I have had my Amex Blue Sky for about a year and 1/2 I think. It has a 10k limit on it. We have used this card over the last 6-8 months for our business and usually run a good 20-30k on it a month...while paying several thousands every few days.
I have ask for a CLI every 90 days (as told on here) and been denied EVERY single time. I assumed it was because of the high amounts we run through it constantly. So, I switched from using it to using Chase and/or Sallie Mae for putting the business charges on them. I was hoping that after several months of not using Amex for this and keeping a 0 balance (would still charge maybe $100 to keep it in use and pay it back off within a few days) that they would decide to give me a CLI finally....NOT. They have still been denying me.
So one day I was on my Amex online and something came across saying that I had been preapproved for Amex Gold Business. I decided to apply and was approved. After reading it over, I also decided to try for a Plum and was accepted as well. I was SO excited because FINALLY I could stop putting thousands of $$ on my regular charge cards and start putting them on an actual business card (keeping my personal cards clear).
I had read on these boards that sometimes Amex has a habit of requesting a 4506-t at various times and if this happens, they freeze ALL of your cards with them. WELL....GUESS WHAT....yep, they just did mine. I'm completely ticked because I haven't even closed the first month on my 2 new cards and even had a chance to pay on them.
When I returned the call to Amex, they said they needed to do an "over the phone" verification (step 1 he called it) and then a (step 2) verification by me filling out the form and sending it back to them. It seems like EVERY question I ask of him, he had something negative to say. I told him that our company had huge write offs for last tax year because of just getting a store front (online previous years) and stocking the store, so even though our gross would be over 250k, our tax forms are going to show a much smaller "net" in the end. He said it didn't matter and they only look at what's on paper and not the reason "why". Then I also mentioned how much more business we are doing this year and could send records of that as proof too...again, "don't care, we won't even look at it". I can send statements directly deposited every 2 weeks at such high amounts to prove the income coming in...again "don't care". I mentioned how I had been an Amex customer for over a year and used to use my regular Amex for the charges and obviously you can look at my records and see just how much was being ran through the account and how often and how much we paid every few days...again "doesn't matter what your previous use or payment history is".
I'm just so frustrated right now. I wish I hadn't even got the business cards now. It just really sucks to have to go threw this hassle when we haven't even had the cards for a month yet and had all our vendors switched over to it and now we have to switch the vendors back to our old cards. To me, this doesn't look good in the eyes of a "vendor" and they might get the wrong idea. Then sitting around waiting for them to do the "audit" or whatever it's called, then held up another 5-7 days. I'm wondering if this is even worth it.
I'm not so sure I want to share every little detail of my income tax for with a cc company. I don't have a problem showing them the Schedule C, since this is a business card, but everything else on there...really?
I might add that I really don't even know WHICH card they are auditing. They never said. I have 3 cards...when it ask to fill out the form, it tells me to put the 15 digit account number on there and I have NO idea which to put. I can only assume that this "might" be because of the new business cards...but then again I had tried another CLI with Sky a few weeks ago as well.
Thoughts? I just don't know what to do. This is more of a hassle than it's worth and it looks like we will have to change everything back to the old cards anyhow since we put in a good 20-30 orders a day with our vendors.
My balances:
Sky $300 out of 10k balance (because I just bought plane tickets for our cruise and I had $300 in sky points to use up)
Gold $1500 balance
Plum $20k balance (which they ask when I applied for the card how much would I be running on the card average per month and this is what I put down).
@audia4 wrote:I have had my Amex Blue Sky for about a year and 1/2 I think. It has a 10k limit on it. We have used this card over the last 6-8 months for our business and usually run a good 20-30k on it a month...while paying several thousands every few days.
I have ask for a CLI every 90 days (as told on here) and been denied EVERY single time. I assumed it was because of the high amounts we run through it constantly. So, I switched from using it to using Chase and/or Sallie Mae for putting the business charges on them. I was hoping that after several months of not using Amex for this and keeping a 0 balance (would still charge maybe $100 to keep it in use and pay it back off within a few days) that they would decide to give me a CLI finally....NOT. They have still been denying me.
So one day I was on my Amex online and something came across saying that I had been preapproved for Amex Gold Business. I decided to apply and was approved. After reading it over, I also decided to try for a Plum and was accepted as well. I was SO excited because FINALLY I could stop putting thousands of $$ on my regular charge cards and start putting them on an actual business card (keeping my personal cards clear).
