highops

Delta Plat Business on Thursday.

I was logged in.
There was no hard pull. In fact main reports are locked due to shenanigans someone pulled with the unemployment office.

edealinfo12345

Once you cancel your Amex account, you still have access to your Amexonline account for 6 months. If during that 6-month window, you apply for a card via their site, will there be an HP?

sdsearch

Maybe.

Ie, in all cases, it's YMMV as to whether you'll get an HP or not. The chance of not getting an HP is never 100%. The chance of not getting an HP simply increases with an Amex relationship, but does not increase all the way up to 100%.

jiaogulan

Tonight I logged into my AMEX account and applied for the Delta Gold Business card. Got an automatic approval with no hard pull. First business card with AMEX, but 4th AMEX credit card open now (pretty sure they lump personal and business credit cards together when assessing a limit on credit cards they'll let you have open concurrently, with charge cards being totally separate).

Makes up for the debacle that is known as trying to get ANY kind of Bank of America card if you're a card hoarder like most of us.

Kacee

Similar. Applied today for personal DL Platinum while logged into my account. No hard pull. Application page said up at the top that I was "Pre-Approved" before I submitted.

Gaucho100K

(duplicate)

Yoshi212

In my 20+ years with Amex I have only had 1 hard pull over a dozen+ personal & biz (not corporate) cards. Of course in the application you do agree to authorizing a hard pull but Amex very rarely does these and rather uses an internal ranking system for cardholders. That scoring is based on spending & payment history with Amex, credit report soft pull data and current economic factors including those impacting your employment industry.
I find Amex Biz card approvals to be far easier than other banks for existing cardholders.

Lllyh

I only got an HP when I was applying amex the first time (Amex Gold)
No HP for all cards applied after that. (Aspire, Plat, Biz Cash)

ziggy29

The predominance of anecdotal evidence here and elsewhere suggests that Amex does not usually hard pull for additional cards, but they occasionally might and the application agreement allows them to do so. It does look like most of the time, they don’t.

Gaucho100K

(duplicate - updated my question below)

Gaucho100K

There seems to be a lot published on the Web about the US AmEx policy of (apparently) not doing a hard credit check for people that already have an existing credit card account with AX directly. But depending on where you look, Ive come across wording that says they dont pull the credit if you are denied, but do pull the hard credit if you are approved.... so in the end, it seems like you will have to take a hard inquiry if you in fact get approved for a 2nd card - despite already having an open account with them.

Some additional background. I recently moved to the US and had to restart building my personal credit. Have had a US personal Platinum card for 20 months now and the AX website is suggesting I maximize my rewards by combining another card. Im looking into the Blue Cash Preferred Card as I think that a Credit Card that informs an actual credit line (rather than a another charge card) would be better for my current US credit profile. Ive had to open various new credit accounts over the past months (credit cards, car lease, business credit cards with personal credit pull) so Im being somewhat stingy with my new hard pulls to try to protect my score..... hence my question about how this supposed non-hard pull actually works for AmEx users here in the States.

I would also love to get the Gold Card because of the Bonus MR offer and the statement credits.... but not sure that AX would allow me to combine both cards with my existing Personal Platinum - and of course there would be the issue of another potential hard credit check for this other card.

Am I reading this correctly....?

Sorry for the long post/question and thanks for any insights you all can provide.

Cheers,
Gaucho100K

happychic

In my experience, Amex did do a hard pull on my credit profile for my first couple of Amex cards. Note that this was decades ago.

Now that I have had 14 Amex cards (not all still open), Amex does not hard pull my credit profile anymore. YMMV of course.

doublemazaa

Apologies for this somewhat pedantic reply, but you may apply and receive a new Amex card with no hard check whatsoever. On the other hand, the new account will appear on your credit report once it is opened, so it will be no secret to other creditors that you have a new card.

In my understanding credit card users are too concerned with managing hard pulls. If your credit is good, adding a few hard credit checks to open your history will not make a material impact on your credit.

Gaucho100K

Thanks... your reply is very informative and did not come across as pedantic. This is not about keeping any secrets, but given that I have more hard pulls that would be optimal - I am trying to keep them as few and far apart as possible... perhaps Im looking too much into this and I need to relax. My credit isnt stellar, but it isnt terrible - the not very reliable free scores that the banks give you all show scores that average 760.

It is very helpful to know that you can/may actually receive new AX cards with no hard check - this is what appears to be posted by various sources on different websites and social media platforms (authored by apparent credit repair/counsel experts). I do take a lot of what I read with a healthy dose of salt - and I guess a lot of whats out there is in no way guaranteed to happen. The devil is in the details and every case is different.

Greatly appreciate the feedback from everyone - and would value getting more data points, tips & experiences that others may care to share.

Many Thanks,
Alex / Gaucho100K

Gaucho100K

Follow up question. Has anybody attempted to apply for more than 1 of the cards that AmEx suggests you pair with your existing personal card...? I currently only have 1 (one) AmEx product in the US, so if I would go ahead and apply for both the Blue Cash Preferred and the Gold Card I would still be under the maximum 4 card limit that seems to be the norm.

Thanks,
Gaucho100K