Okay, here's one I've never come across. I recently applied for an increase in credit on all three of my American Express cards, really just to increase my credit score so I can lower my debt to line of credit ratio. American Express unexpectedly put a hold on my account - I can't make any purchases which is a real inconvenience - and when I called they told me they need a tax return from 2006 to verify my income. They need this to make sure I can pay off all of my debts if I were to max out all my cards. Here's the killer though - if I don't send them one they threatened to cancel my account! They CLAIM that I did nothing to trigger this "investigation" and that it's routine, but I suspect it's because of my requests for credit increases. I have an almost perfect FICO of 773, I've never had a late payment with American Express, and I've ALWAYS paid my balance in full at the end of the month. I've never given these guys a problem. What's going on here? Can they do this? What should I do? It's a real inconvenience to be mailing them transcripts of my tax return, not to mention it's a $39 fee. I've called them and complained but they claim there is nothing they can do. But I don't want them to cancel my acccount. One more thing, if they do cancel my account (it would be involuntary I believe, right?), would that lower my FICO other than the fact that I will have less credit available?
Really looking for some help here!
Thank you so much!
