topic Re: Got FRd by Amex in Credit Cards

Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:38:06 GMT

So the recent mega sprees are coming home to roost. The Amex "Account review" softing was a tell. They called me and wanted me to send in my info, which I did. Now my income does support the spend but i am somewhat worried if they start digging through the charges i've put through. Plus, if they are SPing me they've seen the new TLs from other issuers.

So, I have:

Plat, PRG plus 3 credit cards (w/ $5k each). I also have a healthy chunk of MRs accumulated from my Plat+PRG bonuses plus spend.

i don't intend to shut down my accounts and will go ahead witht he FR (i've sent them what they asked for). if they do shut me down i don't believe (i hope) this doesn't affect my scores because i have new TLs that have been added to my CR (bulk of the amex revolving lines haven't been reported yet) so i am ok from a utilization perspective since i print under $100 balance across all cards.

I am worried about MRs. If they shut me down, what happens to my MRs? Do they let me keep them? Or should i pre-empt this and transfer them out to an airline program before the FR is done? (I haven't yet been charged my platinum AF, so if they close me down i wouldnt need to pay the AF... but i did hit my spend and got the MR to post).

Thoughts on the MRs? I really don't want to transfer them out as i value the flexibility of transfering to differnt airlines and if they do shut me down hopefully they let me transfer out the points vs digging in and seeing what my spend may have been on (MS, etc). But i am guessing that the main point of FR is them just seeing that your imcome matches what you said on your app and that they see cash balances coming in and out of your bank accounts.

Alternatively maybe they choke off my charge cards and reduce the limits. or do that for the credit cards.

any input is much appreciated.

thanks!

although i like Amex i am thankfull that i have diversified my cards portfolio and have CSP and Arrival plus Fidelity 2%, so i should be good on earn-potential. just looking for input re MRs and what i should expect.

many thanks

Re: Got FRd by Amex

H4LO — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:40:50 GMT

Personally, I'd pull out my MR if AMEX FR'd me.

Even if I was to go through smoothly.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:46:28 GMT

thanks @H4LO.

which currency gives me most flex for domestic flights? I am thinking BA since i can use them to book short haul flights on AA?

thoughts?

Re: Got FRd by Amex

myjourney — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:46:31 GMT

Your under Amex FR and applying for more cards?

Not a good move

I did just see an approval via recon on another card right?

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:48:44 GMT

@myjourney,

no these were all under a recent spree, the new chase card approved after recon (which took a while since i had to send in copies of docs) was applied for weeks ago, same day as most recent amex card.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

red259 — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:49:03 GMT

How many new cards did you add? How old was your amex accounts? Or is it the amount of money you are putting through?

Re: Got FRd by Amex

myjourney — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:53:13 GMT

@PointLager wrote:
@myjourney,

no these were all under a recent spree, the new chase card approved after recon (which took a while since i had to send in copies of docs) was applied for weeks ago, same day as most recent amex card.

Ok so the Chase card is a late arrival

Good because Amex will be looking at everything

The good news is they've seen the HP already the bad news is when the card reports they'll see that too

Wishing you luck and hoping for the best

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:53:00 GMT

@red259

six amex cards within 4 months (2 are charge). that was the trigger. "why do you need so many?"

over ten cards total opened in last 3 months. dollar-wise i went from putting $3k+ on a single PRG card/month to putting about $6k across maybe two or three cards (i've kept other cards relatively dormant once i hit the minimum spend). all PIF before statement cuts

Re: Got FRd by Amex

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 03:57:35 GMT

@PointLager wrote:
So the recent mega sprees are coming home to roost. The Amex "Account review" softing was a tell. They called me and wanted me to send in my info, which I did. Now my income does support the spend but i am somewhat worried if they start digging through the charges i've put through. Plus, if they are SPing me they've seen the new TLs from other issuers.

So, I have:

Plat, PRG plus 3 credit cards (w/ $5k each). I also have a healthy chunk of MRs accumulated from my Plat+PRG bonuses plus spend.

i don't intend to shut down my accounts and will go ahead witht he FR (i've sent them what they asked for). if they do shut me down i don't believe (i hope) this doesn't affect my scores because i have new TLs that have been added to my CR (bulk of the amex revolving lines haven't been reported yet) so i am ok from a utilization perspective since i print under $100 balance across all cards.

I am worried about MRs. If they shut me down, what happens to my MRs? Do they let me keep them? Or should i pre-empt this and transfer them out to an airline program before the FR is done? (I haven't yet been charged my platinum AF, so if they close me down i wouldnt need to pay the AF... but i did hit my spend and got the MR to post).

