Amex FRing me! What's up with that?

[pmbrian]

What's the big deal?  I was FR'd and had the reaction that you guys did at the first place only because I though "crap did I enter my info right on the app?"  I sent my form in and bam all was good.

I spend about 6-9k on my green card per month and LOVE it, no interest and the rewards, are you kidding me?  Awesome!!!!

Would you not want to know more details of who you are lending too?  In fact that is what got us in trouble overall was a lack of real knowledge of who you are lending money to based solely on a credit score, which can be  misleading....

I say if you don't lie and really make the money you say you do, then you will love the fact that you now passed the test and have NPSL on your charge card.

Amex is awesome, and for any of you out there that read these posts and think "oh I don't want Amex because they want to know that they can prove how much I make" then you are playing into the whole issue that this country is facing financially - living beyond your means and borrowing like money is going out of style.

Just my $.02

Have a great day - gonna go spend on my Amex now!

[RockinRay]

I agree with pmbrian here.

If they were to FR me, I would give them what they ask. Not a big deal. They give me a $22,200 line on my BCE card, and I have checked and can charge $30k on my Zync.

So, I am fine with this. It would only reinforce what I stated on the application. If I had lied on my application, I would be concerned.

JMO here...

Ray

[improvingmycredit]

I agree with all who state that the financial institution has a right to know and verify what I make. That is not the confusing issue I have with this process. My gripe is that why not "vet" all this during the application process? I get a card then am declined a charge at point of sale after having the card a week. Fine, you wanna know if what I said was true on my credit app- then why issue the card first? Doesn't make since- not good to the customer- and potential loss of customers more then financially capable of managing their cards. As a business person- I'd like to alienate as few potential customers as possible. I'm just sayin.

[Red1Blue]

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@impovingmycredit wrote:
I agree with all who state that the financial institution has a right to know and verify what I make. That is not the confusing issue I have with this process. My gripe is that why not "vet" all this during the application process? I get a card then am declined a charge at point of sale after having the card a week. Fine, you wanna know if what I said was true on my credit app- then why issue the card first? Doesn't make since- not good to the customer- and potential loss of customers more then financially capable of managing their cards. As a business person- I'd like to alienate as few potential customers as possible. I'm just sayin.

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Welcome to the Amex FR club. I understand your frustration. We all went through this process and incovenience and love hate relationship with Amex. You'll get used it over period of time and adjust to the pattern amex's behaviour.

[scottwagnon]

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@pmbrian wrote:

Would you not want to know more details of who you are lending too?  In fact that is what got us in trouble overall was a lack of real knowledge of who you are lending money to based solely on a credit score, which can be  misleading....

living beyond your means and borrowing like money is going out of style.

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This is why lenders check your credit report before 'lending' their card to you. lenders and lendees got into a big mess because alot of exited lenders thought they could 'get rich quick' by knowingly lending to irresponsible lendees, not having a solid lead on actual income of lendees was NOT what caused the problem to begin with.

My overall credit limit of 72600 is actually above that of the total annual gross household income that i actually have full access to. just because i have this, DOSENT MEAN I AM GOING TO ON A BROWING SPREE. I OBVIOUSLY KNOW BETTER. I don't need banks to babysit me. thats why i have this credit limit in the first place; and no i am the primary account holder on 100% of my entire credit limit.

[improvingmycredit]

I'm just bloviating. I am sure that I will love using my Amex. I've already complied with the request so... Blah blah blah... I'll shut up about it already. LOL. Still don't understand the reason behind an after the fact "vetting" process. Weird! My credit union got all this info on the front side when lending to me. What was my CU thinking? They should have let me sign for the car first so that they could then really check to see if I could afford it. Duh!

[pmbrian]

I fully agree that they should do it at application time if they are going to do it.....not out of the blue decline you like what happened to me, I think I was at a gas pump, if I was out with friends at a restaurant, I would have been so embarrased.

We are all making good points :-)  There are pros and cons with everything!

[Anonymous]

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@impovingmycredit wrote:
I'm just bloviating. I am sure that I will love using my Amex. I've already complied with the request so... Blah blah blah... I'll shut up about it already. LOL. Still don't understand the reason behind an after the fact "vetting" process. Weird! My credit union got all this info on the front side when lending to me. What was my CU thinking? They should have let me sign for the car first so that they could then really check to see if I could afford it. Duh!

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Look at it this way. You already got hit with the inquiries and the score hit for opening a new account - they pretty much know you have to comply with their demands at this point.

If they asked for all the FR docs at the time of applying for the card, I'm sure a lot of people would refuse. But once you've already taken the hits to get the card, they know they can strong-arm you into doing whatever they want.

[sandsanta]

Its not FR's that are bad, but getting one right after you got a card and haven't made any purchases that's bad.  Or how about getting an FR right after you already got an FR?  Or getting an FR even though you pay in full every month because your neighborhood had been marked as sketchy?  I think its the concept of a credit or charge card that isn't dependable thats the most vexing aspect of the Amex FR process.  If there was a rhyme or reason to them that publically was known then it wouldn't be as annoying.

[android01]

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@pmbrian wrote:

What's the big deal?  I was FR'd and had the reaction that you guys did at the first place only because I though "crap did I enter my info right on the app?"  I sent my form in and bam all was good.

I spend about 6-9k on my green card per month and LOVE it, no interest and the rewards, are you kidding me?  Awesome!!!!

Would you not want to know more details of who you are lending too?  In fact that is what got us in trouble overall was a lack of real knowledge of who you are lending money to based solely on a credit score, which can be  misleading....

I say if you don't lie and really make the money you say you do, then you will love the fact that you now passed the test and have NPSL on your charge card.

Amex is awesome, and for any of you out there that read these posts and think "oh I don't want Amex because they want to know that they can prove how much I make" then you are playing into the whole issue that this country is facing financially - living beyond your means and borrowing like money is going out of style.

Just my $.02

Have a great day - gonna go spend on my Amex now!

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Here's the big deal, and this is just part of it depending on which option AMEX chooses on the 4506-T.

Concept & 1040 Line #

1) Names & SSNs of your entire family and your ex-spouse:  6a, 6b, 6c, 31a
2) Marital status:  Right at the top of the form.
3) Alimony & child support: 11
4) HSA contributions: 25
5) Blind: 39a
6) Immigration status: 39b (also they can tell by your SSN)
7) Bank account number: 74b, 74c, 74d
8) Children adopted: 71b
9) Qualified health insurance plan:
10) Combat zone pay: 64b
11) Child care expenses: 48
12) First time home buyer: 67
13) Continuing education: 49 & 66 & 34
14) Retirement funds: 50
15) Unemployed you / spouse at any period during the year: 19
16) Rental income: 17
17) Social security benefits: 20a
18) What fuel does your car consume: 70
19) Energy-related home improvements:52
20) Own or rent your home: 52 & 67

It will also cost you $57 to submit yourself to this.

I'm not sure I'd like to have my tax information floating around in an AMEX computer system for any CSR, or anyone who can log in, anywhere in the world to have this kind of information.