Re: Impossible AMEX Financial Review

Anonymous · ‎12-08-2021

Hello everyone,

I am coming here to seek advice on what seems like an impossible situation that I am facing with American Express FR department.

Earlier this year, I moved to the United States from abroad and used a Global Transfer to transfer my Centurion account from Europe. As I did not have a credit file at the time, I didn't want to get denied and felt safer to go for a lower tier card. Eventually I put in my application and got approved for a Blue Cash Preferred with an $8k credit line. After a few months had passed I applied for a Gold Card and got approved as well. My spend on the cards has been very little, but my payments are always on-time and I have made several early payments due to the spending power being quite low (especially on the charge card I was facing $1-2k spending power... I spend roughly $500k per year on my Centurion).

Everything seemed fine and although the process is slow, I felt like I was building my credit portfolio with Amex in the US. Until a couple of weeks ago, when I received a phone call at 7AM in the morning and suddently all of my cards were suspended for a financial review.

AMEX is demanding my tax filings and wants insight into my income. This is first of all odd because the account that I transferred from includes all of my income information, with years of history and proper filing, but because it is from a different AMEX market it is of no use to them. I'm happy to provide them with whatever documentation they need, however they have made it abundantly clear that these need to be US tax returns. I haven't even had the chance of filing anything this year. And now AMEX is threatening to close all my accounts if I cannot provide them with the right documentation.

Logistically speaking what they are asking is impossible to provide. I have had a US visa for only several months, I haven't had the opportunity to file anything yet, and they are asking for 2 years of IRS statements. They seem to have no understanding of my situation at all and are not willing to comply with the documents that I have offered to provide (foreign tax documents, bank statements, yearly company results, etc.). It's so frustrating because they approved my account knowing this information (it was a global transfer first of all) and yet they are still asking me for these documents. I have explained my situation over and over again on the phone and have spoken to every manager and supervisor I could speak to, but the rules for them are black & white.

On top of this, I am confused why the account was put under FR in the first place. I barely use the cards at all, my highest bill with them has been for $3500. However several days prior to the FR, my wallet got stolen at a restaurant, and somebody used my Blue Cash card to put almost $5k of charges on it, which I disputed almost immediately and have also been removed from the account. Would this be the reason for a FR to trigger? I have explained the situation to them but quite frankly they don't care and cannot offer any insight in why the FR triggered.

If anybody has ever been in this situation before I would highly appreciate some advice. It seems like I cannot talk any sense into them. They are not willing to accept foreign documents and basically stated that my account is going to be closed once I hit the deadline. I have read stories on this forum before where they make one-time exceptions if you speak to somebody high enough and allow for example paystubs to be provided - but even that I can't do because I am self employed and just take a salary from my company profits (which are also all non-US based).

By the way, these are the only US cards I have, I have no other lending products either. My credit score is 730.

Any help would be appreciated!

Anonymous · ‎12-08-2021

I have read your complaint and yes it all makes sense. A FR can be requested whenever they want one. I have been through this with a Discover card. I was able to comply with the request and my card was back to normal.

With AX once they request this there is no way around it. I have read a post on here that the OP had his account closed and then was able to open a new one. That makes no sense to me but stranger things have happened. And do not believe all that is posted on here as well.

With that said you should really have CC's with other banks not just AX. If one shuts you down as in this case then you have no cards to use to rent a car or hotel room etc.

You need to comply with the request for the documents they want or the accounts will be just shut down.

I understand that you do not have the required tax documents so I do not see them re opening your accounts.

See if you can apply for a card from Deserve.com they issue cards to residents new to the USA without tax documents.

Thanks

Mark

NYC_Fella · ‎12-08-2021

Not that this is helpful, but the FR people in general are really nasty.

coldfusion · ‎12-08-2021

Off the top of my head this sounds like the internal process to review the charges related to your card being stolen got eyes on your account. What I can't guess is whether this issue is due to a paper-pushing drone or their internal processes are so rigidly structured that the internal team doesn't themselves have the authority to sufficiently deviate from them to accomodate this senario.