Thoughts on the MRs? I really don't want to transfer them out as i value the flexibility of transfering to differnt airlines and if they do shut me down hopefully they let me transfer out the points vs digging in and seeing what my spend may have been on (MS, etc). But i am guessing that the main point of FR is them just seeing that your imcome matches what you said on your app and that they see cash balances coming in and out of your bank accounts.

Alternatively maybe they choke off my charge cards and reduce the limits. or do that for the credit cards.

any input is much appreciated.

thanks!

although i like Amex i am thankfull that i have diversified my cards portfolio and have CSP and Arrival plus Fidelity 2%, so i should be good on earn-potential. just looking for input re MRs and what i should expect.

many thanks

since you are complying with the FR, chances are they might just impose a hard limit, though there's also a possibility of them closing out your accounts. Chances are you should be fine, but then again this is your 2nd FR in the past month, so your in a messier position.

If they do close your accounts, you will lose all your MR points.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:00:28 GMT

thanks @enharu

this is my first/only FR.

good to know that MRs would be lost if they shut me down. Would transfering them out right now negatively affect my FR? (ie a flag to them of some sort)

Re: Got FRd by Amex

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:03:02 GMT

@PointLager wrote:
thanks @enharu

this is my first/only FR.

good to know that MRs would be lost if they shut me down. Would transfering them out right now negatively affect my FR? (ie a flag to them of some sort)

opps my bad confused u with someone else.

I think you will be fine then, but dont quote me on this.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:04:14 GMT

@myjourney

yea the chase card is only $3k and the HP from that was on my CR already. That's the only non-Amex TL that isnt showing on my report. All of the other ones are showing, as of Amex' latest SP.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:08:37 GMT

my main theme with the FR rep (as with my recent recons) is that i want various cards in order to have various benefits of each card, which (aside from signup bonuses), is the truth.

i did say that i travel for work and thus appreciate SPG, and plat cards but the rep saw that i have a corporate card too and they said how companies want employees using corp cards for all charges, to which i rebutted that platinum is to give me lounge access and gold SPG status, while SPG card itself is for personal use. i mean, what the heck, amex montitors charges in real time so why should they worry. if i just stayed with one revolver i would have had $15k limit within 6 months with a standard 3x, 2x CLI. this way i have the same limit across multiple cards.

who knows, maybe they are desperate for that Platinum AF LOL

in which case, maybe i ought to take my MB plat bonus MRs and shut 'er down..?

Re: Got FRd by Amex

myjourney — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:08:42 GMT

@PointLager wrote:
@myjourney

yea the chase card is only $3k and the HP from that was on my CR already. That's the only non-Amex TL that isnt showing on my report. All of the other ones are showing, as of Amex' latest SP.

I'll be pulling for you

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:11:08 GMT

i should also mention that since i have only one tax year in the US, they weren't interested in my IRS transcript. Instead, they wanted pay stubs and bank statements. Bank statements for all accounts that i have linked to my amex profile.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:12:34 GMT

hopefully they are ok with my checking statements: i keep less than a hundred dollars in my accounts. they all get swept into savings accounts and/or brokerage at month end. and if they want to get those statements i am not going to provide them.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:17:18 GMT

@PointLager wrote:
hopefully they are ok with my checking statements: i keep less than a hundred dollars in my accounts. they all get swept into savings accounts and/or brokerage at month end. and if they want to get those statements i am not going to provide them.

if your balances are that low that may be a problem.

does it show on your statements that you wired the money to a savings / brokerage account?

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:18:55 GMT

@enharu yes, it shows the transfers going out to different accounts/institutions. whatever other outflows remain are payments to credit cards (mostly amex)

Re: Got FRd by Amex

H4LO — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:26:42 GMT

@PointLager wrote:
@Anonymous @H4LO.

which currency gives me most flex for domestic flights? I am thinking BA since i can use them to book short haul flights on AA?

thoughts?

I'm transfering to BA Avios for domestic flights.

I also have a IB Avios account to transfer my Avios to fly internationally on OneWorld carriers. Cheap flights using Avios without huge YQ.

Re: Got FRd by Amex

PointLager — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:42:32 GMT

Thanks @H4LO

I'm probably doing a Euro trip next year a Ib would be perfect. But don't know when or if I would even use Avios. Depending of my UR accumulation goes I may fly to Europe via UA

But have needs for domestic personal flights. I started reading to see if I can convert BA to IB if needed.

Once everything posts I have around 90k MRs. So rather than splitting up between BA and Ib I will prob hit BA then. I was thinking maybe aero plan since aeroplan gives me star alliance access but with BA+CSP cards avios is a better egg basket

Plus 50k chase bonus whenever I hit that chase BA spend.