I had read on these boards that sometimes Amex has a habit of requesting a 4506-t at various times and if this happens, they freeze ALL of your cards with them. WELL....GUESS WHAT....yep, they just did mine. I'm completely ticked because I haven't even closed the first month on my 2 new cards and even had a chance to pay on them.
When I returned the call to Amex, they said they needed to do an "over the phone" verification (step 1 he called it) and then a (step 2) verification by me filling out the form and sending it back to them. It seems like EVERY question I ask of him, he had something negative to say. I told him that our company had huge write offs for last tax year because of just getting a store front (online previous years) and stocking the store, so even though our gross would be over 250k, our tax forms are going to show a much smaller "net" in the end. He said it didn't matter and they only look at what's on paper and not the reason "why". Then I also mentioned how much more business we are doing this year and could send records of that as proof too...again, "don't care, we won't even look at it". I can send statements directly deposited every 2 weeks at such high amounts to prove the income coming in...again "don't care". I mentioned how I had been an Amex customer for over a year and used to use my regular Amex for the charges and obviously you can look at my records and see just how much was being ran through the account and how often and how much we paid every few days...again "doesn't matter what your previous use or payment history is".
I'm just so frustrated right now. I wish I hadn't even got the business cards now. It just really sucks to have to go threw this hassle when we haven't even had the cards for a month yet and had all our vendors switched over to it and now we have to switch the vendors back to our old cards. To me, this doesn't look good in the eyes of a "vendor" and they might get the wrong idea. Then sitting around waiting for them to do the "audit" or whatever it's called, then held up another 5-7 days. I'm wondering if this is even worth it.
I'm not so sure I want to share every little detail of my income tax for with a cc company. I don't have a problem showing them the Schedule C, since this is a business card, but everything else on there...really?
I might add that I really don't even know WHICH card they are auditing. They never said. I have 3 cards...when it ask to fill out the form, it tells me to put the 15 digit account number on there and I have NO idea which to put. I can only assume that this "might" be because of the new business cards...but then again I had tried another CLI with Sky a few weeks ago as well.
Thoughts? I just don't know what to do. This is more of a hassle than it's worth and it looks like we will have to change everything back to the old cards anyhow since we put in a good 20-30 orders a day with our vendors.
My balances:
Sky $300 out of 10k balance (because I just bought plane tickets for our cruise and I had $300 in sky points to use up)
Gold $1500 balance
Plum $20k balance (which they ask when I applied for the card how much would I be running on the card average per month and this is what I put down).
Running true business expenses ( not reimbursable employee expenses) on a personal cc is a big no no with Amex. Chances are apping for the business cards drew attention to how you are using your personal card. When the do a FR, they are looking at all of your accounts, it doesn't really matter which card number you put on the form.
@juggalo9er wrote:in the end i would be mad as well! the fact of the matter is that as long as you are paying your agreed obligation its not any of amex's business whats on your taxes...capone does not even do this yet amex is prime?
That is correct however, Amex like most lenders, have it in their T&Cs that personal cards are not to be used for businesses. Assuming, of course that's the issue
@09Lexie wrote:
Running true business expenses ( not reimbursable employee expenses) on a personal cc is a big no no with Amex. Chances are apping for the business cards drew attention to how you are using your personal card. When the do a FR, they are looking at all of your accounts, it doesn't really matter which card number you put on the form.
Sorry, typed that up wrong. We used the Amex the first 6-8 months or less (I'd have to look) with the business charges and paying them off. For the time after that, we have not done any business expenses with them (switched to other cards thinking that would help with Amex CLI). I would think after this long, just applying for the business Amex cards wouldn't just trigger a review to look at the older card? But, who knows.
Do you know when they are doing this review are they looking solely at the Net or the Gross on the tax form? I just can't believe that they don't give you ANY chance to explain anything related to your business...and especially to provide them with proof of how the business is doing this year compared to last year. 
@js0319 wrote:Yeah, never mix personal and business with AMEX.
What about other cc's? I mean we have to have some card to use for the business expenses. We get our deposits every 2 weeks and pay them off right away (while making payments 2-3 times during the week as well hoping to keep them happy). That was the entire reason I was so happy to get an actual "business" card and not have to use the personal cards. Are all cc's going to be like this? So far I haven't heard anything negative with Chase or Sallie Mae while using them for it.
