My sister has an Amex secured card from 1997. She has some paid tax liens, collections and judgments. I don't know how long ago or what companies, etc. I haven't seen her credit reports. I know she is in the low 600s. The old bk is about to drop off this Spring. Would she have a chance unsecuring her Amex card to another product considering she has had a great history with them or due to the derog. she can forget about? She was thinking about adding a few grand once she gets her tax return. Should she threathen to close or call the reconsideration dept?
Previous posts suggest that Amex has not been consistent with secured card upgrades. Some were able to unsecure their card, many were not (even after receiving Amex solicitations). You say the BK will be gone soon. Wait till it does or use BK-entries dispute methods, regularly discussed on this board. If it's indeed old and there are no "included in BK" account entries left on her report, the CRA is less likely to verify the main BK entry, once disputed. Try to resolve/redispute the tax lien entries. Send a VL for each reported collection. For each reported judgment, contact the plaintiff's attorney, see if they agree to file a joint motion to vacate judgment (once the judgment is satisfied, many would not object). Of course, you can try 1-2 rounds of disputes w/ the CRA's before trying any of the above tactics, which aim to resolve the problem at the source. Saar
Thanks, Saar for answering. I think I'll advise to just add to the secured balance to increase her loc. I haven't seen her credit reports and she is not attempting credit repair. So, I don't she should even try and get any unneccessary inquiries.
