I applied on the phone for an Amex blue and was rejected with the following explanation: "Your application was processsed using a credit scoring system which assigns numerical values to the information on your credit bureau file and provided on your application. Your application did not score enough points to qualify for an American Express Card at this time for the following reasons: Insufficient established credit. Proportion of loan balances to loan amount is too high. Too many accounts with balances. Excessive amount owed on accounts." I just now got an offer in the mail from Amex saying I have been pre-approved for an American Express card and that the $55 annual feel would be appear on my first statement. Is it possible to be rejected by Blue while still being accepted for the classic green card with the hefty annual fee? I have run up alot of debt recently, including a $24,000 vehicle because I just got all the negatives purged from my credit history and am making up for lost time. I am making enough money to pay my debts and am not at all "overextended" as American Express believes. Any ideas?
RE: What do they mean "pr First off Am Ex does have totally different criteria for it's different products. Amex Green is a charge card payable in full monthly. Blue (Optima) is a credit card which only a minimum payment is due, so the criteria is somewhat different. As for the rejection on one day and the preapproval the next. This happens all the time, creditors buy the information from sources such as the bureaus, and other banks. It is possible that they may approve everyone with a Citibank Gold or Plat. card for example. Or they may go to the bureau and say give us everyone with a fico score of 640 and higher, who is using credit and lives in Oregon. Only a marketing rep from Am Ex could properly answer the question. Don't stress over it just take the offer, and enjoy the prestige that an Am Ex card comnes with.
