I formally asked American Express about their policy with regards to charged-off customers. They do NOT have a general policy of forever denying card accounts to such persons; so long as nothing appears in the credit report from American Express and there are no other disqualifying factors, you can re-establish credit with them. This seems to me a sensible policy!
I don't believe I, for one do not believe any such thing. John, you should ask the board if anyone, ever, recieved a card from Amex, even the secured Optima, after a charge-off. Amex may claim there is no policy of denying credit to charge-offs, but this wouldn't be very good business would it? So, lets see if any one claims to have been the beneficiary of the alleged non existence of this policy.
RE: American Express, YES to c My credit is fairly good from years of fixing it, but I still have a charge-off from five years ago from American Express. I applied for a Corporate card through my company, who has an account with Amex, and was still denied, because of the charge-off. Mind you, I was not applying for personal credit, but the business credit card with my company as co-signer.
RE: American Express, YES to c Martin, if the business is yours I imagine that there would be little distinction between personal and business credit. Whenever I apply for credit from the vendors I buy from they are always interested in my personal credit. This makes sense to me because my business is new, and so has no history of its own, and because it is so small that it and I are one and the same. It may interest you to know that I had no problem at all becoming an Amex merchant. I did not think I would be approved. Obviously the standards for merchants are lower.
RE: American Express, YES to c An interesting note: I spoke with a co-worker on my problem, who had a bankruptcy that included an Amex charge-off in the amount of $4000. She was initially denied the corporate card requested by our company, but she called our company's Amex account manager or someone like that, and insisted that she needed the card in order to do her job. The rep. on the phone eventually authorized her card on the spot. I don't believe, however, this would work for me. I wonder if the fact that her bankruptcy or words or both had anything to do with it all. The charge-off on my account is still there, so that may very well be the difference. Does the fact that it is still "collectable" make the difference?
RE: American Express, YES to c I would doubt we would have much luck in guessing why the account manager granted the card. However, if he did it for her, that would encourage me, were I you, to try the exact same approach. Don't forget to hold his feet to the fire by reminding him that he has already done it once. The worst that could happen is that he tells you why he won't do it and you get a chance to learn more about their decision criteria. As to your question regarding whether the difference between you and she is the potential to collect, it would be a question you could put directly to him. I have a nearly 20 y.o. charge-off that apparently prevented me from getting a secured Optima. It would seem that she and I represent approximately the same potential to collect, since her debt has been dicharged by BK and mine by the SOL. I would suspect that the reason she was approved is more likely that she had a co-signer. But I would be very interested in hearing whatever you discover.
