The Explorer Credit Card (New AMEX Card!)

[decs]

For those that managed to relink Gateway and Ascent after the bonus points have posted, do the cards show up together in one account login or do they stay in their separate accounts but the Explorer now belonging to the Ascent program enabling Ascent redemptions?

You can actually change which cards show up under which account logins. Under the 'Card Management' menu, see the options 'Add a Card to Online Services' and 'Remove a Card from Online Services'. Note that you must remove a card from one login before adding that card to a different one. No points or anything is lost, it simply changes which login the accounts show up in. I did this to merge three cards from separate to a common login.

 

[SOPOOR]

Well had my application approved today via sms.
Very very happy. My first amex card

They sent me a text saying pls call. Which had me worried and they asked if I wanted to a bal transfer. Which I'm pretty sure I ticked no...... They asked me what limit I wanted and I said the minimum is fine and I asked if changing the limit would change the application and they said no.

I said just give me what's been pre-approved.

And they said "yes we have you pre-approved at $75k limit

So I accepted
Are amex limits normally this high???

 

[Dr Ralph]

Well had my application approved today via sms.
Very very happy. My first amex card

They sent me a text saying pls call. Which had me worried and they asked if I wanted to a bal transfer. Which I'm pretty sure I ticked no...... They asked me what limit I wanted and I said the minimum is fine and I asked if changing the limit would change the application and they said no.

I said just give me what's been pre-approved.

And they said "yes we have you pre-approved at $75k limit

So I accepted
Are amex limits normally this high???

Many credit card limits are high.

I refuse them. I take the minimum every time as having too high a limit precludes multiple cards being held concurrently.

 

[BettyB]

Tried this tonight. Hopefully it works and I get the cards

Took a call today from AMEX asking for the drivers licence number of the people I asked for supplementary cards for.

 

[mpandya]

Hi all,

Based on the recommendations of very knowledgeable AFFers, I signed up to Amex Explorer card in spite of holding Amex Platinum Charge card, using a referral link to gain 110K gateway bonus points.

My experience so far has been great – summary as per below:

* Application process – Used referral link. Link provided worked immediately. Application process was very smooth. Got approved immediately and cards arrived within no time (incl supplementary).
* Online setup – Immediate (linked to my Amex Platinum Charge card).
* ‘De’-Linking of two cards were done immediately upon activation as advised on this forum.
* My referral link was used by one of my friends and referral bonus points posted immediately.
* Took me in excess of 3 weeks to spend $1500 to get bonus points.
* Re-Linking – Contacted customer service team @ 2 am AEST on Saturday. Spoke to a person in Philippines who advised that I could merge Gateway + Ascent Premium accounts but his system was down so requested to call back after 1 hours.
I called again (3 AM AEST) and spoke to another person who advised that linking was not possible as the earn rate on two cards were very different etc. I tried calling against 2 days later and this time it was SUCCESS !!! – persistence is probably a key here J
* Points merged within half a day (as advised).

NB – throughout the whole process, all my cards remained visible/setup under one username/login name (for online access).

Couldn’t have been happier with the whole experience …

I’m relatively new to the points game so warehousing as many points (in excess of 300K atm) as I can to potentially use on a long haul international J, preferably F; as I gain more knowledge reading multiple posts.

 

[mmchow]

And they said "yes we have you pre-approved at $75k limit

Am I reading this right? $75K limit. Geez that is high

 

[bbqwer]

Am I reading this right? $75K limit. Geez that is high

Unlikely $75,000 limit. May be operator means minimum salary $75k

 

[Ultan Lankford]

As noted in this thread I followed the usual guide of un-linking from Ascent Premium, to create a Gateway Account, spent the required $1500, got the bonus points and then waited some evening to ring up the MR rewards people to link them back to my Ascent Premium.
It was all good and flawless. Nice job everyone.

 

[annielee]

hello experts...

i've just got my new amex explorer card and spend $1.5k just now (points should be in the MR soon, i guess)
should i proceed to apply for the platinum edge card now ? and once approved, request for the rewards account to be merged ?

thanks

 

[mmchow]

hello experts...

i've just got my new amex explorer card and spend $1.5k just now (points should be in the MR soon, i guess)
should i proceed to apply for the platinum edge card now ? and once approved, request for the rewards account to be merged ?

thanks

Have you been applying for much credit of late? If not, go for it
Merging is easy and make sure you call later the night. Mine got merged within seconds.
And as usual, use a referral to get bonus points

 

[annielee]

quite active since last october... a total of 4 (including amex explorer) and just cancelled one last week..