I don't have contact information but I'd probably be looking to reach out to the executive office directly or do some digging to directly contact the office of members of their Executive Committee and I wouldn't be abashed to comment on your previous Centurion status.

https://ir.americanexpress.com/governance-and-corporate-responsibility/executive-committee-and-direc...

p.s. comparing a Discover "FR" with an AMEX FR is IMO kind of like comparing a large boil with necrotizing fasciitis.

(2/2025)
FICO 8 (EX) 850 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850
FICO 9 (EX) 850 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850

$1M+ club

Artist formerly known as the_old_curmudgeon who was formerly known as coldfusion

Remedios · ‎12-08-2021

@Anonymous wrote:
Hello everyone,

I am coming here to seek advice on what seems like an impossible situation that I am facing with American Express FR department.

Earlier this year, I moved to the United States from abroad and used a Global Transfer to transfer my Centurion account from Europe. As I did not have a credit file at the time, I didn't want to get denied and felt safer to go for a lower tier card. Eventually I put in my application and got approved for a Blue Cash Preferred with an $8k credit line. After a few months had passed I applied for a Gold Card and got approved as well. My spend on the cards has been very little, but my payments are always on-time and I have made several early payments due to the spending power being quite low (especially on the charge card I was facing $1-2k spending power... I spend roughly $500k per year on my Centurion).

Everything seemed fine and although the process is slow, I felt like I was building my credit portfolio with Amex in the US. Until a couple of weeks ago, when I received a phone call at 7AM in the morning and suddently all of my cards were suspended for a financial review.

AMEX is demanding my tax filings and wants insight into my income. This is first of all odd because the account that I transferred from includes all of my income information, with years of history and proper filing, but because it is from a different AMEX market it is of no use to them. I'm happy to provide them with whatever documentation they need, however they have made it abundantly clear that these need to be US tax returns. I haven't even had the chance of filing anything this year. And now AMEX is threatening to close all my accounts if I cannot provide them with the right documentation.

Logistically speaking what they are asking is impossible to provide. I have had a US visa for only several months, I haven't had the opportunity to file anything yet, and they are asking for 2 years of IRS statements. They seem to have no understanding of my situation at all and are not willing to comply with the documents that I have offered to provide (foreign tax documents, bank statements, yearly company results, etc.). It's so frustrating because they approved my account knowing this information (it was a global transfer first of all) and yet they are still asking me for these documents. I have explained my situation over and over again on the phone and have spoken to every manager and supervisor I could speak to, but the rules for them are black & white.

On top of this, I am confused why the account was put under FR in the first place. I barely use the cards at all, my highest bill with them has been for $3500. However several days prior to the FR, my wallet got stolen at a restaurant, and somebody used my Blue Cash card to put almost $5k of charges on it, which I disputed almost immediately and have also been removed from the account. Would this be the reason for a FR to trigger? I have explained the situation to them but quite frankly they don't care and cannot offer any insight in why the FR triggered.

If anybody has ever been in this situation before I would highly appreciate some advice. It seems like I cannot talk any sense into them. They are not willing to accept foreign documents and basically stated that my account is going to be closed once I hit the deadline. I have read stories on this forum before where they make one-time exceptions if you speak to somebody high enough and allow for example paystubs to be provided - but even that I can't do because I am self employed and just take a salary from my company profits (which are also all non-US based).

By the way, these are the only US cards I have, I have no other lending products either. My credit score is 730.

Any help would be appreciated!

@Anonymous are you in the USA now and when did you move here? When your wallet was stolen, did that happen in USA or abroad? Fraudulent charges, were those made in USA or abroad?

And lastly, where were you when charges happened (I'm not asking for a city/state, more like a distance from your phone).

My knowledge of FR is limited, but fraud charge in itself wouldn't cause FR.

If it did, that's all they would be doing.

If there was a suspicion on their end that legitimate charge got reported as fraud, that might trigger it based on your location and where the purchases have been made

If your time is split between living in USA and abroad, it's important to remember Amex has no recourse when it comes to recovering a loss, it's not like they will be able to utilize internal collections or file a lawsuit (they could, but that's a headache).

