First Amex card

Old Jul 8, 2012, 3:26 pm
  #1  
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Wanting to get my first Amex card

Hi all,

I've recently improved my financial situation and I'm starting to qualify for good credit cards. Somehow Chase loves me. They approved me for a Visa Signature card and then another Visa, total credit limit of $15,000. I will ask them to raise that limit this week, because I max out and then fully pay my Signature card several times throughout the month. The Signature card has a $5,000 limit which I hit and pay in full usually twice a month, it's annoying.

My credit score is in the 640s, so I'm thinking that Chase must be using some OTHER formula for giving me credit. Obviously their formula has worked, because I pay in full every month, despite my weak credit score. Somehow they correctly identified me as being worthy of $15k in credit despite my score.

But I applied for a Amex gold and was denied! I'm a frequent traveler and really really need all the enhancements that come with a Amex Platinum so that's my long-term goal. I want airport lounges and free wifi and room upgrades. (Actually my real long term goal is to get a corporate Centurion card and then put some key employees on it, as a job benefit they will never find anywhere else.)

I did apply for the Amex Platinum Business card, and I'm worried that there could be something in my biz credit report that blocked that and then that made them also deny giving me a personal gold card. In retrospect I should have applied for the personal card first.


What's my strategy? What should I do?

I read this on another site:

Anyways, my best advice would be to wait until THEY contact you so you don't get dinged on the credit report. I have read many reviews about people applying for Amex and looks like majority of people who receive a preapproval letter DO get approved (this is not the case with Chase Bank which sends "invitations to apply" not genuine preapprovals). In my experience, people with fair credit usually get denied automatically (especially online) when they initiate an application on their own.
Does that sound right? I did apply on-line, without an invitation. Maybe I should just wait for it?

Last edited by CyberNomad; Jul 8, 2012 at 3:46 pm
CyberNomad is offline  
Old Jul 8, 2012, 4:21 pm
  #2  
 
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You mention your "credit score", but is that a true FICO? 640 is pretty low so there may be some negative(s) on your credit reports. Have you reviewed your credit history from all three (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) credit reporting companies?
uszkanni is offline  
Old Jul 9, 2012, 9:41 am
  #3  
gum
 
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Begin with an Amex Card with lower requirements

My personal advice would be: Just apply for a Green or Blue American Express Card which has lower requirements concerning the minimum salary.

If its a green one (at least in Germany) it bears the same privileges in view of collecting the MR points. ^ And after some months of use your credit limit may increase and Amex *may* offer you an upselling to the Gold Card.

IMHO there is no reason to start with an Amex Gold Card.

So try this step-by-step approach. And with a longer relationship with Amex and several months or years of charged and paid balances your relationship will improve. At least in Germany it works that Amex offers you the credit cards of the higher tiers after several months/years of faultless history.

It would be sad if you would miss the opportunity of collecting MR points.

So start with the cheapest colour of Amex which delivers (to Airlines ) transferable MR points. As I dont know which co-branded cards are out there in the US I just would start with a green one.

Hope this helps.
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Old Jul 9, 2012, 11:20 am
  #4  
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Hi all,

I just talked with Amex. Here's what they said: if they deny me for any credit card, I cannot apply for any others for 30 days. So my application for the Delta Gold card wasn't even processed because I had a denial for the Platinum card. Therefore it was a mistake for me to apply for the Platinum card first. The customer service person suggested that I would have a good chance at the Delta Gold if I waited 30 days and applied for it, so I will do that. I figure that if they see good history on that card plus strong history / financials on everything else, I will get the Platinum card that I want to have. And then down the line I'll get the Centurion!

I really want the business card to issue to my key employees. Especially with Centurion, once they have it, they know the only way they can keep it is to stay at my company.
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Old Jul 9, 2012, 1:52 pm
  #5  
 
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I have no definitive knowledge, but it's not clear to me that the Plat card has more stringent requirements than Gold. I think it just has a higher fee and more benefits.

I don't know that much about Centurion, but remember that it has a pretty hefty annual fee for additional cardmembers.
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Old Jul 10, 2012, 10:41 am
  #6  
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Update: I called Chase yesterday and asked for an increase in my credit limit. Higher credit will look good to other borrowers, and it will help me when I need to make a larger business purchase, and it will make my credit utilization percentage lower. I asked for an extra $10k, bringing my Chase total credit to $25k. I was sure I would not get it. Well, Chase must love me. They must be using some internal scoring formula that is different from the credit scores, because I logged in this morning and saw the credit limit increase!

