Intentionally triggering AmEx FR

[inthewoods]

I have a year-old AmEx BCE account with current CLI of 18,000 (2k->6k (61 days)->18k (6 months)). My stated income was $450,000 which I can substantiate using last year’s tax returns.

Although I haven’t had any changes to my employment, because of market swings at this point it looks like I will likely make significantly less this year, possibly in the range of $350,000.

Do you think it would be a good idea to attempt to trigger a financial review at this time? It would be easy to demonstrate an income consistent with my declaration. Then, once they have reviewed my paperwork they will hopefully not request another review and start to ask questions about the drop in income.

I am coming up for my second 6 month CLI in the next couple of days. I intend to request a little bit more than a 3x increase (just to see how they counter-offer), perhaps 60k. I have an account with another issuer with a CLI of 38k. Do you think this action is likely to trigger FR? If so, do you agree that this wouldn’t be the worst time for them to review my finances?

[Creditaddict]

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@inthewoods wrote:

I have a year-old AmEx BCE account with current CLI of 18,000 (2k->6k (61 days)->18k (6 months)). My stated income was $450,000 which I can substantiate using last year’s tax returns.

Although I haven’t had any changes to my employment, because of market swings at this point it looks like I will likely make significantly less this year, possibly in the range of $350,000.

Do you think it would be a good idea to attempt to trigger a financial review at this time? It would be easy to demonstrate an income consistent with my declaration. Then, once they have reviewed my paperwork they will hopefully not request another review and start to ask questions about the drop in income.

I am coming up for my second 6 month CLI in the next couple of days. I intend to request a little bit more than a 3x increase (just to see how they counter-offer), perhaps 60k. I have an account with another issuer with a CLI of 38k. Do you think this action is likely to trigger FR? If so, do you agree that this wouldn’t be the worst time for them to review my finances?

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$350 or $450 should not effect you with 1 amex with a cl less than $50k even during a fr.

You can't request more than 3x with amex... it just isnt allowed... if anything you will just mess up your cli app... and asking for more is not going to be the trigger... likely if anything would trigger the system for fr it would be you turning to that blue and charging everything under the sun to it... when you change spending pattern dramatically very quickly is when your account gets flagged (higher chance at least) not cli as much.

[scenery_guy]

Sure, now would be a great time to use last year's return. You should be able to use last year's return (2012) up until April 15 of next year (2014) as they can't request a form that's not been submitted. 

Just ask for 3X as the maximum you will get no matter what will be $54K. 

[TheConductor]

I think it will be totally unnecessary.  Just continue using the card normally and make the usual 3x CLI request.

Some things to be aware of:

1. FR is less common than people think it is.  It just seems common because when it happens to someone, a beacon is lit atop a mountaintop and Lo the light of it guides their ship into the bustling port of Maifico, where they order a glass of dark rum and tell a bunch of drunken strangers their tale of woe.

The tale is very popular because it distracts the drunken strangers from their otherwise preferred pastime of drapping (drunken apping). 

2. Income verification that sometimes happens with CLIs is not a full-fledged FR.  They may ask for tax returns in both cases, but that doesn't make them identical processes.  For a true FR, a team of forensic parapsychologists searches for numerological significance in every charge you ever made. 

3. Fear is the enemy of a life lived in joy.  

[inthewoods]

So, here’s what happened:

1) I requested a CLI (new limit: $54k)

2) Got a “7–10” message

3) Got a letter in the mail requesting permission to access tax returns for last two years

4) Mailed in signed form

5) Got new mail declining the CLI, given: “Your overall debt obligations, as reflected in our records and in your credit report, are high relative to your financial resources known to us.”

The funny thing is, I don’t think they would have had a chance to review the tax returns, due to the government slowdown. Why would they even ask for income verification if they were going to deny me anyway?

My self-reported income was $450k. The 2012 return shows AGI (joint with spouse) of about $550k and 2011 showed AGI of $270k. Joint AGI this year will likely be in the range $460–480k.

My current AmEx CL is $18000 and combined limits are about $65k. I also have a 7/1 mortgage of $610k w/ a monthly payment of $2500. Our net worth, though presumably unknown to AmEx, is around $850k.

Does this picture really add up to “high debt obligations relative to financial resources”? Would it be worth calling AmEx to ask why they requested my tax records yet didn’t look at them? I am surprised that they did not even give me a counter-offer.

[Luscher]

EDIT: Call in and inquire about the message you recieved

[inthewoods]

Update! I called and asked about the decline a couple of weeks ago. It turned out that they had received multiple requests because I’d been impatient and clicked the button too many times. The application for which they requested my tax forms was still open.

Today I logged in and discovered that my CLI had been increased! The interesting thing is that it went from 18k to 60k, exceeding the conventional wisdom that 3x is the best you’re going to get. I thought that might be interesting to some people. I can’t remember for sure whether I requested 54k or 60k, but 60 was what I got.

Anyway, great outcome. They verified my income based on the 2012 tax forms and I got a great bump to the credit limit. Thanks for your advice.

[Kenny]

Great job on your part as well! Looks like a lovely limit!