Does american express check credit for a corporate card

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American Express offers an array of credit cards to consumers with varied benefits, including travel and cash-back rewards on select cards, access to Amex Offers and other valuable protections and insurances where applicable.

With card types ranging from luxury travel cards to ones with an 0% introductory APR, there’s likely an Amex card to fit your needs. But not everyone can qualify for every type of credit card and American Express is no exception. Although there’s not an official credit score requirement listed for each card, there are some general things you should know about how an issuer uses your credit history to determine approval before you apply.

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What Is a Credit Score?

Your credit score can help you get approved for attractive borrowing rates and repayment terms when you apply for most loans including mortgages, auto loans, personal loans and credit cards. Credit scores from FICO, the oldest and most widely used credit score brand, range between 300 and 850. Higher scores help banks and lenders to predict the risk of a borrower’s default on a loan or credit card.

Those with good to excellent credit scores—defined by FICO as a score of 670 and higher—represent a lower potential risk of default to a lender.

Higher credit scores can mean access to credit cards with lower interest rates as well as greater rewards and other perks. For example, a premium American Express travel card loaded with features and benefits is typically only available to those with excellent credit.

Those who are still building credit, or have some missteps in their credit history, are more likely to get approved for a card aimed at those who fall into the fair credit or lower range. However, in exchange for accepting lower credit scores these cards may come with fewer benefits as well as higher interest rates on any balances you carry.

How to Check Your Credit Score

Before you apply for a credit card, it makes sense to know where you stand. You can check your credit in several different ways:

• Use a free credit report site. It’s a good idea to check your report through a reputable site like AnnualCreditReport.com once per year to make sure there aren’t any errors on your report that could have an adverse impact on your score. Note that these reports don’t give you your actual score but contain all the information that goes into calculating your score.
• Check through a current credit card. Most major credit card issuers will give you a free credit score as an account benefit.
• Check via a nonprofit credit counselor.  If you’re looking for help overcoming debt repayment challenges impacting your credit, nonprofit credit counseling organizations, like the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), can pull your report and score at no cost and review the results with you.

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What Credit Score Do You Need For an American Express Card?

There’s no one magic credit score number that will guarantee you’ll be approved for a particular card. Issuers look at a variety of financial factors and your credit score is just one component of the underwriting decision process.

As a guideline, American Express’ VantageScore tool considers a credit score between 661 and 780 to be a good score, anything below 661 to be fair or poor and anything above 780 to be excellent. While the tool evaluates your information from only one credit bureau (TransUnion), American Express may use more than one credit bureau or a different credit bureau to decide whether or not you qualify for one of their credit cards.

We’ve rounded up several examples of American Express credit cards that may suit your particular financial circumstances and credit score.

For Excellent Credit: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Geared toward borrowers with excellent credit scores, The Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees) is a top-tier lifestyle and travel credit card. The vast menu of perks and benefits with this card could, if fully utilized, outweigh the hefty $695 annual fee.

Highlights of the card include:

• 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel on up to $500,000 per calendar year, 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases

You can redeem Membership Rewards in multiple ways. For travel you can use your points for flights and other travel through AmexTravel.com. Points are worth one cent each when used this way for flights, but only 0.7 cents each when you redeem for prepaid hotels, rental cars and cruises.

Membership Rewards points can also be transferred to over a dozen airline and hotel partners, many at a 1:1 transfer ratio. Among the most popular are Delta Air Lines, British Airways Avios (which can be used to fly American Airlines) and Air Canada Aeroplan (which can be used to fly United Airlines). Hotel partners include Hilton, Marriott Bonvoy and Choice.

Membership Rewards may also be redeemed for gift cards or statement credits (valued at around 0.6 cent per points) and for pay with points at checkout with select retailers (valued at 0.7 cent per point).

For Good to Excellent Credit: American Express® Gold Card

Individuals with good or excellent credit may consider applying for the American Express® Gold Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees). Although the American Express® Gold Card does not offer any airline or travel lounge benefits, the card earns impressive rewards on restaurants and U.S. supermarket spending. American Express® Gold Card comes with an annual fee of $250 and has the following rewards structure:

• 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S., 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1 point per dollar), 3 Membership Rewards® points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express travel and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases

In addition to the American Express® Gold Card’s industry-leading rewards structure, it also comes with up to $120 in dining credits each year ($10 per month each month, enrollment required) toward eligible restaurants and up to $120 in Uber Cash each year ($10 per month each month) toward U.S. Uber Rides or Uber Eats after you link your eligible card to your Uber account, which if fully utilized could nearly break even with the annual fee.

For Good or Excellent Credit: American Express® Green Card*

Individuals with good or excellent credit may also want to consider the American Express® Green Card*. The American Express® Green Card* earns elevated rewards across a broad assortment of spending categories:

• 3 points per dollar on restaurant purchases, 3 points per dollar on travel including flights, hotels, transit, taxis, tours, and ridesharing services and 1 point per dollar on other purchases

It’s worth noting that the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card* is Amex’s lowest annual fee personal card that also earns Membership Rewards points (vs. cash-back rewards). If you have good to excellent credit, but would prefer the option to carry a monthly balance without paying an annual fee, consider the no-annual-fee Amex EveryDay® Credit Card*, which earns Membership Rewards points or the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees) which earns cash back.

