J.Edward

Thanks onthego15! ^

Got approved and looking for ways to spend 10k before the end of the year!

Tomorrow I'll check my credit report and let you know what bureau(s) they pulled.

J.Edward

Looks like they only pulled Experian.

susiesan

AX must really want me to use thus card. It showed up June 9, 2 days after the online app and approval. Came in a UPS overnight envelope. When I called to activate the CSR asked all kinds of questions about my anticipated spending amounts and patterns. Is this usual for a business card? I've never gotten the third degree like that from AX before. I need to get the bonus 50K MR points posted ASAP as I need them to transfer for award tix to visit China. I need the MR points in my account by Sept. If I don't get enough spend on the card I'll pay estimated income taxes with it to get the MR points.

koctail

Thanks for the info, that was what I was afraid of. It appears AMEX primarily uses Experian and so Does Chase. This would make my 4th Experian hard hit in 60 days so I don't know if I would get approved or not. My scores are still high, but maybe that is too many inquiries.

As far as reaching the spend if you are a Costco member you can always buy a few thousand in costco cash cards if you are up against the spending limit. Of course there are also coins for those who do them.

bostenson

Last I applied to an Amex, it was the Premier Rewards Gold promo with 25k MR points. That was in April. They pulled the report from Equifax.

I wish I understood which report(s) the issuers pulled. For us, it seems that they all pull from equifax, at least since we moved to Louisiana. I think they also seemed to pull Equifax more often when we were in Minnesota.

I do believe there's a relationship to location.

Good luck. I'm pondering this myself but sure wish I knew if they'd pull from Equifax. My INQ's are quite high but especially there. I was a little overzealous in shopping my mortgage last fall and the lenders did 2-3 pulls. Try as I might to contest them, I've only gotten rid of one. Equifax is reporting 18 hard pulls at the moment for me. It'll be a long time before that drops significantly. Only 2 will fall off this year for me and not until fall.

koctail

yes, you are right there does seem to be a relationship to where u live and what bureau is primarily pulled. how this makes sense i have no clue. one source to find out which bureau is pulled is to go to creditboards.com and look at the credit pulls tab. sometimes that is helpful.

susiesan

I already use my AX to pay for my Costco purchases. If I could use those Costco cash cards elsewhere I'd buy tons. I see that the fee for using AX to pay taxes is 2.35% on pay1040.com. I have a credit card machine at my business so I can always buy something from myself, but my discount rate for AX is 3.5%. There is an estimated tax payment due June 15 so I might just pay some of my taxes with the new AX card and take the 2.35 hit.

I've never tried the coin thing before. I'll research that option as a way to expedite the 10K spend.

bostenson

Beware purchasing from yourself... Your merchant agreement almost certainly prohibits purchases like that, to avoid abuse. Losing your merchant account could well cost more than any benefit of an award.

I've considered paying taxes online myself but cringe at the hit.

As for Costco, sure wish we had one here in New Orleans! Oh well... A small trade off for the joy of living in the big easy. We miss out on quite a few national chains which is, on a whole, kind of nice. Skip the local Dunkin Donuts and head down to the patisserie instead!

Good luck!

lichenlt

I've heard quite a few targeted offers that give you 50k bonus points if you spend $500 within three months of card opening.

Surface Interval

Best spend quickly. I've heard that points can take a fair bit of time to post. Here is my story: I got a targeted offer back in late March (see post in MilesBuzz forum) for 50k. (side note: people are now stating 75k!) Based on the feedback I got on FT I applied in a couple days. The card came within a week. So the timeline is: First week in April get card; make the required spend in two weeks (love $1 coins); first statement closed on 4/23; made payment on 5/7; the 50k posted 6/11. I had received an email that they were going to post "soon" on Monday; checked every day; they did not show until this morning. I've not checked into how long it takes to transfer them to whatever airline I'll use - likely there is a thread around here someplace with that info. Of course this was for a personal card, but I would expect similar results for a Biz card.

Curious, what are other FT'ers seeing for a get card to points to miles timeline?

mia

American Express tells you up front how long it will take. This offer states 50,000 bonus points will be credited to your Membership Rewards account 6-8weeks after spend.. Other offers may take as long as 15 weeks.

Surface Interval

And they did post in the time frame mentioned. ^ I applaud American Express for saying what they will do and then doing it. I was simply sharing my experience and seeing if others have had the same - also letting Susiesan know that she best get to spending quickly if she needs the miles in her account by Sept!

lichenlt

just received this card. It comes with no pre-set limit on credit line. I don't like this.

emos-closet

I just got this card and can confirm that when activating, they ask a million questions regarding how much you intend to spend. Pull was experian and I live in CA.

lichenlt

They didn't ask me a single question about the spending, but I guess that's because I caused them a bit of complication and they just forgot to ask me the questions, lol