I hope it was worth it for the OP to comply with Amex's FR. Personally, I would have told them to shove it. No credit card is worth that level of intrusion into my personal finances. The day that i have an anxiety attack about using a credit card - wondering whether the issuer would "approve" of my purchase, or worrying about being declined - will be the last day I ever use it. 
@flyingmd wrote:Hi everyone,
This is my first post. I have been following this forum for a while and it has really been a helpful resource. I was following the 4506-T messages and the saga of the dreaded FR. I would like to report my experience. I have been an Amex cardholder since 1987. I was one of the first in Florida to get both a personal and business Centurion account ( I have sinced closed them and changed back to the Platinum card when they got rid of alot of the initial benefits). On June 25, 2011 I went to use my platinum card and was declined. After all these years and monthly spends in the 80-120,000 range, my account was flagged for FR. Well, it is now August 2, 2011. I JUST GOT THE PHONE CALL FROM THE CSR TELLING ME THEY FINALLY GOT ALL THE IRS STUFF AND MY ACCOUNT WAS CLEAR AND CHARGING PRIVELEGES RESUMED. I am just so flabbergasted that it took so long. Thankfully I have plenty of other credit cards and it affected me only to the extent that I had lots of automatic payments set up on both my personal and business account. I am so angry i am ready to drop AMEX all together. I have no problem with a CC companies need to verify income, etc. But to turn a card off without warning (what if I was traveling abroad??) that it makes the card almost useless! NO OTHER CREDIT CARD COMPANY DOES A FR AFTER THE FACT THAT I AM AWARE OF.
Just blowing off steam and letting everyone know that this FR review process can take up to 30 days. They no longer look at bank statements, W2, etc. The CSR told me that they will only get the info from the IRS. Very intrusive if you ask me.... Thanks for listening.
Since everyone seems to ask for scores. Mine are always low because of the amount of inquiries. I ahve no deficiencys or 30 days late and they are as follows
TU - 690, EQ - 685 EX - 710
(my scores were mid 600 when they offered me the Centurion accounts. Of course I had been charging over 500,000 on each account per year)
Sorry to hear that you had to go through this. I agree with the reliability issues (or lack thereof) with Amex. I would never want to have to depend upon Amex as my only card. BTW, did they give you an explaination for why you had been singled out for FR? I think that a lot of us are trying to figure out what triggers them. Thanks in advance for any insight that you can provide.
Current Scores: EQ 775 (03/04/2014), EX 756 (03/01/2014), TU 760 (03/01/2014)
Ruby Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until 2014
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 Quicksilver MC 1.75k, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 7k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 10.35k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 7.5k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k
@android01 wrote:I hope it was worth it for the OP to comply with Amex's FR. Personally, I would have told them to shove it. No credit card is worth that level of intrusion into my personal finances. The day that i have an anxiety attack about using a credit card - wondering whether the issuer would "approve" of my purchase, or worrying about being declined - will be the last day I ever use it.
Amen
@OnTheRebound wrote:
@android01 wrote:I hope it was worth it for the OP to comply with Amex's FR. Personally, I would have told them to shove it. No credit card is worth that level of intrusion into my personal finances. The day that i have an anxiety attack about using a credit card - wondering whether the issuer would "approve" of my purchase, or worrying about being declined - will be the last day I ever use it.
Amen
How about you have a credit card with say a $20k limit, and the issuer has been chasing your balance. You go to make a charge and its declined because your once $20k limit is now $3100 with a balance of $3050. Dump that card too? Because THAT scenario has happened far more often than an Amex FR. At least with Amex you can get full restoration of your account.