Credit AMA. Get your questions answered live my an Amex employee - Pooka89 [Ask Me Anything Session]

[Anonymous]

Q: @Pooka89,

Apart from MS, what other types of trasactions triggers AA with Amex.  For example, some people on here say when you use an Amex card through paypal it raises red flags.  Could you list some transactions that are very much frowned upon by Amex?

A: It's hard honestly to name even examples because it can really be anything where you're trying to "game the system". You're right that PayPal can be tricky. While there are plenty of legitimate PayPal transactions (I've used PayPal using my American Express many times) that won't cause any issue, because PayPal gives you the opportunity to send cash, the concern rises where there's a possibility that the cash may go back to you, circumventing our cash advance limitations. That is an automated system that flags those transactions, so I'm not really able to provide insight on how that happens. Similar to PayPal, the only real issues I see are when people are trying to purchase cash equivalents as that tends to lead to "manufactured spending."

[Anonymous]

Does Amex CLD if you don't utilize a significant portion of your credit line? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Do you have authorization from Amex to do this AMA? Even though you have that disclaimer in your signature by doing an AMA "by an Amex employee" you are representing the company which I'm pretty sure is against company policy without proper authorization. I've been working at a big bank for 10 years now and the same policy would apply. I can answer questions in the forum like I do, but representing myself from the company would be a no no.

[Anonymous]

Q: Does Amex CLD if you don't utilize a significant portion of your credit line? Thank you.

A: Generally not, we will usually only CLD if we detect an increased risk of default or there is another major event that we are trying to prepare and minimise risk for (e.g. the beginning of the recession in 2008-2009). It could also *possibly* happen, though I haven't seen it yet, where if your LOCs are significantly increasing with other creditors, you're not using the LOCs and we feel you have too much available (making you a liability if you decide to go out and max them all out suddenly).

[pizza1]

I apologize if this has been answered already as I just now hopped on fico, and didn't read all the pages yet, lol...

What is AMEX' "real" policy on BK and IF you didn't burn them. Its been said recently that the magic number is 5yrs post discharge, they will "let you back in".

Can you clarify, or shed any light on the BK policy? Thanks

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you have authorization from Amex to do this AMA? Even though you have that disclaimer in your signature by doing an AMA "by an Amex employee" you are representing the company which I'm pretty sure is against company policy without proper authorization. I've been working at a big bank for 10 years now and the same policy would apply. I can answer questions in the forum like I do, but representing myself from the company would be a no no.

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Pooka is being very generous and helpful here and clearly states in his signature that he is not speaking for Amex. I'm personally very grateful for the valuable information he is offering and let's leave it at that, and let pooka worry about reconciling it on his end.

[Anonymous]

Q: Do you have authorization from Amex to do this AMA? Even though you have that disclaimer in your signature by doing an AMA "by an Amex employee" you are representing the company which I'm pretty sure is against company policy without proper authorization. I've been working at a big bank for 10 years now and the same policy would apply. I can answer questions in the forum like I do, but representing myself from the company would be a no no.

A: I have been sure to read up on our social media policies in detail to ensure compliance. As long as we don't go into account specifics, and no internal details are "leaked", it's good. I'm really just answering what our customer service represenatives *should* be telling you when you call.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Do you have authorization from Amex to do this AMA? Even though you have that disclaimer in your signature by doing an AMA "by an Amex employee" you are representing the company which I'm pretty sure is against company policy without proper authorization. I've been working at a big bank for 10 years now and the same policy would apply. I can answer questions in the forum like I do, but representing myself from the company would be a no no.

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I do understand your concern but how is him answering question on a forum like this thus, not answering account specific questions require authorization?.  I worked for a bank prior also for years and as long as one is not divulging very sensitive information, I don't see the problem.

This is not different from the Amex Open forum interaction which is now closed.

[JamP]

Is there a magic credit line increase before Amex asks for Tax forms? I understand it probably isn't an exact number but is there a ballpark number?

Some say its 30k others 40k.

With 3x CLI's a card can get there pretty quick.

And to respond to the comment above about being able to respond like this in our Forum. Good luck tracking that forum name to a real employee 

[Anonymous]

Q: I apologize if this has been answered already as I just now hopped on fico, and didn't read all the pages yet, lol...

What is AMEX' "real" policy on BK and IF you didn't burn them. Its been said recently that the magic number is 5yrs post discharge, they will "let you back in".

Can you clarify, or shed any light on the BK policy? Thanks

A: All credit-related matters are handled on a case-by-case basis by our credit teams, so I'm not really able to discuss that with much accuracy beyond speculation.