Applying for an AMEX CC with a default

premiumz

Hi,

Back in 2020 I received a default. Won't get into the details of it but it was for £30 and I had no idea the bill even existed. Other than that, I pay my bills on time, have a mortgage and have just recently paid my car off in full after using PCP.

I'm trying to improve my credit history by getting credit as I did not own a credit card or have a loan etc.
Yesterday I applied for a loan and credit card from my bank and got approved straight away. The loan is for the new car and the credit card is a 0% interest credit card just to have on hand. I need it for something in the short term, that's the main reason I got it.

I do want the Amex BA credit card too for everyday spending to start racking up Avios points for travel. I went through their eligibility checker and it says I have a 9/10 chance of getting it but I'm concerned the eligibility checker doesn't take into account the default as it also says when applying you must: Be over 18 etc etc and "have no history of bad debt".

My fixed rate on my mortgage ends in November and I don't want to harm my credit history, I want to improve it so I can get better rates etc

So do you think I'd still get accepted for this?

Thanks

Desmond_Hume

Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. Nobody here knows. 

premiumz

Desmond_Hume said:

Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. Nobody here knows. 

Someone here may have gotten an Amex card with a default. Someone here may know for a fact they don't accept people with defaults. Someone might know something. Don't assume "nobody here knows". What if someone here worked for Amex? Think Desmond, think.

CliveOfIndia

premiumz said:

Desmond_Hume said:

Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. Nobody here knows. 

Someone here may have gotten an Amex card with a default. Someone here may know for a fact they don't accept people with defaults. Someone might know something. Don't assume "nobody here knows". What if someone here worked for Amex? Think Desmond, think.

Even if someone here does work for Amex, it's unlikely they would be privvy to Amex's scoring criteria.  And even if they were, they wouldn't be broadcasting what they were on a public forum.

A lender's criteria are commercially sensitive and highly confidential, so you'll never know what they are.  It's probably unlikely (though not impossible) that their criteria have a single isolated data-point that says "one default equals instant refusal".  They will take all your data in combination, run it through their algorithms, and come up with a result.

Maybe someone else with a default has been accepted - that doesn't mean you would be.  Each application is scored on that individual's particular data, and the scoring algorithms are usually pretty complex.  All you can do is apply and see what the result is - you have no way of second-guessing the outcome.

premiumz said:

Yesterday I applied for a loan and credit card from my bank and got approved straight away.

The only thing I would say is to not apply for any further credit for the next few months.  A couple of applications in quick succession is OK, but more than that makes most lenders a bit jittery.  Leave it a few months before you apply for anything else.

ClaretHead

If you want Avios then Barclaycard have an Avios card - the Head for Points website recommends it as better for collecting than the BA Amex, and I suspect that Barclaycard may have a less stringent credit check (although that is just my hunch).

ladyV

I had a default to a utility company in mid 2020, which I paid off in installments. So now is marked as settled but will still be on my credit history for 6 years. I successfully applied for a BA Amex card in late 2022. This was after I'd paid off the default.

MattMattMattUK

premiumz said:

Hi,

Back in 2020 I received a default. Won't get into the details of it but it was for £30 and I had no idea the bill even existed. Other than that, I pay my bills on time, have a mortgage and have just recently paid my car off in full after using PCP.

I'm trying to improve my credit history by getting credit as I did not own a credit card or have a loan etc.
Yesterday I applied for a loan and credit card from my bank and got approved straight away. The loan is for the new car and the credit card is a 0% interest credit card just to have on hand. I need it for something in the short term, that's the main reason I got it.

I do want the Amex BA credit card too for everyday spending to start racking up Avios points for travel. I went through their eligibility checker and it says I have a 9/10 chance of getting it but I'm concerned the eligibility checker doesn't take into account the default as it also says when applying you must: Be over 18 etc etc and "have no history of bad debt".

My fixed rate on my mortgage ends in November and I don't want to harm my credit history, I want to improve it so I can get better rates etc

So do you think I'd still get accepted for this?

Thanks

They are more likely to be concerned with you having taken out a loan and a credit card very recently, multiple applications for credit in a short period never look good, especially for a cautious lender such as Amex.

Londonian001

I had a 4 defaulted and 2 missed payments accounts after falling into debts when the government changed IR35 rules, which meant I lost a third of my monthly income overnight. Went in a DMP in 2018 and paid it all off in full by 2021. In early 2023, I applied for the BA Amex paid card and got approved with a £5k limit. More recently in March, I applied for the Barclaycard Avios Mastercard (the free one) and got approved with a £9k limit. This was a month before all the defaults dropped of my credit file. 

I travel a lot and Amex is still not well used in a few countries, so the Mastercard is a good alternative. I had the BA pre-paid Mastercard too but that's ended now. 

So in short, with 4 defaults, I still got approved but my finance vastly improved after I finished the DMP 2 years earlier than planned (3 instead of 5 years), all the accounts were paid in full and since 2021 I've very strong affordability scores on Clearscore (of consistently over 90%). Most checks said I had 0% to little chance of getting the Amex card but I did and with a decent limit which has since increased by £2k to £7k.