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Not able to get Amex credit card

tanmeet

TF Buzz
Sorry for the long post. I would be glad if u read it full and give your valuable input.

I have been trying to get an Amex Credit card. I applied for Smart Earn Credit card 3 months ago but got rejected. Then after 3 weeks I applied for MRCC and again got rejected due to income criteria.
Met an Amex agent a few days ago, told him the entire story and he said he would get me the Platinum Travel Credit Card ( I am doubtful because I already got rejected for two lower variants ) and he would get me value of joining fees( i.e. Rs 3500) back in the form of points( which makes sense and can be believed) and also if I happen to pay my bills timely he would also get the annual charges( i.e. Rs 5000) reversed in the statement (I highly doubt him, but he showed all the proofs of annual charges reversed of his two own cards in the statements). Morever, in case, I don't find the Platinum Travel useful, I may call the customer care and get this card downgraded to Smart Earn or MRCC , Now, I want to ask the following questions.

1. Can I really get the Platinum Travel Card after getting rejected for lower variants( i.e Smart Earn and MRCC)

2. In case I get the Platinum Travel Card can I get the annual charges reversed?

3. Does Amex allow downgrade of the cards (like from Platinum Travel to Smart Earn or MRCC)?

4. If the answer to all the questions is NO, then how can I get a basic Amex Card? ( Smart Earn or MRCC)

PS: Necessary details

1.Annual income: 5.33L ( salary + side income). I file ITR of 5.33L

2. Have multiple cards from different banks and have always applied as salaried individual.

3. CIBIL is 776 and have never defaulted ever.
 
That was very old list and they didnt update it, it seems..

Here is the latest list..

Let me know if you need any help in amex application process. I will guide you thru the entire process.
DM me if you still have any questions..
All the best

View attachment 54800
Okay Great! I had been bugged by no "Kolkata" in that list I gave for many months and used to think people from Kolkata were not eligible yet 😅
 
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Sorry for the long post. I would be glad if u read it full and give your valuable input.

I have been trying to get an Amex Credit card. I applied for Smart Earn Credit card 3 months ago but got rejected. Then after 3 weeks I applied for MRCC and again got rejected due to income criteria.
Met an Amex agent a few days ago, told him the entire story and he said he would get me the Platinum Travel Credit Card ( I am doubtful because I already got rejected for two lower variants ) and he would get me value of joining fees( i.e. Rs 3500) back in the form of points( which makes sense and can be believed) and also if I happen to pay my bills timely he would also get the annual charges( i.e. Rs 5000) reversed in the statement (I highly doubt him, but he showed all the proofs of annual charges reversed of his two own cards in the statements). Morever, in case, I don't find the Platinum Travel useful, I may call the customer care and get this card downgraded to Smart Earn or MRCC , Now, I want to ask the following questions.

1. Can I really get the Platinum Travel Card after getting rejected for lower variants( i.e Smart Earn and MRCC)

2. In case I get the Platinum Travel Card can I get the annual charges reversed?

3. Does Amex allow downgrade of the cards (like from Platinum Travel to Smart Earn or MRCC)?

4. If the answer to all the questions is NO, then how can I get a basic Amex Card? ( Smart Earn or MRCC)

PS: Necessary details

1.Annual income: 5.33L ( salary + side income). I file ITR of 5.33L

2. Have multiple cards from different banks and have always applied as salaried individual.

3. CIBIL is 776 and have never defaulted ever.
If your pincode is serviceable then send the email to amex grievance department with all the salary proof for amex smart earn application. My application for it was denied last year and again this year so wrote to grievance with all the documents and then card was approved in 20 days.
 
I tried to qualify back in July 2023 by starting with the SmartEarn variant – At that time, my ITR1 for FY22-23 showed a shade below 420k (where basic exemption is applied) – the monthly pay slip × 12 months alone wouldn't qualify for the 450k threshold without factoring my performance bonus and since no TDS was applied on my salary, 26AS form was not applicable to me.

Video KYC completed, Aadhar verified with Digilocker (Chennai falls under serviceable locations) and 2 (or 3) months salary slips uploaded – cannot remember if ITR1 or bank statement was the second file uploaded.

Within the week I did not get any update from them (by sms/call/e-mail) so waited for 3 weeks in total and contacted their customer care to be updated my application was rejected with no reason to specify and to try again in 6 (or 3?) months – So I left it aside for another time.

Fast forward to today, coming across this forum while looking for inspiration to hold an Amex card in my portfolio, I kindly request the experienced here to let me know if I could qualify by Amex standards:

I aim for the Gold charge card for its high credit line – if not directly, the idea of holding the basic qualified card MRCC (or SmartEarn) with a decent limit and subsequently attempt to qualify for the charge card after a certain cooling time elapses.

