card under the hardship program.

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It's probably a YMMV situation but I think most apartment credit checks just want to look at your overall score and confirm you don't have any evictions or similar items that would be a red flag. 

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How of evictions show up on a credit report? 

they're not lending you money, why do they need any information beyond missing payments recently or insane debt?

[Backwoods]

Evvictions

As I property manager their was a portal we subcribed to that showed evictions and foreclosures.   I can't recall  who.  There are several property management portals out their.   We used one that was an all in one for property manangement  fico credit report eviction and foreclosure.    Eviction is pulled off court house records in my state

[shane82388]

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@SN1209 wrote:

FWIW I've been on this for a year plus now, haven't had any issues with it at all. The comment they put on mine was "affected by natural disasters." To be honest I'm not sure how or why, but that's what it shows for me. 

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That is VERY odd it says "affected by natural disaster".

Have you been denied any credit or affected in any other way like denied CLI, accounts being closed, etc since you've been on the plan?