Why does amex do financial reviews but other cc companies don't??

[longtimelurker]

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@antae wrote:
If you keep your amex spend in line with your reported income safe to say no need to worry about the amex fr. Other things that clearly spook amex are many current inquiries, new accounts etc...

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I don't want to add to FR mania, but really nothing is "clear", by design.  Amex is looking for suspicious behavior of various types, so your first sentence is probably true, if you don't also do one of the other bad things, whatever they are!  But many of us have had lots of inqs and new accounts with no issue, others haven't but get FRd presumably for some other trigger.  For obvious  reasons, Amex has no interest in letting people know what initiates review.

On Flyertalk, we are currently doing the same inductive process on a new pressing problem:  What causes Citi to confiscate your points and close all your cards?  Same issue, we have lots of good guesses, but we cannot confirm them or know how widespread the problem really is.

[antae]

yes of course there are other types.

[longtimelurker]

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@antae wrote:

yes of course there are other types.

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I was more responding to: "Other things that clearly spook amex are many current inquiries, new accounts etc..."

I don't think that is clear, or at least without giving some bounds on "many".  Yes, 1,000 inqs in a month would probably raise concerns, would 5, 10?  We don't know.

[antae]

Agree no one knows what the magic number is.Glad I will never have to worry about it.

[webhopper]

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@thom02099 wrote:

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@kmkotas wrote:
I think this is insane. They have their customers worried about getting a FR as if it is an IRS audit or something. I work for Discover and our operations dept will sometimes review accts and if you have too many inquires, charged off accts, etc they will revoke the acct until further notice. But customers do not have to send in pay stubs, W-2's, etc. Sorry but to me this is almost laughable.

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Fortunately, this is only true at credit card forums. 

For the vast majority of AMEX card holders, FR is simply an abbreviation for France!!

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Most customers are not worried about FR. I think there is only a small segment of the population who are "afraid"

[GoldenloveNY]

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@webhopper wrote:

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@thom02099 wrote:

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@kmkotas wrote:
I think this is insane. They have their customers worried about getting a FR as if it is an IRS audit or something. I work for Discover and our operations dept will sometimes review accts and if you have too many inquires, charged off accts, etc they will revoke the acct until further notice. But customers do not have to send in pay stubs, W-2's, etc. Sorry but to me this is almost laughable.

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Fortunately, this is only true at credit card forums. 

For the vast majority of AMEX card holders, FR is simply an abbreviation for France!!

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Most customers are not worried about FR. I think there is only a small segment of the population who are "afraid"

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Most Amex members don't even know about FR's. Only those who are computer savage and are in credit forums know about Amex preventive tactics. 

[CreditScholar]

There are several reasons.

1. As others have previously said, most lenders will simply close your accounts with no recourse. Citi and Chase are prime examples of this. They will shut down your account and take all points you have with them. At least Amex will allow you to survive if you pass their FR.

2. Other lenders have retail banking, investment banking and other products/services to help serve as a buffer in case of losses. However there is no Amex retail bank (for example) that you can walk into and obtain a home loan through. Amex lives and dies off of their credit cards and thus needs to be extra careful with managing risk. On the other hand Citi, Chase, BofA and others have other things to support them in case of losses or a bad quarter.

3. Amex is generous with the ability to obtain 3x CLIs. However in this world you don't get something for nothing. The 3x CLI is the upside, and FRs are the downside to that. So yes they can raise your limits quickly if it's warranted, but they can also CLD, AA, FR you just as quickly. There is balance here.

[GaTech]

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@CreditScholar wrote:

There are several reasons.

1. As others have previously said, most lenders will simply close your accounts with no recourse. Citi and Chase are prime examples of this. They will shut down your account and take all points you have with them. At least Amex will allow you to survive if you pass their FR.

2. Other lenders have retail banking, investment banking and other products/services to help serve as a buffer in case of losses. However there is no Amex retail bank (for example) that you can walk into and obtain a home loan through. Amex lives and dies off of their credit cards and thus needs to be extra careful with managing risk. On the other hand Citi, Chase, BofA and others have other things to support them in case of losses or a bad quarter.

3. Amex is generous with the ability to obtain 3x CLIs. However in this world you don't get something for nothing. The 3x CLI is the upside, and FRs are the downside to that. So yes they can raise your limits quickly if it's warranted, but they can also CLD, AA, FR you just as quickly. There is balance here.

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+1

[Vasmi]

I just got hit with an fr from Amex I have a green and a gold Amex. They called me while at job site working. I got on my phone paid the 37 dollars I owed the green and owed o on the gold, was putting like 4500 a month on gold and my wife and brother about 2500 on the green. I always paid like 2 times a week that's why I had zero balance. After paying the green I called Amex and cancelled both. Why you might ask?? Let me tell you because out of all my credit cards these are the only cards that everytime I use them I'm always wondering if it will go thru!! Never late never even wait for bill to pay. Example went to buy a new car paid 3000 down on my gold rewards card next day it was suspended until I payed half of it, I of course paid it all. Then this call that they are suspended till I provide tax info for two years, really Amex!!! I have to jump thru hoops to have a card that I never know when it will be suspended. No more FU Amex ill use my other 35000 worth if credit with no crap from them.

[HiLine]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@kmkotas wrote:
I think this is insane. They have their customers worried about getting a FR as if it is an IRS audit or something. I work for Discover and our operations dept will sometimes review accts and if you have too many inquires, charged off accts, etc they will revoke the acct until further notice. But customers do not have to send in pay stubs, W-2's, etc. Sorry but to me this is almost laughable.

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They have a tiny segment of their customers worried (those who read myfico and a few similar boards).  Most customers have never heard of FR and never will!  It is way overblown here.  As you suggest, if it were as frequent as suggested (Dont spend too much, too little, too quickly, click the "spend" button, use at certain places etc) they would quickly lose market share.

So now let's induce panic about your post.  

Look out people, Discover is constantly reviewing accounts and checks for inqs (just like Barclays!!!!!!).  They will shut down your account if you apply for a new card after getting the Discover IT!!!!

That's how it starts, get repeated in a few posts, and then becomes "truth"

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+1

And may I add that all credit card issuers constantly review accounts? If you don't believe me, look at your official credit reports' list of soft inquiries. All familiar names!