AmEx Underwriting Review

[Anonymous]

I got calls and emails from AmEx yesterday:

We recently attempted to contact you regarding your personal account referenced above. We would like to discuss your spending capacity and explain our underwriting process to you. Underwriting is the financial assessment of your spending capacity.

Please call us at 1-877-251-4528 so we can discuss the information we need. Please note that this is a time sensitive matter that could impact your existing spending capacity so we look forward to hearing from you soon.

I couldn't find much about this type of contact, so I wanted to share my experience in case other folks have this happen in the future.  For reference, I've had my Platinum since October, and my spending has been:

Oct: 20k

Nov: 25k

Dec: 40k

Jan: 60k

Feb: 90k

Mar: 70k

When I called, they said that they wanted to:

• See if my purchases are personal or business (personal)
• See what I expect my ongoing spend level to be (I told them 40-80k/mo, sometimes up to $120k)
• Verify my income (I put $875k on my application, which is my base income, but total income is $4-6M.  I had them bump this to $1.2M so that my annual spend isn't higher than my stated income, but, if they ever do a review, I'd rather have higher income than they expect rather than the opposite)

When I asked, they said that this was NOT a financial review, I didn't need to provide any documentation, they just wanted to make sure that they were setting my soft limits accurately on their end.  They left the account as "No Predefined Spending Limit" and nothing else was needed.

[Dave4fun]

This was all very interesting to me. Thank you for posting! Perhaps, they will offer you their elusive and exclusive Black Centurion Card! 

[JR_TX]

They probably wanted to see if you really are their kind of customer/card holder...

And as it turned out, you truly are the "transactor" they covet and maintain a relationship with!

- That's easily a monthly $2,400 of swipe fees for them!

[longtimelurker]

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@JR_TX wrote:

They probably wanted to see if you really are their kind of customer/card holder...

And as it turned out, you truly are the "transactor" they covet and maintain a relationship with!

- That's easily a monthly $2,400 of swipe fees for them!

---

Yes!   And now they have an updated idea of the income, I'm sure they will be eager to promote some of their banking products to OP!

Now, when I was spending more on my personal Amex than  my declared income, they simply closed my card without any discussion, concluding (OK, correctly) that I was not using the card in the way they desired.

[Remedios]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@JR_TX wrote:

They probably wanted to see if you really are their kind of customer/card holder...

And as it turned out, you truly are the "transactor" they covet and maintain a relationship with!

- That's easily a monthly $2,400 of swipe fees for them!

---

Yes!   And now they have an updated idea of the income, I'm sure they will be eager to promote some of their banking products to OP!

Now, when I was spending more on my personal Amex than  my declared income, they simply closed my card without any discussion, concluding (OK, correctly) that I was not using the card in the way they desired.

---

Aren't you glad you're now a changed man?  

You are, right? 

[CreditCrusader]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I got calls and emails from AmEx yesterday:

We recently attempted to contact you regarding your personal account referenced above. We would like to discuss your spending capacity and explain our underwriting process to you. Underwriting is the financial assessment of your spending capacity.

Please call us at 1-877-251-4528 so we can discuss the information we need. Please note that this is a time sensitive matter that could impact your existing spending capacity so we look forward to hearing from you soon.

I couldn't find much about this type of contact, so I wanted to share my experience in case other folks have this happen in the future.  For reference, I've had my Platinum since October, and my spending has been:

Oct: 20k

Nov: 25k

Dec: 40k

Jan: 60k

Feb: 90k

Mar: 70k

When I called, they said that they wanted to:

• See if my purchases are personal or business (personal)
• See what I expect my ongoing spend level to be (I told them 40-80k/mo, sometimes up to $120k)
• Verify my income (I put $875k on my application, which is my base income, but total income is $4-6M.  I had them bump this to $1.2M so that my annual spend isn't higher than my stated income, but, if they ever do a review, I'd rather have higher income than they expect rather than the opposite)

When I asked, they said that this was NOT a financial review, I didn't need to provide any documentation, they just wanted to make sure that they were setting my soft limits accurately on their end.  They left the account as "No Predefined Spending Limit" and nothing else was needed.

---

I'm almost certain THIS is what they're verifying. Spending upward of six figures monthly on a single card is HUGE...and they want to make sure you're not using it for business.

[SoCalGardener]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

---

Now, when I was spending more on my personal Amex than  my declared income, they simply closed my card without any discussion, concluding (OK, correctly) that I was not using the card in the way they desired.

---

In your case, they had drawn a correct conclusion. But the fact that they closed the account without any discussion worries me--because I'm retired and my stated income is very low.

I EASILY spend more on cards than my declared income. That's because I have money in the bank I use (or can if needed) to pay bills. If Amex, or any bank, arbitrarily shut down any of my cards because of this discrepancy, it would really suck. My mother used to spend 10 TIMES her monthly income on her Discover (and ONLY credit card) in any given month, always paid in full, and never had an issue. Like me, she had money in the bank which was what she actually used to pay her bills--not her paltry SS income.

[NRB525]

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@SoCalGardener wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

Now, when I was spending more on my personal Amex than  my declared income, they simply closed my card without any discussion, concluding (OK, correctly) that I was not using the card in the way they desired.

---

In your case, they had drawn a correct conclusion. But the fact that they closed the account without any discussion worries me--because I'm retired and my stated income is very low.

I EASILY spend more on cards than my declared income. That's because I have money in the bank I use (or can if needed) to pay bills. If Amex, or any bank, arbitrarily shut down any of my cards because of this discrepancy, it would really suck. My mother used to spend 10 TIMES her monthly income on her Discover (and ONLY credit card) in any given month, always paid in full, and never had an issue. Like me, she had money in the bank which was what she actually used to pay her bills--not her paltry SS income.

---

All your cards have credit limits, correct? In that scenario they've set a limit to how fast you can spend. In OP's situation that's just a huge volume of transactions AMEX wants to get basic understanding of. 

[longtimelurker]

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@SoCalGardener wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

Now, when I was spending more on my personal Amex than  my declared income, they simply closed my card without any discussion, concluding (OK, correctly) that I was not using the card in the way they desired.

---

In your case, they had drawn a correct conclusion. But the fact that they closed the account without any discussion worries me--because I'm retired and my stated income is very low.

---

Sure, but in my case there were plenty of other details, mainly where the spend was occuring.   It wasn't subtle!

[longtimelurker]

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@Remedios wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@JR_TX wrote:

They probably wanted to see if you really are their kind of customer/card holder...

And as it turned out, you truly are the "transactor" they covet and maintain a relationship with!

- That's easily a monthly $2,400 of swipe fees for them!

---

Yes!   And now they have an updated idea of the income, I'm sure they will be eager to promote some of their banking products to OP!

Now, when I was spending more on my personal Amex than  my declared income, they simply closed my card without any discussion, concluding (OK, correctly) that I was not using the card in the way they desired.

---

Aren't you glad you're now a changed man?  

You are, right? 

---

Sure, I voluntarily returned the rewards they thought I shouldn't have received, and sent a letter of apology.