I've recently applied for, and been declined (surprisingly, or not so surprisingly after reading the past page or so of this thread) for the Qantas AMEX Ultimate card - $450 Annual Fee w/ $450 travel credit, 100k Bonus points after $3k eligible spend.
My credit score is well within the Excellent range on all of Canstar, Finder and Equifax sources (which I just found out after receiving the rejection letter).
I have however, cancelled 3 credit cards within the past 5-6 months though - 2 of which were points earning cards and the other just a regular non-points card that I had for ages and only kept for my internet bill to maintain a monthly discount.
I did call up AMEX and ask for the status of the application around 3 business days after the application - I was told verbally that the application had been declined and the consultant wasn't able to give a specific reason other than "a letter is on its way outlining our decision and possible reasons".
The letter is the typical BS generic response:
"We're writing to let you know that, unfortunately, we're unable to approve your application at this time based wholly or partly on your credit information received from Veda, a Credit Reporting body in Australia."
&
It is important for you to be proactive in checking the accuracy of the credit information that Credit Reporting Bodies have about you because"
- AMEX relies upon information from Credit Reporting Bodies as well as information provided by you
- Factors that are often taken into account when declining a request for credit may include your income level, other resources, current debts, other commitments, employment, credit history including bankruptcies, defaults, serious credit infringements, number of credit applications and repayment history."
If I can recall correctly, I wasn't even asked to submit or upload any documents, ie. payslips, statements etc - just entering numbers.
There was however a question about whether or not I'd prefer AMEX to decide on a credit limit, or if I wanted to specifically choose my limit. I think I left it to them to decide - I wonder had I applied for a small limit ie. $5k, whether that may have made a difference or not.
Yes, I have closed some credit cards and only have just the 1 now, I have sufficient income after expenses with a 100% payment history - I do wonder if AMEX actually are cracking down on churners, because I'm confident that had I applied for the Citibank Ready Credit product (which was my other option w/ 70k Bonus points after only a few hundred dollars as it's a line of credit, rather than a credit card), it would have most likely been approved - but then that's just my opinion.
Just a tad annoyed that AMEX rejected for what I perceive, to be no / a poor reason. Regret not applying for the Citibank product and won't do so now due to the recent decline by AMEX.
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