If there is a right way for me to qualify, I would appreciate the guidance that I have seen here by @BestBanker and @SSV in hope not to get disqualified again.

I thank you for reading.

<Post was edited to remove sensitive information on request>​
 
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I tried to qualify back in July 2023 by starting with the SmartEarn variant – At that time, my ITR1 for FY22-23 showed a shade below 420k (where basic exemption is applied) – the monthly pay slip × 12 months alone wouldn't qualify for the 450k threshold without factoring my performance bonus and since no TDS was applied on my salary, 26AS form was not applicable to me.

Video KYC completed, Aadhar verified with Digilocker (Chennai falls under serviceable locations) and 2 (or 3) months salary slips uploaded – cannot remember if ITR1 or bank statement was the second file uploaded.

Within the week I did not get any update from them (by sms/call/e-mail) so waited for 3 weeks in total and contacted their customer care to be updated my application was rejected with no reason to specify and to try again in 6 (or 3?) months – So I left it aside for another time.

Fast forward to today, coming across this forum while looking for inspiration to hold an Amex card in my portfolio, I kindly request the experienced here to let me know if I can now qualify in Amex's requirements with below facts:

My FY23-24 ITR1 will show a slight increase – a shade above 440k (after basic exemption is applied), no TDS applied on my salary, so 26AS form not applicable.

For FY24-25, my salary slips will amount to 700k before any TDS may be applied.

I hold 3 credit cards from HDFC, Axis and SCB; the average limit at 600k, oldest credit card account is aged 10 years, but the balances on all credit cards is 55% of my combined credit limits - disclosing this crucial point if it should affect my facts.

My CIBIL score in the second week of May’24 was between 780-785, there are no missed payment records showing and the last hard enquiry is from Amex itself in July 2023 which prior to that no enquiries since 2017 by SCB.

My Experian score in the first week of June’24 showed 800, no missed payment records showing and there are no credit enquiries in the last 180 days.

I aim for the Gold charge card for its high credit line – if not directly, the idea of holding the basic qualified card MRCC (or SmartEarn) with a decent limit (300k) and subsequently attempt to qualify for the charge card after a certain cooling time elapses.

If there is a right way for me to qualify, I would appreciate the guidance that I have seen here by @BestBanker and @SSV in hope not to get disqualified again.

I thank you for reading.​
Please check your DM.. it is better to contact via dm as there will be a lot of discussion about sensitive data..
You are eligible for the card and most likely successful outcome..
Don't apply for it in haste
 
With the guidance of @SSV and appreciation towards him for my queries, I applied in the weekend for MRCC, completed vkyc the same evening and uploaded last 2 months of bank statement + 2 months salary slip.

The application could not go through as they asked for Form 16, which I did not have from the previous FY since no TDS was applied on my salary - And the current FY, Form 16/16A will be available after Q1 = ~August 20th.

Hence I forfeited / withdrew my application on call; I hope to re-apply in August.
 
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@SSV Having been rejected once for Amex platinum charge in 2020 i think have not applied for an amex since then. Would like to look into applying for Gold charge card. Would appreciate all the help I can get since I'm pretty new to this. Have a CIBIL of 770+ with credit cards having the highest limit of 6.6 lacs. Would really appreciate some guidance. Self employed
 
With the guidance of @SSV and appreciation towards him for my queries, I applied in the weekend for MRCC, completed vkyc the same evening and uploaded last 2 months of bank statement + 2 months salary slip.

The application could not go through as they asked for Form 16, which I did not have from the previous FY since no TDS was applied on my salary - And the current FY, Form 16/16A will be available after Q1 = ~August 20th.

Hence I forfeited / withdrew my application on call; I hope to re-apply in August.

In middle of August, before Independence day bank holiday, I got my TDS certificate and was ready to resume my application with AmEx. However they stated they could not re-open my previous application due to it being closed internally as documents unavailable and I could re-apply for the same card in September (think 90 days from application closure in June).

So without any hesitation, I applied for Gold Charge card, uploaded 2 months salary slip, 2 months bank statement and TDS certificate. Over 3 weeks, multiple clarification calls were done for:
1) previous FY TDS certificate, which was unavailable and my requests to use current FY TDS certificate.
2) proof of employment by picture of visiting card and e-mail from company e-mail address.

I finally qualified on 6th September and got my cards (self + AC) on 10th September.

I have got to use it only twice till now, for foreign currency transactions during my travel, and have not yet checked the spending power as my transactions done on it was more than sufficient for the start.

Thank you @SSV for helping me earlier.
 
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