Amex FR Causes

[Velar_nyc19]

Hello Guys,

So I just got approved for a AMEX Delta Gold card with a $1000 SL. Recently, my Gf was also approved last month but for the Blue Delta which I'm a AU on it. Neither card has shown up on the reports yet. Just wondering, how does this FR thing starts ? what are the causes ? do they happen on a $1000 SL ? I always carry a balance on all of my cards. What can i do to prevent it from happening to me ? Im just nervous because I just got my foot in the door with AMEX, also I went thru this experience with Discover and they closed my secured account after they requested the famous 4506-t form.

Or this things happens only to big limit cards ?

[AverageJoesCredit]

why would you be worrying about an Amex FR on first card? Did you lie about your income? If not i find a FR highly doubtful off the bat.

[silver_idle]

You shouldnt have anything to worry about unless youre telling them that you have $90k income when you really have $20k income. Such review is usually at random or during specific request (eg if you are getting or requesting a large CLI and they decide to review your financial information before approving or denying the request). While it can be annoying, they are in their right to request such information to determine your risk to them before extending credit to you or even allowing you to use their card. Just use your card like you normally would and comply if they request any additional information.

[Loquat]

@Velar_nyc19 May I kindly ask that you consider adjusting the subject of your post to reflect your question?  Such a subject line in CAPS may allude so something that isn't quite so.

Thanks!

[K-in-Boston]

It's extremely important to differentiate between a financial review and a request for a signed IRS Form 4506-T in order to request tax transcripts to document a customer's stated income.

For a financial review, American Express will immediately suspend charging on all cards held by a member.  You can generally avoid it by:

• Not spending $200,000 a year on "groceries" (the rectangular plastic kind near the checkout lanes) and "office supplies" (the rectangular plastic kind near the checkout lanes) when your income is $50,000.
• Not running your credit card through the merchant account of your own business to skirt cash advance policies.
• Not laundering money.
• Not otherwise spending well beyond your means as known to American Express.
• Not otherwise committing fraud, including rewards abuse.

For a simple request for 4506-T, this is generally prompted when you ask American Express for additional credit and American Express is not comfortable extending it without verifying your stated income.  This often happens when people ask for large credit line increases, usually in the $30,000+ range, although sometimes lower and sometimes members never have this request.  Unlike the requests Discover has been sending out, this is an optional thing with American Express.  If you do not supply a signed 4506-T, your request for an increase line of credit will simply be denied and no account closures or suspension of charging will occur.

[longtimelurker]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

It's extremely important to differentiate between a financial review and a request for a signed IRS Form 4506-T in order to request tax transcripts to document a customer's stated income.

For a financial review, American Express will immediately suspend charging on all cards held by a member.  You can generally avoid it by:

• Not spending $200,000 a year on "groceries" (the rectangular plastic kind near the checkout lanes) and "office supplies" (the rectangular plastic kind near the checkout lanes) when your income is $50,000.
• Not running your credit card through the merchant account of your own business to skirt cash advance policies.
• Not laundering money.
• Not otherwise spending well beyond your means as known to American Express.
• Not otherwise committing fraud, including rewards abuse.

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The first doesn't always cause an FR, Amex can simply close the card.   My 2014 email....

Log in to Manage Your Account Online 

Dear LTL

We are contacting you to be sure you do not have any surprises when you try to use your card. We wanted to let you know we have had to make the decision to close your account listed above.

Please tell any Additional Card Members on this account of this change so they do not have an unexpected inconvenience when attempting to use the Card.

You should also destroy the card(s) and any convenience checks you may have for the account(s).

If you have any recurring charges on these accounts such as cell phone charges, please contact that company immediately to ensure your other bills do not go unpaid.

You will also receive this information by letter, but we wanted to be sure you were aware of this change as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

American Express Account Services

[NRB525]

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@Velar_nyc19 wrote:

Hello Guys,

So I just got approved for a AMEX Delta Gold card with a $1000 SL. Recently, my Gf was also approved last month but for the Blue Delta which I'm a AU on it. Neither card has shown up on the reports yet. Just wondering, how does this FR thing starts ? what are the causes ? do they happen on a $1000 SL ? I always carry a balance on all of my cards. What can i do to prevent it from happening to me ? Im just nervous because I just got my foot in the door with AMEX, also I went thru this experience with Discover and they closed my secured account after they requested the famous 4506-t form.

Or this things happens only to big limit cards ?

---

Congrats on the approval. At $1k limit, I agree you are quite far away from triggering FR or verification of income. 

Can we explore your thoughts on what it means to "carry a balance"? Are you paying interest charges on all your cards?

[Anonymous]

it usually takes about 2-3 statement cycles before they show up on reports, so nothing to worry about there. I don't really think you have to worry about FR at the moment either, just use you card normally like Amex expects. As for balances, I's suggest not, at least not anything over 20% with them. Amex typically doesn't like balances and starting off on that foot may follow you around in certain circumstances. CLI's etc.

Not to mention the APR you'd be paying on those balances, unless you received a 0% intro rate. Even then it's still Amex where balances are a gray area.

The Discover issue likely has you worked up/worried and for good reason, although I don't see it hapening with Amex until you seek a CLI if at all.  There would have to be cause for them to do so such as numbers not matching up.

[MrDisco99]

Don't play with the "check spending power" button on the website or app.  Any submissions into that service are treated similarly as purchase authorizations and if it's too high or too often it could trigger a FR.

If you use the card for normal purchases and pay it off every month and you should be fine.

Otherwise with a liimt that low you'll likely run into that before you have any chance of triggering a FR.  Don't forget, if your account is in good standing after 61 days there's a pretty good chance they will triple your limit if you ask for it.

[Jnbmom]

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@MrDisco99 wrote:

Don't play with the "check spending power" button on the website or app.  Any submissions into that service are treated similarly as purchase authorizations and if it's too high or too often it could trigger a FR.

If you use the card for normal purchases and pay it off every month and you should be fine.

Otherwise with a liimt that low you'll likely run into that before you have any chance of triggering a FR.  Don't forget, if your account is in good standing after 61 days there's a pretty good chance they will triple your limit if you ask for it.

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Yes you can ask for a CLI but as history here shows us a lot of times when starting out at 1K you don't always get the increase . 1K SLs are borderline approvals .