I guess I should have seen this coming... (AMEX FR)

[Anonymous]

At least amex is asking for info for a "FR"

doesn't other companies close cards immediately and "reserve the right to no longer do business" with individuals they suspect or because of $$$ spent in analytics and research (which I'm sure amex does too) conclude the individual to be a risk whether it is in Ms, money laundrying, or whatever..

and it's not just cc but bank accounts as well.  They won't even have to tell you why, just that they no longer what you as a customer.

hopefully op will get his account manager to contact him tmr and have a resolution 

[Anonymous]

The worst thing is to overreact. Idle speculation is such a cancerous thing. Who cares if you got an extension. Millions of people and businessesdo. It is legal. Unless you're not telling us more than you know, wait until Monday to resolve this. You will be fine. You have plenty of time to resolve it. Just be nice whenevr you are dealing with a CSR. They are not responsible for your situation and just doing their job. Being nice just might facilitate and speed upa resolution. 

I'm sure they simply want to make sure your finances have not suddenly changed for the worse. To see those types of monthly spending jumps, which are not that great, but % wise are big jumps, probably cased the system to red flag your account. 

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

At least amex is asking for info for a "FR"

doesn't other companies close cards immediately and "reserve the right to no longer do business" with individuals they suspect or because of $$$ spent in analytics and research (which I'm sure amex does too) conclude the individual to be a risk whether it is in Ms, money laundrying, or whatever..

and it's not just cc but bank accounts as well.  They won't even have to tell you why, just that they no longer what you as a customer.

hopefully op will get his account manager to contact him tmr and have a resolution 

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Amex DOES shutdown cards for MS, with no FR.    But I agree that some other issuers are more complete in their sweep.   

[longtimelurker]

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@core wrote:

What is the point of these FRs anyway?

- Amex may think the OP is in financial trouble since he maxed out the card.  What good is looking at income from 9 long months ago?  And not even asking for household expenses?  A tax return even if it was based on yesterday's numbers doesn't say anything about how much trouble the person is in.

- Amex (in other people's situations) may be concerned about a bust out.  Again, how does income from 9 months ago show that a bust-out is not being attempted _now_?  It doesn't prove anything either way.

- Often mentioned in these FR threads is that maybe the person was MSing category rewards.  How is looking at last year's tax returns, before the Amex account even existed, going to prove or disprove MSing?  If they really wanted to get to the bottom of this possibility they'd ask for receipts or an itemized list of purchases or something.  Not tax returns.  

The guesses given for the reason for these FRs make NO sense.  The FRs themselves make very little sense.  Unless the only point of an FR is to punish someone a bit.

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The basic tax info can be used, in some cases, to see if the declared income is close to the actual one.   But that is maybe a small number of cases

[core]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Who cares if you got an extension. Millions of people and businessesdo. It is legal. Unless you're not telling us more than you know, wait until Monday to resolve this. You will be fine.

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Not necessarily.  I always file an extension, and I've been through this argument with two separate companies in the past.  Both essentially said "well, we need last year's tax returns, and that's that".  With one company I actually had to scramble and file my return just so I could get a credit card!  No joke.  So all I'm saying is just because it is 100% legal does NOT mean they will accept it.  It ticks me off to no end, but it's their sandbox and if they want to be idiots that's their right.

[chrisw1968uk]

Amex is no longer viewed as The Holy Grail - I have, what I feel are better cards than my both Amex's, If they tried that crap with me - I'd simply tell them to use their card as a 4 cornered suppository and stick it in their @ss - Aren't they the ONLY Issuer who asks for this?

[taxi818]

I agree. After wanting Amex for many years. I have many other cards that are better fit for me. Imo.

[UncleB]

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@taxi818 wrote:
I agree. AfterwantingAmex for many years. I have many other cards that are better fit for me.Imo.

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+1

When I had my first Amex Green back in '95, it was, indeed, a different company.

I'm not going to say they're "terrible" now... just 'different'.  If they were truly 'terrible' I wouldn't want to do business with them - and I do. 

As long as folks are aware of their 'peculiarities', their products can be very useful, but there's no way I would set myself up to actually 'depend' on an Amex card anymore.  These days that's a good way to set yourself up for failure.

[longtimelurker]

Trouble is that it is hard to get the data that we really need:  

"What percentage of card holders of bank X get some form of 'interruption'?" where interruption can mean Amex FR, request for documents with charging suspended, card closure (or maybe CLD.)

I don't really know if it is higher for Amex, although the impression here seems to be that it is.   Elsewhere you see plenty of cards being closed by other issuers.

[UncleB]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

Trouble is that it is hard to get the data that we really need:  

"What percentage of card holders of bank X get some form of 'interruption'?" where interruption can mean Amex FR, request for documents with charging suspended, card closure (or maybe CLD.)

I don't really know if it is higher for Amex, although the impression here seems to be that it is.   Elsewhere you see plenty of cards being closed by other issuers.

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+1

I think part of it is the impression (true or not) that Amex will FR/shut you down even when you're not having problems, just because of where you shop, your billing ZIP code, or taking advantage of your credit lines.

If I needed to make a purchase that would temporarily used ALL of my revolving credit line, I wouldn't think twice about using my Quicksilver or Discover card.  On the other hand, it's well-known (at least here) that whatever Amex gives you for a credit line, you had better only use a portion of it, or else risk being flagged for AA.  Sure, there are some folks that don't have any problems, but again, that's where profiling comes in to play.  I'm sure all companies profile to some extent, it's just that Amex seems to be more aggressive with it... they even made the news a few years back.