Over a month ago, I wrote about a great deal offered by e-mail to Delta’s small business program members (SkyBonus). I had been planning on gettingAmex Delta Platinum Business card for a while (again) but had held out and was glad I did! The only problem was that I had been doing a ton of spending to meet various bonus thresholds before I left for Europe so I had high balances on many accounts. That does not report well to the credit agencies! However, since it was mostly manufactured spending, I had no problem paying it off and getting my balances lowered.
Update on my Amex Delta Platinum Business Card
Something to remember is that the banks do not update the credit bureaus real-time with your balances. They may update them every two weeks or after each statement closes. Because of that, when I applied for this card, my credit bureaus will still reporting high-utilization of credit even though it was all paid down. When I applied, I got a pending notice that lasted two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, the card was declined for having too many inquiries (who, me?!) and (you guessed it) too high of utilization on different cards.
I did something different this time than I have done before and waited a while to make sure the credit bureaus would get their information updated before I made the reconsideration call. After two weeks, everything looked back to normal and my credit score was back up to where it normally resides. I called them and was told that I would have to call Equifax (the credit bureau Amex used to pull my report) and have them update my score and fax my new report to them. I forgot what the number was so I called back a couple of days later.
This time, I was told they could push it back through for reconsideration but it would be another hard pull. I said that was fine – and regretted it. I had a feeling it would be another declined given the number of pulls I have had recently. But I figured it was worth the pull. Fast forward to this morning and an e-mail saying that I was Approved! I was very excited about this as it will give me more Delta Skymiles and an additional 20,000 elite miles towards my Delta Platinum qualification.
This was in stark contrast to Chase. I had applied on the same day for a Chase Ink Bold card for a new business and was declined on that after a 2 week pending status as well. When I called them back, they told me that it was for the same reasons as Amex. I told them how the balances had just decreased dramatically and was there something they could do to reconsider. They said, no, they had to work off the credit report in front of them and they would not issue me a card based on it and that was the final word. Not too thrilled with that, but there will be other applications!
Lessons Learned:
- Credit bureaus do not get information from banks on a steady basis. It may be a month before your balance summary is updated to reflect any action on your part.
- If you need time to fix whatever were the reasons for a decline on a credit card statement, there is no rush to call for the reconsideration request. I called over three weeks after the decline and they went ahead and resubmitted the request
- Banks have gotten more strict with their handling of credit card debt for consideration of applications. I have had applications approved in the past when I had done huge spending after explaining the reasons for the spending. Now, it is just a response that there is nothing they can do.
- Do not apply for a credit card if you are in a period of high spending as it may weigh heavily against your application request
