AMEX default - will be 6 years in Jan 2024 17 April at 9:54AM in Credit cards 11 replies 724 views

HLTCO

Hi all

I got into trouble in 2016-2018 and had a default on my Amex, along with late payments on a couple of other lines of credit. I have since tidied everything up and now have a solid credit history over the last 5 years and the default will come off my credit file in Jan 2024. 

Does anyone know if Amex will allow me to apply for another card after that? Or am I forever blacklisted?

MorningcoffeeIV

Amex tend not to allow previous offenders back, but there are always tales of exceptions.

WillPS

No hard and fast rules. No harm in running an acceptance check and seeing what it says, and if you proceed to a full application a single hard search isn't going to cause long term problems.

lr1277

This might be an unwarranted question as I don't know anything about defaults and how they are cleared.

But the phrase 'tidied everything up' is a bit vague to me.

Did you actually pay in full everything you owed Amex?

sourcrates

Online accounts as to how long Amex blacklist bad paying customers varies from between 10 to 20 years.

However most of that information comes from American sites, where it may or may not be applicable.

In the UK the limit for keeping negative information on file is 6 years, some companies may exceed that.
The general consensus of opinion is that if you ever cost them money, you may have a long wait.

The only way to find out is to re-apply, and see what happens, although to be honest, I can`t see the attraction of an Amex card myself, but then I don`t use credit any longer anyway.

jbrassy

sourcrates said:

although to be honest, I can`t see the attraction of an Amex card myself, but then I don`t use credit any longer anyway.

Free cashback or air miles? Section 75 protection? Good customer service?

WillPS

The cashback is less of a perk so long as Chase are giving away 1% cashback on their debit cards - none of the Amex cashback options can touch it (unless you're a high spender).

JES_F1

I defaulted on my first American Express card, which was part of my debt management plan that I completed in June 2013. 

I applied for a new Amex card (Platinum Cashback Everyday) in June 2019 and was surprised to get it with a £5,000 credit limit.  After a couple of months, Amex reduced my credit limit to £1,200 so I guess they'd done some further checks.  After two years of paying off my balance in full each month, they increased my credit limit to £2,100.

Between the end of my DMP and applying for the Amex, I got a couple of Barclaycards and a Santander Mastercard, all of which get paid in full each month, so that will probably have helped get the new Amex.

denow

WillPS said:

The cashback is less of a perk so long as Chase are giving away 1% cashback on their debit cards - none of the Amex cashback options can touch it (unless you're a high spender).

Agreed but going forward I'll be using my Amex for it's 0.5% on months that my chase cashback reaches it's monthly £15 cap. My Barclaycard Rewards only offers 0.25%.

WillPS

denow said:

WillPS said:

The cashback is less of a perk so long as Chase are giving away 1% cashback on their debit cards - none of the Amex cashback options can touch it (unless you're a high spender).

Agreed but going forward I'll be using my Amex for it's 0.5% on months that my chase cashback reaches it's monthly £15 cap. My Barclaycard Rewards only offers 0.25%.

Another option might be to change your existing Barclaycard Rewards in to a (free) Avios card, which earns 1 Avios per £, which can easily be converted to 0.66p worth of Nectar (when redeemed at face value at Ebay, Argos or Sainsbury's), and has the advantage of working in places where Amex isn't accepted and no £3k minimum.

MattMattMattUK

I had an Amex card when I was 18, I had three (non-sequential) missed payments and because of that they closed my account, I paid in full and had no outstanding debt to them at the point the account was closed. I applied again seventeen years later in my mid thirties and they gave me a Platinum Cashback Credit Card (1.25% cashback) with a £5k limit. The amount of time passed, as well as the fact that there was no outstanding debt are probably major factors in that though.