Have you been applying for much credit of late? If not, go for it
Merging is easy and make sure you call later the night. Mine got merged within seconds.
And as usual, use a referral to get bonus points

 

[mmchow]

An average one a month. And your score is still healthy?

 

[annielee]

for the last 4 months, from 769 to 610 (average) now - according to getcreditscore.com and 822 according to creditsavvy.com

An average one a month. And your score is still healthy?

 

[albyd]

And they said "yes we have you pre-approved at $75k limit
Are amex limits normally this high???

That's interesting, I was told product limit was $50k for Explorer.

 

[Dr Ralph]

That's interesting, I was told product limit was $50k for Explorer.

I think you'll find OP has made a mistake. They have previously stated that they have a modest income.

 

[Dr Ralph]

for the last 4 months, from 769 to 610 (average) now - according to getcreditscore.com and 822 according to creditsavvy.com

It's all very dubious. There's more than 400 points different between my scores with these two organizations. One lists me as above average and other lists me as below average. Never been refused any card. Shows how valueless these measures are.

Creditsavy also says there have been 15 enquiries on my account since 2014. Ive had more than 30 new cards in that period.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

And they said "yes we have you pre-approved at $75k limit

So I accepted
Are amex limits normally this high???

Seems most odd given your stated income.

Also $75K is not the minimum income requirement either.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Took a call today from AMEX asking for the drivers licence number of the people I asked for supplementary cards for.

I have being getting Supps for a decade now. Sometimes Amex checks and sometimes not. Sometimes they check when I apply, and sometimes they have checked afterwards. Their checking system seems to be entirely random.


As my Amex is a Points Warehouse normally with typically 7 figures in it I avoid supplying them with any false info and so only use Supp Cardholders who exist and are over 18 as I do not wish to kill my golden goose.

 

[PDog]

It's all very dubious. There's more than 400 points different between my scores with these two organizations. One lists me as above average and other lists me as below average. Never been refused any card. Shows how valueless these measures are.

Creditsavy also says there have been 15 enquiries on my account since 2014. Ive had more than 30 new cards in that period.

i have never bothered checking mine, cause I agree it's often meaningless. I applied and was approved for 6 cards last year (4 before I discovered I had to reapply for our mortgage having sold an investment property while my husband wasn't working - long ridiculous story)
I then applied for both the ANZ adventure & Amex on the Amex day, cause I figured I wasn't lying about the number of cards I had. Got them both- ANZ called to check my salary and said if I sent a payslip they'd approve on that and not to worry about my rental income despite the mortgages, AMEX auto approved which indicates there were no checks. I do have a decent salary, but we are a one salary household. I am happy to trash my credit rating for the next couple of years to take advantage of their generosity!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

i have never bothered checking mine, cause I agree it's often meaningless. I applied and was approved for 6 cards last year (4 before I discovered I had to reapply for our mortgage having sold an investment property while my husband wasn't working - long ridiculous story)
I then applied for both the ANZ adventure & Amex on the Amex day, cause I figured I wasn't lying about the number of cards I had. Got them both- ANZ called to check my salary and said if I sent a payslip they'd approve on that and not to worry about my rental income despite the mortgages, AMEX auto approved which indicates there were no checks. I do have a decent salary, but we are a one salary household. I am happy to trash my credit rating for the next couple of years to take advantage of their generosity!

I would believe that Amex and Banks have their own chrecking procedures and they are each different.

My guestimate is that Amex are very reliant on using their own internal checks, and that once you have had an Amex that future approvals are generally pretty painless. So I rate it as one of the easiest to get new cards for.

I have been churning cards for bonnii pretty solidly for well over a decade (It has come and gone a bit as in some years sign-on bonnii have not always been as lucrative or as valuable as they have been the last couple of years) and of all the organisations that I have applied to the ANZ have checked more often, and more rigorously than the others. Indeed with ANZ it pays not include things like your investment income as they have sometimes asked for ridiculous things like wanting to see proof of all dividend earnings...and when you have thirty odd shareholdings that is simply not going to happen. So while I have always gained any ANZ card I have applied for, they have tended to be more effort to gain.