I also got a targeted email offer for an Amex Delta Gold card, which I will wait for my 30 days to use. I assume that having $25k of credit with Chase in good standing is going to do a lot to help me get other credit. I'll update this thread a month from now.
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Old Jul 10, 2012, 11:07 am
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Originally Posted by redtop43
I have no definitive knowledge, but it's not clear to me that the Plat card has more stringent requirements than Gold. I think it just has a higher fee and more benefits.

I don't know that much about Centurion, but remember that it has a pretty hefty annual fee for additional cardmembers.
Centurion in the US is currently at $7,500 initiation and $2,500 annual.
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Old Jul 10, 2012, 5:41 pm
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why don't u give us some back ground on when you opened all these cards..as well as when you asked for a credit increase....

those hits to your credit report might be the reasoning why you got initially denied...(did you mention if you called reconsideration?)

for me when i recently asked for increase of limit for discover they did a credit inquiry...
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Old Jul 10, 2012, 7:22 pm
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I do think plat and PRG have the same approval levels, just different fees and benefits... 640 is pretty low FICO for AMEX, but it may go through if you have no recent baddies and a decent income level.

I got my PRG and Plat card with a FICO of 670 at the time that I got them.
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Old Jul 10, 2012, 7:29 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by onefasteuro
I do think plat and PRG have the same approval levels, just different fees and benefits... 640 is pretty low FICO for AMEX, but it may go through if you have no recent baddies and a decent income level.
Cool! I have no recent baddies, and a good income, and quite a good monthly spend, and no debt (I pay everything in full always and I can time the payment to be when the card reports).

I know that there's also the idea that you should have zero balance on all your cards except one, and I'll go for that when everything reports this month.

Originally Posted by onefasteuro
I got my PRG and Plat card with a FICO of 670 at the time that I got them.
Ok, that gives me hope. My 640 score is a "faco", not from a real credit report, so who knows. Maybe I'll try for the Gold card, and if I get it, ask about upgrading to Platinum? The Platinum will have huge benefits for me.
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Old Jul 10, 2012, 8:46 pm
  #11  
 
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Originally Posted by CyberNomad
Ok, that gives me hope. My 640 score is a "faco", not from a real credit report, so who knows. Maybe I'll try for the Gold card, and if I get it, ask about upgrading to Platinum? The Platinum will have huge benefits for me.
I wouldn't do that. My understanding is that the credit requirements for Plat and PRG are the same. If you're looking to get into MR, I would just wait the 30 days, skip the Delta card, and apply for the Amex Green. After a while of using that you'll more than likely get offers to upgrade to Gold or Platinum.
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Old Jul 11, 2012, 7:49 am
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I would pull your credit score from a proper bureau to get a good idea.
my score was a FICO. and I know Amex can be a pain with < 700 scores.
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Old Jul 11, 2012, 8:12 am
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Originally Posted by taliesin
I wouldn't do that. My understanding is that the credit requirements for Plat and PRG are the same. If you're looking to get into MR, I would just wait the 30 days, skip the Delta card, and apply for the Amex Green. After a while of using that you'll more than likely get offers to upgrade to Gold or Platinum.
^ That's the approach I took, however I applied for Zync when it first came out, and over some time got the Platinum.
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Old Jul 16, 2012, 6:32 pm
  #14  
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Just got a rejection letter from Capital One, for having in sufficient credit. They said my score is in the 630s. Almost at the same time they rejected me, I got my total credit limit at Chase reaised to $25k. I post this only to point out, Chase must be using some internal scoring system that is quite different from the credit scores.

All the bad stuff will be gone from my report within the next six months or so, and I'll have a lot better established credit at that point.
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Old Jul 25, 2012, 4:40 pm
  #15  
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Just got a rejection from Citi HHonors card. Their reason: too many recent credit inquiries. My understanding is that is a short-term effect, so that's good, because it means I'll probably be able to get it in a few months.

Again this proves that Chase is using its own internal scoring system of some kind, and it's a system that favors me somehow.
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