Declined for Amex Green card
 

I applied online for the new Amex Green 45k offer with private browsing. I got the "We're sorry, XXXXX. We can't approve your application at this time" message. I called in and the agent could give me no info on what specifically was the issue, said I get a letter with more info and suggested trying again after 30 days. All he could say was base on my credit report and my account open/close I was not eligible for a signup bonus. He couldn't even confirm if a hard credit check was done or not.

Currently I have 1 Amex card, have only closed 1 (business) card with Amex a year ago, I have excellent credit score, have had a handful personal and biz cards on credit report, only at 2/24 with Chase. Have recent mortgage and car loan on credit report so maybe Amex see risk here? Has anyone else experienced this and is there anything that can be done to get approved? This is the first card I have ever been declined on from any bank and the lack of transparency from Amex is frustrating!

As the agent told you, you will receive a written notice.

Not worth 10 seconds of your time speculating about the reason(s) until you have read that letter carefully. Perhaps it's an error and you can get it corrected and the card issued. Perhaps you don't meet Amex's underwriting for the card so you've been properly denied.

Why not come back here once you have your letter.

This also just happened to me. I normally never have any issues getting approved with ANY issuer (except 5/24). Am curious if anyone else has this problem.

AMEX Green
 

Might want to pull your credit report from Credit Karma and see. If you have an established history with AMEX, should be no hard pull.

I was under the impression AMEX charge cards, especially the Green was much easier to be approved vs the AMEX credit cards.

good luck.

What did the letter say? Until you know the reason stated in the rejection letter, you do not really know the problem.

I did not get the promised letter in the mail. Not sure if it got lost in mail or what.

Another DP. My friend also applied for Amex Green card and was denied for it for the same reason. He has had about 4 new personal cards in last 6 months and has never even had an Amex card.

If you don't (yet) know the reason for your denial, how do you know that your friend got denied for the same reason you did?

My impression is that AmEx puts a lot of weight on your previous history/experience with them. A recent slightly late payment that AmEx didn't even report could cause trouble. They also might not like the recently closed account.

Do you know for sure whether you were denied the bonus or the card itself?

According to my friend he was to told it was due to too many recent inquires by the phone rep. He is waiting on the letter.

Update, I received my denial letter.

I was denied the card itself, not just the bonus.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ec0481135b.jpg

Too many new bank card accounts. That's reasonably specific. How many card accounts have you opened in the past 24 months as reported by Experian?

... and is a different reason than what his friend was reportedly told over the phone.

What do you mean? I don't think the reason of his friend was specified.
All he said was that he was denied for the "same" reason, being the accounts open / close.

Based on what the OP has told us above, his friend was declined for "too many recent inquires." However, the OP's letter said that he was declined for "too many new bank card accounts." Those are two different reasons.

Any idea what is considered too many new bank cards? From what I have read there an no well understood rule on what Amex considers too many (unlike Chase 5/24).

Here are my number on Experian. I am surprised to see that my business card are showing up here too.

Total Experian inquires: 15
Bank card inquires: 6

Thats crazy cause they are handing out that Amex green card like candy compared to their other offerings. Probably best to cool off on applications for a while.