These decisions are always individualized based on the specific credit history and application of the issuer's particular criteria. I don't think there's any indication that Amex has grown unusually "stingy" lately (and in fact my personal experience suggests otherwise). As Mia notes above, Amex is a mass-market issuer. It doesn't make any money declining applications (though it may avoid losing money by doing so judiciously). In other words, there's something in your history Amex doesn't like, possibly activity that it views as indicative of churning, or possibly the factor(s) that are keeping your score under 800 despite a utilization rate under 1%. No one but Amex can answer the question definitively.