As far as tax returns, sign the form even if there is nothing for them to see and inquire again about providing supplemental documentation.

This isn't their first rodeo, those who review it know what they are doing.

If you aren't physically present in USA, that might pose a challenge (hence asking if you're living exclusively in USA or hopping over water in any direction).

Amex uses location services heavily when it comes to fraud, normally they would rely on where you were, where the charge was made, and presence/absence of physical card.

If you left USA after reporting these charges (split residence), it can trigger FR because again, no way to recover future loss should it happen.

If you had Centurion wherever you lived, they will want to make sure $5000.00 is peanuts, and they want to make sure your income is steady regardless of where you live/work.

The only thing you can really do here (if you want to keep your cards) is to comply and make additional attempts at figuring out how to provide supplemtal financial documents.

jasonbourne84 · ‎12-08-2021

@Remedios wrote:
Amex uses location services heavily when it comes to fraud, normally they would rely on where you were, where the charge was made, and presence/absence of physical card.

Real quickly just to emphasize @Remedios point on location services: I was stunned when DH used my physical Amex card at a gas station 5 blocks away from me (his own authorized user card for that account hadn't arrived in the mail yet) and stunningly, Amex marked the transaction as being done by him in my online account. They are really very good.

jasonbourne84 · ‎12-08-2021

I know many people have had an awful time with Amex FR employees, but FWIW, a close friend was thrown into FR due to making a large purchase from his father-in-law's business (which his wife was technically listed as an owner) and then traveling overseas. His FR took three months and they seemed like they were being jerks at first, but they were ultimately kind to him throughout most of the process and everything ended just fine (no adverse action).

C6 · ‎12-08-2021

I honestly don't know why people put up with Amex and all their games. I had a bad experience with Amex 25 years ago and until this day I haven't had another Amex card. There are many much better banks and credit unions to deal with. I would assume that as a Centurion customer you're a man of means. I'd suggest that you open a few bank accounts in the states and even if you need to go the secured route there are quite a few banks and credit unions that will let you open a secured card with a $10 - $20K limit. These cards will grow quickly with usage. I still have a few cards that I opened while living outside the states and I got them by making decent deposits and showing responsible usage. I still keep them as they are totally hidden trade lines that will never report here. As a Centurion customer you should be getting the best customer service and locking a card down is just wrong. I don't know all the facts in your case but an $8k limit seems like chump change for a Centurion customer. If it were me I'd fire Amex. I did and I have no regrets. Go where you're treated best.

SoCalGardener · ‎12-08-2021

@Anonymous wrote:

AMEX is demanding my tax filings and wants insight into my income. This is first of all odd because the account that I transferred from includes all of my income information, with years of history and proper filing, but because it is from a different AMEX market it is of no use to them. I'm happy to provide them with whatever documentation they need, however they have made it abundantly clear that these need to be US tax returns. I haven't even had the chance of filing anything this year. And now AMEX is threatening to close all my accounts if I cannot provide them with the right documentation.

Logistically speaking what they are asking is impossible to provide. I have had a US visa for only several months, I haven't had the opportunity to file anything yet, and they are asking for 2 years of IRS statements. They seem to have no understanding of my situation at all and are not willing to comply with the documents that I have offered to provide (foreign tax documents, bank statements, yearly company results, etc.). It's so frustrating because they approved my account knowing this information (it was a global transfer first of all) and yet they are still asking me for these documents. I have explained my situation over and over again on the phone and have spoken to every manager and supervisor I could speak to, but the rules for them are black & white.

I don't know whether this is relevant to your situation, but I'll toss it out there anyway.

To be clear, I understand that they DON'T understand you haven't filed US income taxes yet. So that's a definite hurdle. But, what if you could get through to someone who DOES understand that, then offer an apostille from your original country, certifying your income/resources? In other words, get official certification of your income tax returns in the other country and see if that will suffice.

Considering the global presence and experience Amex has, it's hard to imagine they haven't seen this scenario before. It sounds like you've simply lucked out when it comes to finding someone there who GETS IT! Keep moving up the ladder until you reach someone who understands your dilemma and can offer a solution. Ask about the apostille idea. It can't hurt!