cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Any superior benefit owning an AMEX card directly vs. one from an Issuer Bank (eg. NFCU or PennFed)

tag
Anonymous
Not applicable

Any superior benefit owning an AMEX card directly vs. one from an Issuer Bank (eg. NFCU or PennFed)

TLNR: Q - From reading the wealth of info on these forums, I infer that a Credit Union or other 3rd party may be a little more lenient with credit limits. Is this an accurate assessment?

 

Background:

I previously had and "lapsed" a Green Amex ~8yrs ago.
I have & maintained a CapOne card that I upgraded to QS.

 

In Jan, acquired an Amex BCE with Amex' Experian Fico showing an 808 score at THAT time. 61days later recvd CLI (but NO, Amex will not allow me to combine new card history w/prior Green Amex).

 

During this time, acquired a Citi DC & Chase/Amz.


Question:

From reading the wealth of info on these forums, I infer that a Credit Union or other 3rd party may be a little more lenient with credit limits.
Is this an accurate assessment?
And would there be any disadvantage to having multiple 3rd party Cards (NFCU Amex vs another Amex directly)?
TIA for your thoughtful input.

Message 1 of 5
4 REPLIES 4
simplynoir
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Any superior benefit owning an AMEX card directly vs. one from an Issuer Bank (eg. NFCU or PennF


@Anonymous wrote:

Question:

From reading the wealth of info on these forums, I infer that a Credit Union or other 3rd party may be a little more lenient with credit limits.
Is this an accurate assessment?
And would there be any disadvantage to having multiple 3rd party Cards (both a Penn Fed & NFCU Amex vs another Amex directly  and/or a PennFed & NFCU Signature Card vs cards from a Chase or Citi)?


Another reason I lean towards the CU is the lack of an Annual Fee.

The only AF card I could imagine (in the future) paying would be a Chase Sapphire to take advantage of the primary CDW.
TIA for your thoughtful input.


It's too far to say they have more lenient criteria but the offers from credit unions can be much better than the ones from the big banks such as AMEX, Citi, BofA, Chase, etc. And there should be no conflict with the issuer and network they use for the cards as well.

Message 2 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Any superior benefit owning an AMEX card directly vs. one from an Issuer Bank (eg. NFCU or PennF

Yeah lenient may be the wrong term, but it's a more personal experience and a chance to explain the details. You cannot do that with an online app. Also, at least at my CU, I was able to request a certain SL. As opposed to what an online tool assigns you. Though there's always recon option for a higher limit i guess. 

 

Just depends on your preference, communicating with people or a computer.

 

 

Message 3 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Any superior benefit owning an AMEX card directly vs. one from an Issuer Bank (eg. NFCU or PennF

Green/Gold/Platinum cards don't have a CL. Corp cards may have a limit imposed by your company though.

 

Your BCE @ 2K will grow as you've seen to 4K and next time potentially to 12K and so on.

-- Backdating was discontinued a few years back and that was the big draw for awhile to get Amex if you had a previous relationship with them to gain the extended AAOA boost from having multiples while being able to apply for several new cards w/ less damage to scores.

 

Chase / they will grow but, the best growth tends to be from opening additional cards with them and shuffling the limits around instead of the wisdom of a CLI 

 

CK scores don't matter.  Go to Experian or use your scores provided from Amex  They provide you with your monthly EX Fico 8 for free.

 

CU cards are a double edged sword.  You can get high CL's from NFCU up to an aggregate of 80K and PF is 50K but in general most CU's have a cap on their CL's usually in the 25K range.

 

Multiple cards is how you get your aggregate CL up beyond what your exposure with a single lender would ever allow.

 

CSP/CSR are good if you travel which you're implying you do.

 

The perk of Amex is that after you have 1 card any additional applications are a SP for an approval/denial.  The other perk is the 3X CLI process.

 

Personally my highest limits are w/ BOA/Chase and next up would be AMEX / Disco..beyond those 4 lenders my median CL's are in the 25K range.  It depends on how you want to dive into the credit game and work some magic on yoru CR profile to get the most bang for your buck... or in this case the ability to charge more w/o having to micromanage things.

Message 4 of 5
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Any superior benefit owning an AMEX card directly vs. one from an Issuer Bank (eg. NFCU or PennF

Message 5 of 5
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.