When to apply for a new Amex card

no_more_cards_for_me

I've managed to pay back all my debt and have 1 card remaining. £1000 credit line and £34 balance currently, only used for work. All other loans and cards (except mortgage) settled and paid back in full. No defaults but 10 late payments spread across 13 previous accounts - majority with egg in the last 12 months. There are also 10 searces on my file - 5 from credit expert ! and 3 from churchil and privledge when I was searching for car insurance quotes. These will fall off by March next year and I would wondering about applying for an Amex card at this time, I 'd the keep the existing card for emergencies and use the Amex for petrol, lunches etc and pay off each month.

Previously my debts totalled £38,000 but this has al been repaid back without defaults on any of the accounts.

What are my chances wth Amex ?

marksoton

To be blunt, very slim judging by a lot of peoples experience on these boards. Amex are very strict generally speaking, and those late payments will almost certainly have ruined your chances. Any particular reason you want an Amex card ?

no_more_cards_for_me

Cashback really - might be nice to get something back for a change.

How long is the wait for late payments to come off ?

lisyloo

If you keep the accounts open than I think some CRAs show 48 months of payment history.
If you close the accounts however it will remain for 6 years.
So ironically if falls off quicker if you keep the accounts open.

Dabooka

To be honest, I think you need to read the small print of the cash back deal. It might not be worth it for you, these cash back deals seem to be getting fewer and paying out less each time and I've raed a few things on here about teh Amex one not being worth much for some users.

Just a thought, as it might make the question moot anyway.

lisyloo

Right Amex is only available if you earn £30K plus.

It's £100 cashback for £2000 spend but you must spend £3K in the year to qualify for cashback, so the rate is effectively 3.5% on £3K over 1 year.
You cannot let the card go dormant (they have been known to cancel).
They also only do cashback on whole pounds.
So spend £2.99 on lunch and get 10p cashback not 15p.
If you buy lots of small items this will affect you.

It's a very good deal for high spenders who don't mind jumping through a few hoops.

I've managed to spend about £2K in one month at Xmas, and got £100 cashback accrued, but obviously it won't work for everyone.

Dabooka

lisyloo wrote: »

Right Amex is only available if you earn £30K plus.

It's £100 cashback for £2000 spend but you must spend £3K in the year to qualify for cashback, so the rate is effectively 3.5% on £3K over 1 year.
You cannot let the card go dormant (they have been known to cancel).
They also only do cashback on whole pounds.
So spend £2.99 on lunch and get 10p cashback not 15p.
If you buy lots of small items this will affect you.

It's a very good deal for high spenders who don't mind jumping through a few hoops.

I've managed to spend about £2K in one month at Xmas, and got £100 cashback accrued, but obviously it won't work for everyone.

That's explained that then! :beer:

I've got the normal Amex, but only put a couple of hundred a month through it so never really bothered looking in detail.

lisyloo

BTW - This is the Platinum Amex cashback credit card.
You have to be careful to apply for the right card, because there are some with similar names, so if you want the 5% cashback make sure that's the one you apply for.

withnell

no_more_cards_for_me wrote: »

There are also 10 searces on my file ... 3 from churchil and privledge when I was searching for car insurance quotes.

You should be able to get these removed - you don't need a credit search done for an insurance quote (unless you asked for something special? Churchill never asked me for a search)

no_more_cards_for_me

Update

Applied for an Amex cashback card.

No problems with acceptance and given a £2k limit which is fine for my purposes.

So cashback here we come, I estimate that I can spend some £4k on expenses and fuel so whilst I won't earn loads its still a nice incentive.

So far I've been impressed with the services, very fast email response and calling to confirm card being sent.

Will keep the goldfish card as a back up for the next few months then probably cancel it and either use cash (02 card) or amex for purchases.

Debt_Free_Dreamer

Make sure you pay it off in full each month. Or you will wipe out the benefit of cashback with interest.

I managed £700 cash back in the first year by giving my OH a card on my account and both of us spending all our money on the cards. A Direct Debit from my account clears the card every month with no interest ever being paid.