topic Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come. in Credit Cards

Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 02:52:32 GMT

Hey Guys,

I recently went thru Amex Financial Review, fortunately Amex only reduced my limit on one card and nothing major changed.

Here is what happened: For the past two months I've been using the cards significantly more than usual, having a total balance across all cards of over 15,000, with 7000 on Platinum and couple of thousand on others, each 2000-3000. And I did not pay any of the balance at all.

Normal spending usually gives about 3000 on Platinum and 3000 on Gold, here and there on the other cards, no more than 500. And I always pay off the balance once a week for all cards.

My SPG card had a limit of 11500 and, in this situation, that card had 0 spending because i was busy working on sub for Delta and Marriott Brilliant.

Without paying down any of the balances, I tried a purchase of $5000. I was afraid I was going to get declined so I tried the "check spending power" and it says it's ok. And then when I made the actual purchase, declined. and when I called I got financial review.

They requested 2 months of bank statement, which I sent in immediately after hanging up Friday after noon.

And today afternoon when I got home I got email saying my SPG card has a reduced limit of 3100 (from 11500). And it turns out the review is over and that's the only action they took.

Overall I'd say this is not that bad of an experience. The cards were suspended for 4 days including a weekend. I'd say Amex's efficiency is **bleep** good. And this gives me a chance to use CSP for a bit (being using gold for 90% of the time, 4x and all)

For those of you who might be afraid of amex financial reviews in the future, as long as you (we) are being honest, you (we) got nothing to worry about!

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 02:57:33 GMT

I don't know, I'd say the CLD is a bit annoying, especially if on that card you have a balance anywhere near $3100.

I feel like they were a bit quick with the hook here, but based on some other Amex-related threads lately it seems like that's the direction they're heading.

It would be helpful if you were to list a bit more information about your profile... perhaps your EX FICO 8 score through them, your overall utilization, any negatives on your reports, your age of accounts, apps for credit recently, etc. I'm just wondering if you have anything going on profile-related that was already a bit of a red flag that was perhaps magnified by your recent increased CC usage.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

frugal47374 — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 03:22:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Without paying down any of the balances, I tried a purchase of $5000. I was afraid I was going to get declined so I tried the "check spending power" and it says it's ok. And then when I made the actual purchase, declined. and when I called I got financial review.

Was there a significant time between checking that $5000 was OK and having it declined? I've wondered how long the "check" is good for and, if you didn't have much delay, it seems it might not really be a reliable check.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 04:14:41 GMT

It would be nice if AMEX would just assign proper limits up front instead of taking it away when people need it later but I’m glad the outcome is acceptable for you. It wouldn’t be for me unless I had actually misreported my income or something.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

CreditInspired — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 10:20:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hey Guys,

I recently went thru Amex Financial Review, fortunately Amex only reduced my limit on one card and nothing major changed.

Here is what happened: For the past two months I've been using the cards significantly more than usual, having a total balance across all cards of over 15,000, with 7000 on Platinum and couple of thousand on others, each 2000-3000. And I did not pay any of the balance at all.

Normal spending usually gives about 3000 on Platinum and 3000 on Gold, here and there on the other cards, no more than 500. And I always pay off the balance once a week for all cards.

My SPG card had a limit of 11500 and, in this situation, that card had 0 spending because i was busy working on sub for Delta and Marriott Brilliant.

Without paying down any of the balances, I tried a purchase of $5000. I was afraid I was going to get declined so I tried the "check spending power" and it says it's ok. And then when I made the actual purchase, declined. and when I called I got financial review.

They requested 2 months of bank statement, which I sent in immediately after hanging up Friday after noon.

And today afternoon when I got home I got email saying my SPG card has a reduced limit of 3100 (from 11500). And it turns out the review is over and that's the only action they took.

Overall I'd say this is not that bad of an experience. The cards were suspended for 4 days including a weekend. I'd say Amex's efficiency is **bleep** good. And this gives me a chance to use CSP for a bit (being using gold for 90% of the time, 4x and all)

For those of you who might be afraid of amex financial reviews in the future, as long as you (we) are being honest, you (we) got nothing to worry about!

Thanks for sharing. I wonder why they decreased the limit at all instead of offering you the opportunity of keeping your CL if you just made a large payment. Since you are OK with the CLD, all is good.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 12:00:35 GMT

I think Op showed exactly why the FR occurred. He/she clearly went over their usual spending pattern and then by not paying anything and continuing to try and make large purchases, that would be a huge red flag were i looking for someone to bust out and not pay. I would not have gone that route it might just have put Op on radar for future SUB denials

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Remedios — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 12:05:08 GMT

Maybe I am confused, but how is this FR if only bank statements were requested?

It's my understanding that FR requires access to tax returns.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

LittleSal — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 12:38:09 GMT

AMEX gives out big credit limits and when you actually use them, they CLD! ☹️

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Shadowfactor — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:08:46 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
Maybe I am confused, but how is this FR if only bank statements were requested?

It's my understanding that FR requires access to tax returns.

I've seen other posts on this topic either here or on FT. It doesnt always have to be Tax forms, sometimes it is bank statements showing your income. It really depends on the situation I think and how throughly you are being investigated.

