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It was reported on other blogs last month and on US Credit Card Guide over the summer that Amex debuted a new “Apply With Confidence” feature this year for some applicants that lets them know if they will be approved before the application is submitted and finalized. While this feature isn’t available for everyone and may not mean a lot for existing cardholders, it is nonetheless a good add for newcomers to the game.
Again, this feature is not brand new — it was reported on One Mile at a Time and Doctor of Credit last month and had been mentioned in other online forums earlier in the year. However, it looks like a nice feature for people who are just dipping their toes in the credit card rewards world. Fear of rejection can certainly be an obstacle for many people and the idea here is that Amex can wipe that fear away for some with a message indicating that they will be approved if they apply before they take a hard credit pull.
All that said, anecdotally, people have found that Amex often does not perform a hard pull on existing cardholders (YMMV) but rather they have been known to use existing soft pulls to make decisions. For example, I see a pre-approved message on the various cards I checked:
However, that isn’t the “Apply with confidence” messaging being reported elsewhere. See a screen shot at Doctor of Credit, but the bottom line is that the “confidence” messaging makes it clear that you’ll know if you’re approved with no hard pull.
Overall, this will potentially be useful for many new to Amex and it certainly would be nice for other issuers to follow suit with the ability to share the decision before an applicant takes the impact of a hard pull.
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Is there a way to know if you’re eligible for an Amex welcome bonus? I had a Marriott card several years ago and canceled it but I can’t remember which one. If I apply and get approved for the same card could they reject the welcome bonus since I had it before?
You will likely see a pop-up stating that you are not eligible for a bonus but can still apply for the card. From what I understand, it then gives you an option to proceed with the application or cancel with no hard pull.
AMEX is an awful company that misleads their customers.
An evidence free comment. How convincing.