Ok, so I called back to Centurion Applications today now that it's July. I qualify on the spending in 12 months ($300k+) and the 1 year mark now. The lady on the phone was really nice and walked me through the application.

Then she says "I just need to run your credit report to see if you're approved. This will take 1 minute." About 20 seconds later she says "I'm sorry sir, but at this time it's telling me that you don't meet the credit profile of American Express. I'm going to submit your application to our credit department for a review to see if they will overturn it. I can't guarantee you that it will get overturned, but as soon as I hear back from them I will give you a call on your cell phone. It will be in the next 24 hours. Is that OK?" Of course I said yes.

Here's what my online application status shows (click to see image): http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/88/centurioncp8.jpg

Now, I'm not surprised by the denial of any credit/charge card for me right now. I have a very high debt-to-credit ratio because I maxed out many of my cards to fund my business. My FICO credit scores are in the low 600's, but I have no late payments, no collections, no charge-offs, no baddies, nothing. All on time and everything, just high debt. I think Amex is just being really strict because of the credit crunch right now.

But... I do spend $40k-$50k with Amex a month, I have multiple cards with them, and am a great customer. I have my personal cards and two of my businesses with them. I really hope they can do a manual review of my application and approve me so they can keep me a happy and loyal customer. After all, if I am charging $40k-$50k a month with Platinum, what harm does it do them to move me to Centurion?

Any thoughts on this? Has this ever happened with anyone before when trying to get Centurion? Maybe I am the first on FlyerTalk where this has happened.

Ethan

After all that work and talking about getting the Cent card and they turned you down? Sucks man. I'm sure a manual review will get you in, if not just keep asking for it.

If I were AMEX I'd be willing to let anyone who's silly enough to pay a $5,000 initiation fee get the card. I've seen the card benefits in action, and while they can be valuable for sure, the initiation fee on top of the already questionably worthwhile annual fees is crazy. I'll hold off on saying anymore as its been discussed ad naseum elsewhere.

AMEX is very tight with their credit lines these days. 600 is not the greatest score these days, and with your high ratio of debt, I'd be nervous loaning you money.

With that credit history, they probably feel that your willingness to spend $5000 for the privilege of carrying a Centurian card is an indicator of future credit unworthiness.

I'm thinking the quicker you get over it and move on, the better off you will be.

I thought Amex had pretty tight requirements on credit scores. To be honest, I would be surprised if they would give a regular charge card to someone with a 600 credit score.

I used to work at a bank, and if someone came in with a 600 credit score and wanted a car loan, we either denied them or charged an outrageous interest rate.

I'd suggest paying down your revolving balances. That will improve your score. Reapply once your score is in the 700s.

How does this credit score work? Is it a proportion of assests to debts?

By the way, I have gotten nearly all of my Amex cards with my scores being in the mid-600's. My Amex Clear, Hilton, Business Green, Business Gold, and Plum, all after I had high debt. My only card that I got while in the 700's was my Platinum, and that was before starting my business about a year ago. Granted, the credit industry has fallen on hard times in the last 6 months.

I'll just wait for the results, and if I get denied then I'll just move on and work on my buiness to continue to pay down debt, no big deal.

I would really like the card, and I would use the benefits in a huge way (all of you people complaining about the fees need to get over it). But if I'm denied there is nothing I can do and I'll just have to reapply later in life.

Ethan

Right now the shape that banks are in, they are not readily lending money. If your score is in the 600's, that's not considered prime. Back when you obtained your platinum and had a score in the 700's that would have been appropriate. Right now, basically if your score is below 680 your considered non-prime and the lending is very very tight in that market now.

No, in the USA credit scores are models created by credit bureaux to predict probability of default looking only at credit history. One factor is the ratio of current balances to total available credit. They do not have access to information about income or assets. The scores are typically used for routine decisions on credit cards, auto loans and other installment loans.

The American Express manual credit review would probably look at the details of the credit report, rather than just the score, plus the applicant's income.

You can find more using the search term: FICO . I believe a similar system is in use in the UK, but I do not know if it is as pervasive as in the USA.

The risk I see here for ethanwa is that the review could affect the existing cards.

Ethan,

That sucks. Ask for the manual review / FR; or just wait a bit (say 6-12 months) for your credit to improve. My own credit score improved by over 100 points in the past 12 months due to vigilant credit management.

Order your reports from annualcreditreport.com if you haven't done so already.

I don't think the Black Card has a higher "credit limit" than any other AMEX charge card product. Thus, I don't why AMEX wouldn't do it.

Like some posters said previously. You might be better-off without the card. However, some of us need the card for narcissistic reasons....

Ethanwa:

Are you upgrading your Platinum to Centurion or getting a brand new Centurion card? It might be just easier to upgrade from Platinum to Centurion.

If you have any business credit cards, move the balances over to them. If not, then apply for some biz CC's. Biz CC's usually don't show up on credit reports. Your score is low due to high utilization.

Check out www.creditboards.com/forums. My score went up about 40 pts when I borrowed 9K from my HELOC and paid off the card. The reason I had a balance on that card was 0% on purchases for a year.

My thought exactly. Be happy you didn't waste the $7,500. You can get most of the useful Centurion bennies with your Plat card.

If you wanted it for CO, DL and US Gold elite status, those have a lot less value than in years past... more elite pax, and in many cases F fares aren't that much more than coach. As a CO Gold, I purchase F a lot of the time (depending on route and inventory) to insure I get an F seat.

It's US Plat elite status.