AMEX Dreaded FR

[flyingmd]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post. I have been following this forum for a while and it has really been a helpful resource. I was following the 4506-T messages and the saga of the dreaded FR. I would like to report my experience. I have been an Amex cardholder since 1987. I was one of the first in Florida to get both a personal and business Centurion account ( I have sinced closed them and changed back to the Platinum card when they got rid of alot of the initial benefits). On June 25, 2011 I went to use my platinum card and was declined. After all these years and monthly spends in the 80-120,000 range, my account was flagged for FR. Well, it is now August 2, 2011. I JUST GOT THE PHONE CALL FROM THE CSR TELLING ME THEY FINALLY GOT ALL THE IRS STUFF AND MY ACCOUNT WAS CLEAR AND CHARGING PRIVELEGES RESUMED. I am just so flabbergasted that it took so long. Thankfully I have plenty of other credit cards and it affected me only to the extent that I had lots of automatic payments set up on both my personal and business account. I am so angry i am ready to drop AMEX all together. I have no problem with a CC companies need to verify income, etc. But to turn a card off without warning (what if I was traveling abroad??) that it makes the card almost useless! NO OTHER CREDIT CARD  COMPANY DOES A FR AFTER THE FACT THAT I AM AWARE OF.

Just blowing off steam and letting everyone know that this FR review process can take up to 30 days. They no longer look at bank statements, W2, etc. The CSR told me that they will only get the info from the IRS. Very intrusive if you ask me.... Thanks for listening.

Since everyone seems to ask for scores. Mine are always low because of the amount of inquiries. I ahve no deficiencys or 30 days late and they are as follows

TU - 690, EQ - 685 EX - 710

(my scores were mid 600 when they offered me the Centurion accounts. Of course I had been charging over 500,000 on each account per year)

[Anonymous]

Putting a customer with your track record through a financial review is.  It's pretty clear that you'd be welcomed with open arms by any creditor you choose to do busienss with, I'm curious why you decided to put up with the invasion of a financial review...

Had you recently had a change in your credit report that you were aware of?  Did you suddenly have higher than normal balances on other accounts reporting when your statements printed?

EDIT: I hadn't read your post entirely.  Did your multiple inquiries begin appearing before they FRed you?

[haulingthescoreup]

Wow, that was a long, long wait. And you've been running that volume of charges through, and obviously paying all along? I'd be livid.

[flyingmd]

When it happened I pulled all 3 CB reports. No major changes that I can detect. No negatives. Just alot of inquiries, which I always have had. The only new credit, which doesnt even show on my personal report is the new BA Charge Card Business Preferred MC. It works alot like AMEX in that there is no pre set limit and the charges need to be paid in full at end of month. Actually its a great product in my opinion for a business owner. I can' t figure why they pulled the FR. No recent unusual charges. The last 12 months my monthly spend on that account averages around 20-25K. That hadnt changed. So I am perplexed. The only saving grace is it cut off my wifes discretionary spending for 2 weeks (LOL).

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear about your lengthy FR. As an FYI most major CC company, although might not FR, have hit their members with some sort of adverse action. In fact, some of the big boys have dedicated hate websites. My view? The fact that Amex is willing to restore full charging priveleges after an FR is better than balance chasing or interest rate hiking with no recourse.

[flyingmd]

You have a point there and I agree. What I am most concerned with is that it is done without warning and charging is suspended. That, in my opinion almost makes the card unusable. Pretty ironic as i still think AMEX is the best card to travel with in general, but then you have to always wonder if its gonna work!

[MagicShot]

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@flyingmd wrote:

You have a point there and I agree. What I am most concerned with is that it is done without warning and charging is suspended. That, in my opinion almost makes the card unusable. Pretty ironic as i still think AMEX is the best card to travel with in general, but then you have to always wonder if its gonna work!

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It should be a message to people out their with only AMEX. You might want to have something other than just AMEX and in your wallet just incase. Man if I was on a trip and my wallet and all I had was my passport and AMEX I would be scared. lol

[ArisGreek]

Wow, that stinks!!! All those years you have been a customer with no lates and all that money going to them and you still get FRed and dragged out all that time. That's awful! It's true, that's why I have cards from Citi, Chase, and AMEX and I bring ALL 3 with me when I travel. It's too risky to depend just on one. It's funny...I was in Burberry this past weekend and spent $2500 at Burberry on my Zync...I was sweatin' hope it would go through. It did go through, but it's sad I have to get nervous about that using a card. I love their perks though so I hang in there!

[flyingmd]

Having to wonder whether or not the card will work really is awful. At let with my cards from other banks/CC companies, I know what my limits are and as long as I stay under my limit the card will work. I guess it's a sign of the times with most companies barely making a profit and the credit card companies still recovering from all the defaults over the last z5 years. Personally I think there are more to come and we haven't seen the bottom of this recession (depression?) yet.

[GregB]

I completely agree about not seeing the bottom yet.

I was also nailed by Amex but instead of FR they just decreased my Credit Limits: Business from $82K to $12K and personal from $28,800 to $3100. There was no bizarre activity and the reasons quoted turned out to be pure fantasy. I was charging about $100K per year on Amex. BofA had just done CLI of $43K to $46K on personal and $51K to $56K on business so I know my reports looked good. They act like they are run by one person who can't get their meds right.

I've seen others get their Amex cards refused including several with net worth of 8 figures. One was one of the largest stockholders in my business bank! I think the main use I have for them is the 28-30 year age on the accounts.