Refused Credit Cards by American Express!
Discussion
I have applied personally and through my business for American Express credit cards, and been refused!
I have never had bad credit and hold several cards with other companies, with up to £20k limits etc no problem, all fully paid off each month.
I have no idea why I have been refused, and AMEX won’t tell me!
Do they use a different checking system to everyone else, if so what have I done wrong?? I am not a bad person, honest!
I have never had bad credit and hold several cards with other companies, with up to £20k limits etc no problem, all fully paid off each month.
I have no idea why I have been refused, and AMEX won’t tell me!
Do they use a different checking system to everyone else, if so what have I done wrong?? I am not a bad person, honest!
Golfman said:
jamesuk28 said:
Golfman said:
all fully paid off each month.
Possible reason.I think that would be a good start. They should also at that stage be able to talk to you in a more open and honest way about what they are looking for.
The other thing which has been really heavy over the last year or so is the responsibility for the lender for 'responsible lending'. The other main factor is the current trend towards how easy it is to to now 'write off' your debts.
They will make a commercial decision. If by your own admission you have numerous credit cards with high limits, you have the ability to rack up maybe £50,000 of unsecured debts and write off 80% of it, they have a small chance of losing a lot of money, but a calculated risk.
On the other hand this is weighed up their potential gains, and if you pay off each month then this is not much!
I do believe overall that the climate has changed since you last applied!
I applied for an Amex as they were doing a good balance transfer deal, when I made all my transfers they all came back declined, they were silly amounts of about 200 each for example, so I just never used the card, cancelled it this week when 'account security' notified me of unauthorised payments going thruogh, so someones nicked me details.
CatherineJ said:
American Express can be real twots.
I have a charge card with no limit with them. Yet once when I tried to spend £1,400 in one transaction they wouldn't let me. The grounds were well in the months previously you spent £700 in total.
Would you be saying that if a fraudulent transaction for £1,400 had been allowed to go through? The reason they declined the payment was because there was uncharacteristic behaviour on the account, which is a big telltale for fraud. It's better for their anti-fraud systems to get a false positive, which is overriden manually after consulting the account holder, than to miss real fraud surely?I have a charge card with no limit with them. Yet once when I tried to spend £1,400 in one transaction they wouldn't let me. The grounds were well in the months previously you spent £700 in total.
eyebeebe said:
Robin Hood said:
Why would anyone want an American Express Card I'm wondering 
Majority of businesses don't take them anyway because the transaction fees are too high
Cashback? Airport Lounges? Concierge Service?Majority of businesses don't take them anyway because the transaction fees are too high
Golfman said:
Thanks you for your interest, BUT…
Refused again!
What Credit checking system does AMEX use?
Thats because you went though the same automated process with the same factors and got the same automated result. Refused again!
What Credit checking system does AMEX use?
In fact ironically, two credit applications in the short period of time will be visible to other lenders and affest your credit score.
AMEX in their paperwork/internet screen rejecting you should be giving you a phone number/address to contact them to explain
1) What their process for applications and criteria are
2) What credit company they use.
3) To ask for a manual decision
All three are your legal right, and you shoudl follow it up with getting a credit report from the company they use just to double check that the information they hold is correct.
I recently went through similar problems only to find that a Gas company who operate in Britain had registered 3 defaults against my name for accounts that were not mine.
Follow it all up, but literally the worst thing you can do is keep applying and being rejected blindly, as this WILL reduce your score and get future applications rejected on this!
Robin Hood said:
Why would anyone want an American Express Card I'm wondering
Majority of businesses don't take them anyway because the transaction fees are too high
Transaction fees are the same as Visa et al these days ... The only real difference is that they take 4 days to pay instead of 2. I use mine in most places as it gives me 3 BA miles per £ spent ... Well worth it !Majority of businesses don't take them anyway because the transaction fees are too high
Golfman said:
Thanks Justin, will try that.
No probs, that should at least get you some answers.The other factor may be that as I mentioned in my earlier post lenders have really started to crack down on unsecured lending. For example to get an egg card recently I had to have a 30 minute telephone interview and had to tell them my income and outgoings, and why exactly I wanted the card and how much I was going to be spending on it and what for!?
I also have Platinum cards (not the new fangled ones where they give them out to anyone) from when they were income and credit checked, but still had to go through the interview, the culture has really changed.
My girlfriend has also had one of her credit limits decreased because a card company monitors her credit file and she got a new card. I suppose it is to cut down on their risk of someone running them all to the max, defaulting on them all and getting it all written off by one of these companies who advertise heavily at the moment.
arfur said:
Robin Hood said:
Why would anyone want an American Express Card I'm wondering
Majority of businesses don't take them anyway because the transaction fees are too high
Transaction fees are the same as Visa et al these days ... The only real difference is that they take 4 days to pay instead of 2. I use mine in most places as it gives me 3 BA miles per £ spent ... Well worth it !Majority of businesses don't take them anyway because the transaction fees are too high
eyebeebe said:
CatherineJ said:
American Express can be real twots.
I have a charge card with no limit with them. Yet once when I tried to spend £1,400 in one transaction they wouldn't let me. The grounds were well in the months previously you spent £700 in total.
Would you be saying that if a fraudulent transaction for £1,400 had been allowed to go through? The reason they declined the payment was because there was uncharacteristic behaviour on the account, which is a big telltale for fraud. It's better for their anti-fraud systems to get a false positive, which is overriden manually after consulting the account holder, than to miss real fraud surely?I have a charge card with no limit with them. Yet once when I tried to spend £1,400 in one transaction they wouldn't let me. The grounds were well in the months previously you spent £700 in total.
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