American Express Pre-Approval: Can you get pre-approved for an American Express card?

You can check American Express’ “Check For Offers” site to see if you’re pre-qualified for any card offers, without any impact to your credit score. However, know that pre-qualifying is not the same as being pre-approved. When you pre-qualify for an offer, it means you’re providing the issuer with some basic information about you and they perform a “soft” credit check to see if you’re likely, based on the information you provided, to qualify for a particular card. It’s not a guarantee of approval.

Pre-approval is when an issuer contacts you to extend an offer to apply for a card. Typically, they’ll extend it based on your credit profile fitting certain criteria like a certain credit score or a solid history of on-time payments. Although a pre-approval offer certainly ups the chance that you’ll get approved, it’s only after performing a hard credit inquiry and taking a detailed look at your credit profile, will American Express decide if you still fit their approval criteria.

How to Improve Your Credit Score

Unlike many other issuers, American Express doesn’t offer any credit cards expressly aimed at those who are new to credit or rebuilding their credit that can be applied for directly.  If you’re most interested in a top-tier American Express card, you’ll want to have the best credit score possible. Here are several steps to help you work towards your best credit score:

• Pay your bills on time every single month. Late and missed payments are the single biggest factor affecting your score.
• Lower your credit utilization. Credit utilization is measured by how much of your credit limit you use. For example, if you have a $10,000 credit limit and owe a debt of $5,000, you’re utilizing 50% of your available credit. If possible, aim for a utilization rate of 30% or less on your overall total credit outstanding, as well as on individual credit card accounts.
• Check your credit report. Check your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus once a year for free through annualcreditreport.com. Reviewing your credit reports may help you to uncover any errors that might have a negative impact on your credit score so that you can take steps to correct them
• Consider a secured credit card. If you have little to no credit or some credit missteps in your history, a secured card or one that’s designed to help build credit can be a good way to start. At this time, American Express does not offer secured credit cards or credit-builder cards directly to individuals. If you aren’t sure how secured cards work, see Forbes Advisor’s guide to secured cards.

Find The Best American Express Credit Cards Of 2022

Bottom Line

Although there’s no official score required to apply, the bulk of American Express’ cards are designed for consumers with good or better credit. Those who qualify will typically be rewarded with a card that offers rich perks and benefits. If you don’t fit the criteria for the card you’re looking for, work on improving your credit score so you’re in a better position to qualify down the line. Choosing the right card to help you with that goal is a good first step.

To view rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this page.
To view rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, please visit this page.
To view rates and fees of American Express® Business Gold Card, please visit this page.
To view rates and fees of American Express® Gold Card, please visit this page.
To view rates and fees of Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, please visit this page.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which credit bureau does American Express use to pull credit reports?

American Express doesn’t state which of the three major credit bureaus it primarily uses to check an applicant’s credit score. Regardless, it shouldn’t make much of a difference to you as an applicant since your credit score should be similar among all three reporting agencies.

How long does it take to get approved for an American Express card?

In many cases when you apply online it will take just a few seconds to find out if you’re approved or not. It’s possible, however, that you’ll receive a message saying your application is still being reviewed and it may take a few business days to receive an answer.

What is the easiest American Express card to get approved for?

Since American Express cards are primarily recommended for those with good or better credit, there isn’t a card aimed at someone whose credit doesn’t fit that description. In general, income requirements and credit profile reviews may be less restrictive for the entry level American Express cards with no annual fees over the premium annual fee cards. If you’re new to credit, your profile may be better suited to a simple low annual fee cash-back card rather than a pricey premium rewards card.

Does American Express do a hard pull for existing customers?

Most of the time when you apply for a new line of credit, American Express or any other lender you apply to will pull your most recent credit history. This is known as a “hard” pull and can temporarily ding your credit score.

Some issuers, including American Express, offer a pre-qualification tool to see if you’re likely to qualify based on a “soft”credit check. Amex will review your credit history and income to see if you fit the target market for a particular card. If you aren’t going to fit their criteria, they will let you know without affecting your credit.

Know that prequalifying is not the same as preapproval and you’ll still have to apply for a card even if you prequalify. Applying may impact your credit score if the issuer does a hard pull of your credit.

Why did I get declined by American Express?

If your application for an American Express card was declined there are a number of possible reasons. A less-than-stellar credit history is one. But another factor that could affect your appeal to an issuer is your debt-to-available credit ratio. If an issuer sees you are close to maxed out on your other cards, it could signal a problem. And, if you’ve applied for too many cards within a short period of time, issuers generally consider that a red flag.

By law, an issuer must supply you with the reason(s) you were turned down, known as an adverse action letter. This information can come via email, over the phone or in writing, although most issuers will send it in a letter.

If you don’t think you should have been denied, you can reach out to the issuer and ask for reconsideration. This is when you contact the issuer and ask them to reconsider your application. There’s no harm in doing so and it may result in your application being approved.

Does American Express check credit?

What do you need for a corporate credit card?

Does Amex do hard pull for existing customers?