>American Express never forgets. 20+ years after declaring bankruptcy and I'm still not able to get an AmEx card, because they have their own records. (I have an 820+ FICO score.)
I can confirm this.
I'm 30+ years out from getting a couple thousand written off by Amex and 20+ years out from bankruptcy (a single "debtor" who was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against me, and during which no loans or credit cards were defaulted on) and American Express still won't do business with me, even after being their employee (and having to pay back every penny that was written off before they'd issue me a corporate card) for several years.
I'd also note that American Express does not report payment histories on their charge products to the credit bureaus. But they do have a very long memory.
Edit: I'd note that I still had a 700+ credit score within the 10 year window after bankruptcy, and my score is in the mid 800s.