carpooltunnel

'ello All! On Friday evening I decided on a whim to apply for the MB Plat card. Got to the last page of the application, hit submit, and then either the AmEx site or my browser had an issue that lead to my browser wanting to close/crash. I was hesitant to resubmit so I decided to wait until Monday morning. Called in this morning and the very kind New Accounts CSR told me that I had 4 (!) pending MB Plat applications. He said that he would try to see how this happened, and somehow in the process I was approved for three of them, with the last still pending. We were both flummoxed as to how this happened, but I was further floored when he confirmed that each of the three approved cards had performed 3 hard credit inquiries. I certainly wasn't thrilled about any of this, but I maintained my composure and asked how this will be resolved. The CSR informed me that he will need to spend "a few hours" conferring with his supervisor about how to "reverse" the hard inquiries (I assume two of the three). He took down my best contact number and I am patiently awaiting a callback. I wanted to throw out three questions:
1. Has anyone ever heard of a similar multi app error for one product?
2. Has anyone ever heard of "reversing" hard inquiries? Knowing the credit agencies, if this even exists it seems like it would be a painful, stupidly protracted process.
3. Whether or not the inquiry reversal possible, does anyone feel that I should request or expect some kind of "apologetic" compensation? I'm generally not one for petty capitalization, as I understand errors are logically unavoidable, but my other half feels that I should suggest some sort of comp. for my troubles. I couldn't even begin to imagine what she would mean (neither does she). Maybe an annual fee waiver? I don't know, that seems excessive. What do you all think?

mia

Welcome to FlyerTalk. This would mean nine inquiries, but I think you mean one for each application, three total?

Typically the credit bureau will automatically combine multiple inquiries from the same issuer on the same day into a single inquiry, but you will need to check your reports to verify.

carpooltunnel

Thanks, mia. Long time lurker, first time poster (obviously). Can't even begin to put into words how valuable the FlyerTalk community is.

I did mean one for each app, but I suppose that does mean nine total. How long does it take for such things to show up on reports? I don't want to pull them too soon.

I do hope that the bureaus would be so kind as to combine inquiries. Upon further research, however, it seems that the hard inquiries do not necessarily reduce one's FICO score. I have read that credit card issuers do look down upon multiple queries in short periods of time. I'm not as concerned with this, though, as I am not in the business of churning and don't look to apply to many (if any) cards in the near future. Perhaps a Chase Ink for home business purposes, but that's about it.

I brought the story here more because I was concerned with a potential impact on my credit score, and because I thought it was a bit of a wild story. I will update after I (hopefully) receive a callback from the CSR.

carpooltunnel

So... not quite resolved. The CSR called me back and the first thing he said was, "I need to get something straight, how many of these cards were you really trying to get?" I told him 1, and he replied, "So you weren't trying to get multiple cards? I have to ask because this is, how should I say, somewhat of a serious and sensitive issue. This is not supposed to happen." Honestly, I felt insulted. His English wasn't perfect, but his tone was very obvious, and he was under the impression that I was trying to pull something over on AmEx. I remained calm and assured him that I only tried applying for one card, and one card only. He then put me on a 17 minute hold whilst he contacted Customer Service.

The solution is that, well, in two to three days I will receive 4 (!!!!) MB Plat cards in the mail. The CSR, let's call him Dick for now, will then call me back in a few days, connect me to Customer Service (Dick's a new accounts rep overseas, if that's not clear), and stay on the line until we cancel 3 of the 4 cards. "You can choose any of the 4 to keep," he laughed. Sigh.

Then he will work with his "superiors" to get the three hard inquiries removed. He did confirm that the inquiries were made with only one bureau, so that should make things easier.

I thanked Dick, but I hung up the phone feeling insulted and accused. I don't know what happened, how this happened, but I was hopeful that the resolution would be simple and breezy (considering it is AMEX). What's really odd is how insistent Dick is about him personally handling the situation. At this point I'd rather just re-explain the whole situation and deal with someone else.

mtftw

I remember reading somewhere that Amex was hit with a DDoS attack on Friday. Maybe you were applying for a card when this all went down and whatever safeguard exists on the system didn't fire due to the increased system load.

mia

Apparently this occurred on Thursday, March 28. See this post.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20531345-post18.html

carpooltunnel

Google agrees with mia that the attack happened on the 28th of March. Essentially I hit "Submit", the window changed like it was processing the request. Then the browser "quit unexpectedly", asking me to restart it. Browser wouldn't restart so I restarted the Mac. Honestly thought that nothing had gone through, but wanted to wait until Monday to be safe. Decided to call in and check/apply when I found out that I had four of the same product headed my way.

mtftw

Ah, thanks Mia. Had my dates confused there.

oceandreamer

What's just as amazing as the application quirk, is they approved FOUR MB Amex cards for one person in one day! I thought Amex's internal controls (and common sense) would stop this, since I can't imagine anyone intentionally applying for all of them.

gum

In Germany all new Amex cards are delivered to your address and have a "STOP" adhesive label on it. Should be the same procedure in your market. As the next step you should call customer service or log-in to your account in order to activate tha card.

Before this step noone can use this card. During this activation process you are asked some personal info like your work phone, a code word you have stated and similar things.

So my idea would be:
+ activate only one of the new MB Plat cards

Wait some days and then send the "doubles" which should have a different card number and ccv code back with a registered letter.

Then only one card should be activated and the rest of three are back to Amex and never were operating.

Summary: At the moment and after the sending of the cards noone of them is operable. You have to make one step to activate them.

So choose the card which number looks best.

SquarePeg

Make sure you keep whichever one has the bonus associated with it!

carpooltunnel

This was also the biggest "huh?" for me as well. Even the CSR was confused.

Thanks, gum. This is the plan, as of now. I'll chose one and cancel the rest.

Ah, good point, SquarePeg. I will confirm on the phone which of the cards carries the bonus. Thanks!

geclub1

Maybe you should have a change of heart and keep all 4. A total of 200K MR would go a long way to sooth your frustration. If Amex's past performance is any indication, you should have been visited by FedEx delivery and have all 4 cards now.

Do not fret the inquiries. There was probably just one.

carpooltunnel

Ah, if only. I (half) jokingly floated the idea by my wife, and she balked at the thought of 4 annual fees. Yes, we'd more than make up for those with the airline credits and the points alone, but alas, it's a no go.

At any rate, I did receive the cards, and I'll be dealing with the issue tomorrow. I'll post an update.

CFFrost

Oh, I am SURE if someone genuinely believed that AMEX would honor the bonus for cards approved via a "quad-browser trick" there would be a several thousand post thread about such a scheme. (I am NOT suggesting that such a trick should be attempted, of course, unless the OP can determine how to repeat the "trick")


This is the response I would expect from MOST posters here, with a thread asking "Can I get all four bonuses?!" thrilled at their good fortune. Frankly, I give the OP credit for not falling into this camp.