If I were ever to be FR'd. They would have to accept Bank statements, I put my fiancee's income on the application as she is an AU and does make a majority of the charges on my account while I'm overseas. We wont be married until next year but we have all combined bank accounts and I made this very clear on the phone during the application for my 3rd amex card when I started using our household income on apps.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

JR_TX — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:17:36 GMT

Sudden surge of spend amount prior to paying balances might have triggered the algorithm for FR. We won’t know for sure though until OP tells us something about his/her over all profile at that time.
Glad OP’s accts survived the FR though somewhat bruised.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:27:21 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
. I would not have gone that route it might just have put Op on radar for future SUB denials

While we can't know, this seems unlikely to me. SUB denial seems to be aimed at those gaming (in Amex's view) the system, cancelling cards after the bonus, churning etc. This seems to be more an issue with spending and paying patterns, and this is what FRs (or purchase denials) are for, and, IMO, unrelated to SUB issues.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:38:00 GMT

@LittleSal wrote:
AMEX gives out big credit limits and when you actually use them, they CLD! ☹️

While I’m not sure that this is exactly true, in nearly two decades of being an AMEX cardholder, I’ve long regarded them as more of a “relationship” lender. By that I mean the longer you’re a customer, the more they know you and trust (for the lack of a better term) you.

Possibly more than other lenders, they are more dialed in on a cardholder’s spending (and payment) patterns. For this reason, if I have a spend need that is drastically outside of my normal patterns, I will often look to another lender’s card to use.

This isn’t to say that I value their cards any less, or that I handle AMEX with kid gloves, but it’s all about understanding their methods. As I’ve built more history with them, the instances of having to consciously look to other lenders for out-of-pattern spend has decreased, but it still exists from time to time.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Shadowfactor — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:27:01 GMT

I think part of the issue with Amex and FR is that Amex is very eager to catch MS.
When someone ramps up spending to a very unusual level, it may trigger the MS detection algorithm and that puts eyes on your account.

No one really knows except Amex but that could be a possible theory

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

HeavenOhio — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:41:17 GMT

@Anonymous, when you say you didn't pay "any of the balance at all," can we assume that you paid the minimums?

Call in and ask about having your limit restored. They might ask that you pay a certain amount by a certain date.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:44:54 GMT

@LittleSal wrote:
AMEX gives out big credit limits and when you actually use them, they CLD! ☹️

100% incorrect.

Amex is more than happy for you to use your big limit by giving them a big spend and that will actually prevent a CLD based on not using enough of your current limit. That isn't what happened with the OP, though... as he wasn't using his big limit and then all of a sudden changed his [limited] spend pattern. Had the OP been using (say) $5k-$7k every single cycle for an extended period of time, no red flags would have been raised as this would have been "normal" spend behavior for him.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:47:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@LittleSal wrote:
AMEX gives out big credit limits and when you actually use them, they CLD! ☹️
100% incorrect.

Amex is more than happy for you to use your big limit by giving them a big spend and that will actually prevent a CLD based on not using enough of your current limit. That isn't what happened with the OP, though... as he wasn't using his big limit and then all of a sudden changed his [limited] spend pattern. Had the OP been using (say) $5k-$7k every single cycle for an extended period of time, no red flags would have been raised as this would have been "normal" spend behavior for him.

I didn't use my Amex cards much for several months and then put 6k on the card in a month and didn't have any issues. I think there is more to it than that. Of course I pay my balance down to zero and never carry a balance.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

FinStar — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 15:04:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@LittleSal wrote:
AMEX gives out big credit limits and when you actually use them, they CLD! ☹️
100% incorrect.

Amex is more than happy for you to use your big limit by giving them a big spend and that will actually prevent a CLD based on not using enough of your current limit. That isn't what happened with the OP, though... as he wasn't using his big limit and then all of a sudden changed his [limited] spend pattern. Had the OP been using (say) $5k-$7k every single cycle for an extended period of time, no red flags would have been raised as this would have been "normal" spend behavior for him.
I didn't use my Amex cards much for several months and then put 6k on the card in a month and didn't have any issues. I think there is more to it than that. Of course I pay my balance down to zero and never carry a balance.

Similarly, I have several high CL AmEx revolvers that can go several months without much of a lick in spending and placed a considerable charge on any of them and experienced no issues as well.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

xaximus — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 15:08:40 GMT

@LittleSal wrote:
AMEX gives out big credit limits and when you actually use them, they CLD! ☹️

Not true at all. There's many of us here that have high limits and consistently use them. Prior to when I had a business, I was putting anywhere between 25k-50k through AmEx on their Platinum card. I think in the OP's case, the spending was out of the norm and definitely raised some flags.

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 15:19:14 GMT

@LittleSal wrote:
AMEX gives out big credit limits and when you actually use them, they CLD! ☹️

I use 2-3x my limit every month and it always has a balance reporting. That being said, I've never paid interest and pay the balance in full every month. I do this on purpose so that they see I'll always pay it off even if it's not by statement cut. Pretty sure it's working because I no longer get "invited" to pay down my balance when I get close to my limit anymore. 😆

Re: Recent Amex Financial Review Out come.

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 15:19:30 GMT

@Shadowfactor wrote:
I think part of the issue with Amex and FR is that Amex is very eager to catch MS.
When someone ramps up spending to a very unusual level, it may trigger the MS detection algorithm and that puts eyes on your account.

No one really knows except Amex but that could be a possible theory

IMO (and experience) the numbers involved are way too small for MS worries. Although maybe the RAT team have become supersensitive since my day.