Amex Check Spending: Matching requests and transactions?

[wasCB14]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

Just to clarify, the ”scary posts" stem from first-hand knowledge of a former Amex employee in the Platinum/Centurion department.  Hitting it every now and then is not likely to cause an issue.  But doing something like entering $5000 and then entering escalating amounts until you reach a "no" it is possible to set off potential fraud alarms.  It was stated that Amex is expecting a potential charge of the amount you are requesting so a hold may be placed to allow that charge to go through.  If your internal limit was $37k and you just requested to make a $35,000 charge, then there is a possibility that a $10,000 charge might be declined as a result.  For most cardholders making charges of these amounts, it's likely that their internal limit may be substantially higher than they might think.

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Do you have any insight as to how long such a hold would last? My big charges (if I can use CC) won't be until March or so.

Or how close a single transaction needs to be to the hold amount to match up?

Is there some special department that will tell you your exact internal limit? The BP CSR could only tell me the result of the check spending tool.

[simplynoir]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

Just to clarify, the ”scary posts" stem from first-hand knowledge of a former Amex employee in the Platinum/Centurion department.  Hitting it every now and then is not likely to cause an issue.  But doing something like entering $5000 and then entering escalating amounts until you reach a "no" it is possible to set off potential fraud alarms.  It was stated that Amex is expecting a potential charge of the amount you are requesting so a hold may be placed to allow that charge to go through.  If your internal limit was $37k and you just requested to make a $35,000 charge, then there is a possibility that a $10,000 charge might be declined as a result.  For most cardholders making charges of these amounts, it's likely that their internal limit may be substantially higher than they might think.

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Do you have any insight as to how long such a hold would last? My big charges (if I can use CC) won't be until March or so.

Or how close a single transaction needs to be to the hold amount to match up?

Is there some special department that will tell you your exact internal limit? The BP CSR could only tell me the result of the check spending tool.

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From what I remembered when this came up awhile ago (I'll try to look for the thread) AMEX is expecting the charge to come within a week of asking the spending power tool if the charge will go through. To me it sounds like AMEX is expecting close to the range of the charge amount being requested so some leeway is probably fine here. For departments my guess is the the only one might have that answer is the lending department but even then they might just direct you to use the tool as needed. It's more than likely sort of like the NPSLs of the charge cards I doubt you'll find a hard number to reference to. Perhpas @K-in-Boston or someone else knows more about that

Edit: found the thread. This one and pooka's response at the bottom of the page gives you some answers

[K-in-Boston]

Apparently 8 days.  Here are some posts relevant to what one of my esteemed colleagues once called "the boogeybutton"

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Amex-Charge-limits/m-p/5026303#M1469242

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Amex-The-Check-Spending-Power-tool/m-p/5480016#M161800...

No idea on the 2nd question.  Only guessing but I would assume if you punched in like $50k and made a transaction anywhere near that, the system would likely assume that was it.

As for the third, numerous people have stated when running into their spending limits they have called and been told their internal limit by the CSR they spoke with.  I have never personally called and asked that and this is purely speculation, but maybe they are far more likely to divulge that to someone hitting a spending limit at $1800 on their Gold Card when they are being called to ask to make a payment in order to prevent their charging privileges from being suspended than they are to someone who has a 6-digit internal limit and could potentially pose a bust-out fraud risk?

[K-in-Boston]

😂 @simplynoir faster on the search engine for one of the threads.

[simplynoir]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

😂 @simplynoir faster on the search engine for one of the threads.

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It was hilarious because this thread came up first on my search before the one I referenced lol

[K-in-Boston]

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@simplynoir wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

😂 @simplynoir faster on the search engine for one of the threads.

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It was hilarious because this thread came up first on my search before the one I referenced lol

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I use Google too.  

[simplynoir]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

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@simplynoir wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

😂 @simplynoir faster on the search engine for one of the threads.

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It was hilarious because this thread came up first on my search before the one I referenced lol

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I use Google too.  

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myfico search engine is...not good to put it kindly

[wasCB14]

Thanks for the clarification!

The cards do work well for me, and it's way more spending power than any other bank will extend me...

...but I can kind of understand the frustration of NPSL critics when a Platinum CSR of 2022 and a Centurion CSR of ~2017 give conflicting answers.

I'll give an update if and when the K-type-copper-piping-in-LosAngeles charge happens! (Again, they may possibly demand a check for this.)

[NRB525]

So my personal experience with my Platinum card, not long after I got it, I was trying to make a payment of around $9,000 on line, and the processor ( I think it was for a Federal Tax deposit ) kept saying it was unable to process the charge. I called AMEX, and the CSR looked at it, said my internal limit was like $10,000, and so the $9k charge shouldn't be getting declined for that reason. I went back and dealt with the PEBCAK and the charge went through. However my take away is, in a pinch, the CSR may divulge what AMEX currently sees as the NPSL - SL at that point in time. Which is good information to have.

And my suggestion in this OP situation is the same, just communicate with the CSR ( sounds like that's been accomplished ) about the scope of charges to get the general idea. I'd not use the Check Spending for multiple charges like that. I'd be afraid of boloxing the algorithm.

I did use Check Spending for my Gold card last summer, confirming I would be able to charge about $9,000 for auto repairs. The Check Spending step was just a few days prior to the charge ( based on advices from members here ) so I handed over the Gold card with confidence when the deed needed to be done.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

So, I have a hypothesis as to why playing with the tool can cause problems. Most lenders have a finite amount of money to use as credit limits.  It's why some lenders will slash unused limits on cards, to free that money up. Charge cards don't have a set limit making the internal limit a thing. Based on the spend pattern, they adjust that soft limit.

My employer invests money that's not needed and we need to pull that money where we need it based on expectancy and probability of using it. It's a default amount depending on the situation which can be increased on the fly, but we are required to keep that amount at the minimum for as long as possible in order to keep our money making interest. In addition, there's a default time limit where the system auto checks if the reserve line can be closed and does it if we don't do it manually, when possible. It's a very bad thing to keep money reserved if it looks like we're not going to be using it.

I suspect the check spending tool is similar. If you have a theoretical soft limit of 10k, that doesn't mean you have 10k ready to go all the time. As you charge, it's checked if you're authorized for that amount based on the soft limit and your existing balance, then approved or denied. This is the "each charge is evaluated individually". When you use the check spending tool, it's now expected that amount will be used so it's now reserved for that use from their accounts making it unavailable elsewhere. I suspect it's more of an accounting issue than fraud, but can also be used as an indicator of fraud or as a way to limit losses, as is the case for those with a hard limit.