Does everyone get F/R at least once by AMEX?

[Anonymous]

No FRs for me in the three years that I've had Amex cards.

I agree that there are probably triggers in their risk modeling that leads to FRs. I seriously doubt that normal/standard usage would trigger it. And, I doubt that they randomly 'spotcheck' via FRs, because they can garner significant (more than you care to believe) info about your income, and assets from credit bureaus and other such databases that completely shatter the idea of "privacy".

I will say this, though-- One anecdotal trend that I noted, a couple years back, was that taking liberties with reporting your income in an effort to secure a very high credit line seemed to quickly bring on The Furies of Amex. I don't know how accurate my perception is-- garnered from the collective experiences of other members a couple of years ago, but it seemed that was a common factor.

[pizzadude]

Yeah I suspect that significantly inflating your income is a red flag. In fact there happens to be a FICO® scoring model that creditors can run to estimate your income, based on your previous balance history and other factors.

[Open123]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

I don't try to game my cards, and I don't app for everything that moves, and I pay my bills promptly.

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This is the key.  If you use the card as intended, and not to try and "game" for points or membership backdating, I doubt you'd ever get an FR, unless your credit profile is starting to have a high correlation with that of a strategic bankruptcy.

[Anonymous]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

I don't try to game my cards, and I don't app for everything that moves, and I pay my bills promptly.

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This is the key.  If you use the card as intended, and not to try and "game" for points or membership backdating, I doubt you'd ever get an FR, unless your credit profile is starting to have a high correlation with that of a strategic bankruptcy.

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This is what I'm doing. My spending pattern is a big yawn -- Chilis, car insurance premium, digital subscription to NY Times, Olive Garden, Petsmart, Hallmark card shop, monthly cell phone bill, Ruby Tuesday, college football tickets at my alma mater, Comfort Inn hotel for the weekends I've used the aforementioned tickets, Bed Bath & Beyond, Longhorn Steak House, Amazon -- have you fallen asleep yet? Good, that's the idea. That's a representative sampling of the types of charges that I've put on my card since I've had it last May. Normal, no big deal purchases, well within my monthly budget and paid in full promptly after the statement cuts. No debt accumulating on my other cards; zero balances being reported. No wild app sprees, mostly gardening with judicious apps planned for the future. I'm hoping that my profile is so plain vanilla, Amex wouldn't find it worth their while to target me for a F/R. Really, what would be the point?

[CS800]

My platinum spending is practically the same. Hotels, flights, dinners

[LS2982]

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@pizzadude wrote:
Yeah I suspect that significantly inflating your income is a red flag. In fact there happens to be a FICO® scoring model that creditors can run to estimate your income, based on your previous balance history and other factors.

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Did not know that....

wonder if AMEX uses that.