American Express Optima Card-Is it worth enough to get one?

ive been in your situation. the best thing you can do since you are making payments is to use that to your advantage. Ask, no...demand that they take the delinquencies off your record if you pay them off. get any promises in writing! otherwise you pay them off and the bad record is STILL there making it no different than had you not paid them. Fact is once your credit is dinged, no one really cares that you finally paid them off.

Try orchard bank, merrick bank, credit one bank, first premier bank... these places will give cards to recently discharged bankruptcies. The APR's are awful...but it wouldnt matter if you don't carry balances right? I've rebuilt my credit with these. After a year or two I was approved for better cards.

I really do hope this letter I received is real because that would really be impressive on AMEX. I mean, offering a credit card to a delinquent? For those of you with bad credit you know what a crazy thing this is to actually get a second chance. As far as the annual fee and APR, it's pretty decent for those with low credit scores. Of course it's high compared to those with good scores...but then again people like that aren't in the same situation are they?

I got the card after paying the balance off in full, its a great card to rebuild your credit.... TRUST ME...

I have a question, I have a 697 Fico score with Trans Union and only a two year AAOA history, I have two closed CC accounts from back in 2003 and 3 CC accounts I opened last year and 1 charge card I opened as well last year.

The only reason I mention Trans Union is to keep it simple.....Well anyway, my Father has the Optima Amex which was opened in 1984 and with a 17,000 limit which he is adding me as an authorized user. I called Fico and they did say that when this account is reported to my 3 credit bureaus it will show on my reports as opened in 1984, so it will help my AAOA tremendously not to mention my util ratio which is now 12%.

So my question is, what kind of score increase should I expect to see?

Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Like most of you, I had a delinquent bill with AmEx. Unfortunately, my debt was sold to a collections agency. I requested AmEx to buy my account back so that I could pay off my debt to them, with the hopes of obtaining another card with them in the future. Sure enough they did and I was offered the Optima Card, that was three years ago and I have never been happier. AmEx is a great card to have and the company has wonderful customer service. I say go for it, just be more credit responsible this time

I'm not going to waste everyone's time by writing up a big response. I have an American Express Optima Card after losing my Amex Gold back in 2005. After working my credit back up to 721, I thought surely after 2yrs of perfect credit I'd get an increase but alas, this Amex card does not qualify for an increase and I'm stuck at a $500 buck limit.

Pros:

• Legitimate Card with no hidden fees or cost.
• Reestablish credit and a relationship with Amex.
• Reports your card history from the original American Express account date. This means if you lost your card after being a member for 10-20yrs, this card will activate saying you've been a valued customer from the old date, in-turn boosting your credit.

Cons:

Low credit limit

• High Interest Rate
• No ability to increase credit (even if in good standing.)
• If you have this card your chances of qualifying for another card like Blue is slim to none. I actually read in other threads that you need to cancel before applying to get approval.
• No membership rewards points.

-Novabori