My NBA Amex Card Results – Sort Of
Yesterday I covered the very good sign-up bonus on the BBVA Compass NBA American Express card. The bonus has been doubled to 20,000 points ($200) and there are many other reasons beyond the bonus to consider getting this card. (See yesterday’s post for the details.)
As I mentioned, I was planning to apply for the card and ultimately submitted my application this morning. As is usually the case these days, I was not given an immediate approval. Instead, I received the following witty message:
At the bottom of the page it did mention an application id and a phone number (1-844-622-2282) to call for the status. Normally I like to just wait it out, but I am quite interested in this card, so I decided to wait all day and then give them a call. Unfortunately I wasn’t happy with what I heard.
Checking the Application Status
BBVA Compass doesn’t have an automated application status line, so after I navigated their automated system I was forwarded to a very friendly representative. After giving her my application ID she checked the status and let me know it is still in review for further processing. Darn, but that isn’t the frustrating part.
She followed by saying they have had a large influx of applications (I wonder why) and are very backed up in the review process. Once the review is complete, it will take 7-10 days for me to hear back by mail. The kicker is that it can take up to 3 weeks for my application to be reviewed, so a month in total. Talk about a waiting game!
The Timing Is Alright
Even if I have to wait a month to get this card (assuming I actually get approved), then I am alright with it, but it is still a little frustrating. I am not someone who likes unknowns, so hopefully I’ll somehow forget about it until the letter comes in the mail so I don’t obsess! At least the NBA All Star Weekend is in February so I should have my shiny new card ready to earn delicious 5% cashback by then.
Conclusion
If you are planning to apply for this card, know that the manual review process can take up to a month to deliver a result. Hopefully they are just being conservative with their estimates, but I do know they probably have been bombarded so this isn’t too much of a shock. The real hope of course is for an instant approval so you don’t have to deal with this. I wasn’t so lucky, but hopefully you are!
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I APPLIED A/E IT WAS APPROVED BUT MY SON AS A SECOND HOLDER WAS DENIED SO I CALLED A SUPERVISOR TO ASK WHY MY SON HAS A GOOD SCORE HE HAD AN INCIDENT OVER 20 YEARS AGO AND THAT IS THE REASON,I THOUGHT THAT WAS SO RIDICULOUS NO CREDIT CARD SHOULD REFLECT OVER 20 YEARS AGO CREDIT HISTORY ESPECIALLY IF THE PERSON HAS GOOD CREDIT NOW AND THE ONE THEY APPROVED WILL BE STILL RESPONSABLE IN THIS CASE MYSELF
[…] know Shawn from Miles to Memories got a Lakers card, but I went for the upcoming 2015-2016 NBA […]
Hubby and I just got emails today basically telling us we were approved, but only mentioning the 10,000 point “bonus”.
I know that folks had called in to confirm that there was a 2nd “tier” to the bonus, ie spend $1000 get 20,000 points, but do I need to do the same, on the safe side?
Look forward to getting the cards, and the bonuses….
Wife received the same message this morning. My guess is it’s an automated message and that we’re still on track for the 20,000 point bonus.
Hey Shawn,
Do you know if BBVA will give you a second NBA Amex card? Got one earlier this year
Wouldn’t mind taking advantage of their current bonus increase…
Thanks
I was immediately approved when I applied in the spring. We applied for my wife in August and she received the pending notification, then we kind of forgot about it. About a month later we received a rejection letter saying that they had been unable to verify her identity which was an odd letter to receive. My takeaway was that next time I’ll call in when an app goes to pending at BBVA. but YMMV.
2 days ago I got immediate approval for $25K. I plan on getting the $200, sitting on it until playoffs/all star weekend, then canceling it all together.
Why not keep it since it doesn’t have an annual fee, works with Amex Offers and can be used for 5% in the future?
Just curious, does this card fall under the 4 card max limit for Amex?
Aaron : no it does not; it’s a so-called “third party” amex card. Great for loading Serve for example.
I have this card, but I was wondering and hoping that it might be possible to receive a second one, like some other card (BoA Travel Rewards, f.ex.). Any info on this out there? Thanks.
I Applied online and the application got messed up. I then applied over the phone the next day and got instant approval.
Interesting. Perhaps it is easier to get an immediate decision over the phone.
Sorry Shaw…I read your article in my email this AM and agreed with you that I wanted to apply. I first called the rep to make sure that it was 20,000 points for $1000.00 spent since in the fine print it still says 10,000 for $500 and he was not aware of the change. I told him I could email/fax him new offer. He left phone to talk with supervisor and then came back with the answers that it was indeed 20,000 points for $1000.00 spent. (I printed offer just in case). I then asked him for dates of NBA all star weekend which is 2/12-14/16 and 2 weeks of NBA finals which he returned with the reply of 6/2-16/16. All of this took quit some time, but I was in no hurry. I then proceeded to apply ONLINE (not through him) and in a few seconds post application completion got the “Congratulatuins you are approved. Your card should arrive in 5-7 business days” and gave me the credit line which is very large. I have no explanation for this other than to say that my FICO is >800 and I made application about 7am EST. Good luck all. I picked Orlando Magic as I know nothing about basket ball teams, but I liked the card! Thank you Shawn I am TRUELY indebted to you for this knowledge, please don’t stop OK?
Congratulations Sue!
I received an immediate approval from them despite having many cards including some 0% ones with high balances.
Everything I’m reading suggests that everyone is getting that message. Including the application for my wife yesterday. When I applied earlier this year I also received the 7-10 day thing. A few days later I received an email stating I was approved. Hopefully this is the case with this too, but with the large influx it may take longer. Either way like you said there’s not a rush for it and the timing is fine.
And yeah, there’s no point in calling in. It was posted somewhere on Reddit as well that you’ll gain nothing by trying to push it along. Hopefully your post here will save others that grief as well. Just a waiting game at this point!