American Express FR

[manyquestions]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Also, if they do close the account, will I lose 2012 backdating, since the card was never activated?

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I'd call them to ask what they need and hope for the best.  It does not matter if the account says "closed by credit grantor" that's nothing that affects your credit.  I'd also go ahead and activate the card.  If you play nice they might let you keep the card, perhaps with a limit.

[score_building]

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@llecs wrote:

If closed, it will say "closed by credit grantor" but that's not a bad thing.

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Having an account closed by grantor is a form of AA.

[manyquestions]

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@score_building wrote:

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@llecs wrote:

If closed, it will say "closed by credit grantor" but that's not a bad thing.

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Having an account closed by grantor is a form of AA.

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I've never seen it affect my score or my ability to get approved for anything.

[navigatethis12]

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@cashnocredit wrote:

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It's widely believed that if you are under 21 you have to provide income verification. In fact you only have to provide a written statement of personal income and/or assets that indicate an ability to make minimum payments on the card. Check out the CFPB's rulemaking on this. It's not nearly as restrictive as one might think. They are also addressing the issue of non-working spouses and increasing the flexibility to encompass funds normally availalbe. For instance, joint checking where the paychecks of the working spouse are deposited into the joint account.

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A written statement seems insufficient in my opinion. I am not saying you are wrong, but couldn't anyone write that they have the income even though they do not?

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@Anonymous wrote:

That's interesting, I did not know that. Chase never asked for any documentation whatsoever, but perhaps that's because I already had a checking account with them. Citi was a bit of a pain: they needed a signed SSA-89 form, a copy of my social security card, a copy of my driver's license, and proof that I would be enrolling in college in the fall. But neither lender has ever asked for financial documentation or tax returns. And Citi asked for the identification papers before they approved me, not after the fact. Perhaps each lender interprets the CARD Act differently.

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I have never heard of any lender asking for tax returns except for American Express. I know credit unions usually ask for paystubs or bank statements to verify income, but most lenders do not do that. I was not asked for documentation from Macys or GE when I obtained cards through them two years ago. American Express, as you are experiencing, is kind of known for doing this thing a lot. It is one of the reasons a lot of people do not like them. At least you still have Chase and Citi though, and in my opinion, those are better than American Express.

[navigatethis12]

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@score_building wrote:

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Having an account closed by grantor is a form of AA.

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This is true but I do not know of any scoring model that takes it into consideration. If an analyst asks you can just tell them the truth. If they see the paymen history is okay and the balance is paid, they will probably not even question it.

[cashnocredit]

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@cashnocredit wrote:

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It's widely believed that if you are under 21 you have to provide income verification. In fact you only have to provide a written statement of personal income and/or assets that indicate an ability to make minimum payments on the card. Check out the CFPB's rulemaking on this. It's not nearly as restrictive as one might think. They are also addressing the issue of non-working spouses and increasing the flexibility to encompass funds normally availalbe. For instance, joint checking where the paychecks of the working spouse are deposited into the joint account.

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A written statement seems insufficient in my opinion. I am not saying you are wrong, but couldn't anyone write that they have the income even though they do not?

Many banks require more than that but they aren't required to.  Amex, because of it's history as a spend centric charge card vendor, is really the most aggressive with FRs. since their average customer spends about 3x each month that of regular CC customers.

[Denny33142]

From what i have seen amex does not accept anything less than your tax returns when doing an FR, You put an income from what you "expect" to make this year which is not what amex is asking for and unless you can provide concrete evidence of the income i don't think amex will accept it, especially since you don't have any tax returns to back it up.

[CreditScholar]

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@Denny33142 wrote:

From what i have seen amex does not accept anything less than your tax returns when doing an FR, You put an income from what you "expect" to make this year which is not what amex is asking for and unless you can provide concrete evidence of the income i don't think amex will accept it, especially since you don't have any tax returns to back it up.

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I have to agree with this and while there have been a few exceptions, this holds true in the vast majority of cases. I don't fancy your chances at this point.

[score_building]

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@manyquestions wrote:

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@score_building wrote:

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@llecs wrote:

If closed, it will say "closed by credit grantor" but that's not a bad thing.

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Having an account closed by grantor is a form of AA.

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I've never seen it affect my score or my ability to get approved for anything.

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It doesn't impact score nor (typically) application results. In theory, it could lead to some concern upon manual review, which is why I prefer to have an account closed by card holder request given the option.

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@score_building wrote:

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Having an account closed by grantor is a form of AA.

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This is true but I do not know of any scoring model that takes it into consideration. If an analyst asks you can just tell them the truth. If they see the paymen history is okay and the balance is paid, they will probably not even question it.

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 Agreed

[llecs]

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@score_building wrote:

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@llecs wrote:

If closed, it will say "closed by credit grantor" but that's not a bad thing.

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Having an account closed by grantor is a form of AA.

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I'd disagree. Per FICO it doesn't matter at all. But also we are in an age of mergers and CC closures. I have [quite] a few CCs reporting as closed by credit grantor. None of them were due to my actions or activity with my CC or CR (except for my Amex).