Thread: Will I ever qualify for an AMEX?

Well First of all hello to everyone considering this is my first post here. Anyways, im 20 years old and ive just basically started getting obsessed with the whole building my credit deal, i applied for a walmart store card a year ago and got it, never missed any payments, and recently also applied and got a Capital One Platinum card (it arrived just last friday.) I got pretty excited about the capital one i decided to apply for an AMEX Zync. i got declined... since then i asked for my once a year credit report for the first time. i and i noticed some things that really killed me. so heres where the questions come in... First of all i have a student loan thats currently on grace period, i start paying in may, its an unavoidable debt for me right now, and i cant pay it all off in one shot, but i AM going to be making payments on time, is that debt on my report gonna impede me from getting AMEX cards until i pay it off in full?

And my second question and problem is a bit worse... i was shocked to see that i had medical debts that went to collections, it was from 2 years ago, i didn't have insurance and i thought my father was taking care of it, i didn't even know it was under my credit. Its four amounts for 2 collection agencies. One of the agency had my balls for a total of about 5k, and the other for just $304. So i called the latter, (they had the wrong phone number under file) they agreed if i paid the 304 they would remove it from my report, so i can do that. But what do i with the big debt i cant pay that off... should i wait the 7 years? can i get an AMEX in that time with that delinquency on my record?

P.s. As for the $304 debt agency, should i ask for them to fax, mail, or e-mail me some type of proof that they'll actually remove it after i've paid...

Well thank you for your help, im gonna have to check exactly how old i was, although i think i was 18 already... and the problem is thatim going to be headed back to school soon, and probably in need of another loan :/

Naw still was 18... i just got no luck on that one

Well I've lowered my revolving debts lately and I've seen my scores going up slowly through Credit Karma, but no luck on any of the files that went to collection. I've sent 2 letters to the collection agency that i owed the lesser sum, that I'm willing to pay in full if they remove it from credit report, but no response.... I'm starting to feel that I'm stuck with all of those stupid collection items on my record for the long haul. it sucks having poor credit and little patience to wait the years out...

From my experience it's less what you owe on revolving debt/fixed loans, and more of your history of payments. Of course collections hurts you a lot, but if you can take care of that and show you have on time payments for everything all the time you should be good.

I am 24 years old and have a Amex Gold..and I was approved for it at the time I had like 80% credit usage (Actually that's a constant haha!), over 10K owed on a car loan and 3500 owed on a student loan and a credit score of 647. I'm pretty bad actually when it comes to credit, being forcefully required to pay in full at the end of each month is giving me better shopping habits.

lol i do have a 10k student loan too, and never been late on the revolving accounts, and my credit Karma score for this month is at 624. i wish id be aproved for any of their charge cards, it would put my foot in to get their harder-to-get credit cards. but i know amex wont even look at me once they check my experian and see those delinquencies... which i werent even aware of

Hi all. This is my first post, but I couldn't resist responding to this thread.

dfm990: You may consider sending a letter to the collections agency asking them to produce evidence that you indeed owe the debt. Often these agencies don't keep their paperwork straight and this can be an effective way to discharge a debt or at the very least, confirm that they have evidence that is admissible to a court of law. Also, your student loan debt is an installment account as opposed to your credit card debts which are revolving accounts. Almost everyone is expected to have some combination of installment accounts (car loan, student loan, house loan, etc.) and this type of debt can significantly improve your credit rating if you make your payments on time. Having a large sum of unpaid installment accounts does not hurt your credit rating (owning a home can cost several $100k). Additionally, depending on your class standing, you are guaranteed up to $7,500 in government loans that do not require a credit check or co-signer, so I wouldn't sweat getting a loan to pay for more college.

Thanks for the tip Capital yea i decided to send them letters as well as to the credit bereaus to investigate the matters, and im glad to hear about what you mentioned about school loans, because i was actually thinking of continuing my education.