Red this out of existence if it has already been covered, but I have read nothing of it so far.
I just talked to a CSR about some fraud on my account and after we were done, brought up the fact that I had been denied for a Starwood account despite stellar credit and no balances. An interesting tidbit of, according to him, new stipulations in the rewards card category for the company came out of his mouth. He stated that under new account rules, any one consumer was allowed only 1 rewards card from American Express.
I trust his word (as he was the most competent AMEX rep I have talked to in a while), but if anyone is planning on applying for a new rewards card from AMEX, and you already have one, keep in mind this could be an easy denial you don't need to go through. He also offered to convert my Hhonors to the Starwood card, but no bonus and I would incur the $45 fee right away. I almost took him up on this because of the conversion of Starwood points into actual rewards, but have to decide if I am actually going to use it enough to pay for the fee.
Not sure how it is now, but I have multiple AMEX cards, all of which are rewards cards. I have serious doubts as to the correctness of the info the CSR was giving you, but they have changed a lot as of late there.
thok
Tired Member
posted: May. 11, 2009 @ 10:01p
I have two MR cards plus the *wood card, the most recent of which was opened about 8 months ago. So if this policy exists, it's fairly new.
skagen
Happy Member
posted: May. 11, 2009 @ 10:22p
My wife has 3 cards - citi plat (joint), the new hilton one that give 40K points (hers) and Delta (hers). The last two were approved within the past week.
I have a blue card and just got approved for the skymiles card.
newyork4me
Senior Member
posted: May. 12, 2009 @ 12:04a
skagen said: My wife has 3 cards - citi plat (joint), the new hilton one that give 40K points (hers) and Delta (hers). The last two were approved within the past week.
side note: The Citi plat Am.ex isn't issued by American.Express. Am.Ex has very little to do with it outside of running all transactions through their network--if this policy exists, it would only apply to the last two in your post.
I am sorry, I didn't clarify very well. The examples he gave were "If you already have this Hilton Honors card, you won't be able to get the Starwood card." I saw it as the hotel points and co-branded cards, where as the gold and simply cash cards are more of a Cash Back card.
And yes, he said it was very new. The way he phrased it made it sound like it came out within the last month, but he did not give a time frame. It backs up my experience with AMEX applications in the past 2 weeks though.
Must be a new policy. I had two Starwood AMEX cards for over a year.
lampy2k4
Senior Member - 1K
posted: May. 13, 2009 @ 10:08a
comptalk said: Yea, the guy must had been smokin something. I have a blue, gold rewards, corp. platinum rewards cards. This is 2009. What we have has nothing to do with what one can get today, in the world of lowered credit limits and closed accounts.
Such policies are not very surprising. Every issuer is trying to cut their exposure, and cutting number of cards per person is one way without losing customers.
I was about to go for the hilton HHonors Surpass card, but now I am thinking I may hold off.
rustum
Senior Member
posted: Jul. 30, 2009 @ 11:53p
I have received a letter few weeks back for following offer from American Express. I have a gold card. Asked me to return the form by 07/31/2009 to receive, 1. Free air line companion ticket worth up to $744 2. Free restaurant certificate worth up to $100. 3. Two months free membership in FOOD and Wine connoisseur club.
They will chart on time club processing fee of $2.99. After 2 free months, they will charge $29.95 to my American Express card. Continuous annual renewal rate afterward is $69.95.
They also mentioned that your are under no obligation to continue your membership and air line companion ticket and $100 restaurant gift certificate are yours to keep no matter what.
Looks like i can take 2 months free membership, get all the benefits and cancel the membership?
Does it look like a legitimate offer. Please suggest if i can reply/call them by tomorrow and take this offer.
rustum said: I have received a letter few weeks back for following offer from American Express. I have a gold card. Asked me to return the form by 07/31/2009 to receive, 1. Free air line companion ticket worth up to $744 2. Free restaurant certificate worth up to $100. 3. Two months free membership in FOOD and Wine connoisseur club.
They will chart on time club processing fee of $2.99. After 2 free months, they will charge $29.95 to my American Express card. Continuous annual renewal rate afterward is $69.95.
They also mentioned that your are under no obligation to continue your membership and air line companion ticket and $100 restaurant gift certificate are yours to keep no matter what.
Looks like i can take 2 months free membership, get all the benefits and cancel the membership?
Does it look like a legitimate offer. Please suggest if i can reply/call them by tomorrow and take this offer.ing
they have been sending me the same from last 1 year like crazy... i doubt how useful is their companion certificate is ?
rustum
Senior Member
posted: Sep. 11, 2009 @ 1:19p
Thanks for the info.
pm9bjm
New Member
posted: Oct. 2, 2009 @ 6:35a
I was just turned down for a Citibank hilton Honors Visa. I have stellar credit references. The response was "Not enough satisfactory credit references." I appealed and was denied again for the same reason. My husband applied for the card, answered the questions identically and he was immediately accepted. He has fewer credit references than I do. Is it legal for them to discriminate based on sex???
myadvice
Senior Member
posted: Oct. 2, 2009 @ 7:53a
pm9bjm said: I was just turned down for a Citibank hilton Honors Visa. I have stellar credit references. The response was "Not enough satisfactory credit references." I appealed and was denied again for the same reason. My husband applied for the card, answered the questions identically and he was immediately accepted. He has fewer credit references than I do. Is it legal for them to discriminate based on sex???
It's not only about the applications questions, but also about the outside information that the issuer has access to. Have you compared all three of your credit reports with your husbands? Are they identical? Are your FICO scores exactly the same? Do you both have identical credit histories? Have you both had the exactly same types of credit (car loans, personal loans, credit cards) in the past for identical amounts and terms? Are the utilities in only one name? Does one of you have a prior relationship with Citi or one of the banks that merged into the Citi network? etc.
craig10x
Senior Member - 5K
posted: Oct. 2, 2009 @ 9:43a
pm9bjm said: I was just turned down for a Citibank hilton Honors Visa. I have stellar credit references. The response was "Not enough satisfactory credit references." I appealed and was denied again for the same reason. My husband applied for the card, answered the questions identically and he was immediately accepted. He has fewer credit references than I do. Is it legal for them to discriminate based on sex???
AMEX is weird....i had applied for one of their cards...and i have a credit score of 850...and they turned me down for supposed excessive utilization.....which is nuts because i have a $20,000 credit line and only spend about $400 a month on my card....probably because it is a visa signature that doesn't report the line...but you would think they would have their computers programmed better then that....because it doesn't appear that a human ever even reviews your history, they seem to just rely on the computer...
Your husband was probably just lucky...something in his reports somehow had the computer give him a pass while it gave you a fail.....
After that, i would never bother to apply for one of their cards anymore....not worth it...by the way...they are only the ONLY credit card company to ever turn me down..... and i have a perfect credit history...so don't feel too bad...
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