Welp...

[CreditCrusader]

It was fun while it lasted.

After 6 months of using their gold and green cards - and spending over $30k on those cards without ever carrying a balance to the statement date - AMEX slapped an FR on our accounts and froze our ability to use them.

For the record, nothing in my credit history, scores, etc. changed a lick. They simply froze my accounts.

Per custom, they are asking for our financial records, which I am unwilling to provide. I know some on this board will ask what the big deal is, but sending documents connected to hundreds of thousands of dollars in a variety of interest-bearing accounts doesn't sound very wise from a security perspective. Plus, I have other cards at the institutions where the money is earning interest that reward nearly as well.

Accordingly, the accounts were closed.

On the silver lining front, I did get them to credit back 50% of the annual fees for those cards since they disallowed full-year usage of the cards sans preconditions. That credit took a bit of time and work on the phone with their CS rep, but it worked.

AMEX, I hardly knew ye. But it was fun while it lasted

[CreditPoor]

Amex is overrated and delusional. I also refused to play there FR game because I know the severity of the data breach they covered up. I've applied a few times and they've asked for tax returns or access my bank accounts and unfortunately I've declined. Not because I have anything to hide but because I know what they use the information for and whom they share it with. There are many ways to verify employment and income verification without being intrusive but they want the data to store and sell because it's valuable. Anyhow, you made the right choice and with the plethora of cards out there it's not worth the hassle in my opinion 

With the number of data breaches happening it not worth the financial risk of identity theft. If they were honest with the public about the disaster of a breach they had I'm certain people would be very unlikely to play there game

[CreditCrusader]

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@CreditPoor wrote:

Amex is overrated and delusional. I also refused to play there FR game because I know the severity of the data breach they covered up. I've applied a few times and they've asked for tax returns or access my bank accounts and unfortunately I've declined. Not because I have anything to hide but because I know what they use the information for and whom they share it with. There are many ways to verify employment and income verification without being intrusive but they want the data to store and sell because it's valuable. Anyhow, you made the right choice and with the plethora of cards out there it's not worth the hassle in my opinion 

With the number of data breaches happening it not worth the financial risk of identity theft. If they were honest with the public about the disaster of a breach they had I'm certain people would be very unlikely to play there game

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They are who they are.

It's disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.

[visionsdivine]

Were you cycling credit? (Spending up to your Pay Over Time limit, immediately paying it off, and then immediately maxing it out again)

Did you file a ton of chargebacks? Did you have a returned payment?

I only ask because I wouldn't think Amex would just arbitraily hit you with a financial review for no good reason. And it would be useful imformation to know what prompted their FR so that those of us with Amex and others reading this thread could avoid the same situation.

[FicoMike0]

Ditto @visionsdivine 

Clearly, you were doing something. Tell us about it so we can learn what they're sensitive to.

[visionsdivine]

To add to my list, another thing I just remembered American Express not liking is playing with that Spending Power button. It's almost like a trap, but it seems like a lot of people have reported with a FR after testing out how much they can charge to an Amex charge card.

[Amwar73mf]

My friend had the same thing happen. They told him it looked like "illegal transactions" because he'd make a big purchase or run up a large amt. of charges, pay it off, then do the same thing the next month. Thing was, he'd inherited a lot of money, and was treating himself and his family. Someone told us that AmEx had been "looked into" (not formally investigated) by a gov't agency because of an elderly man being romance scammed and their system did not catch the sudden, unusually large transactions he was making. I believe the family sued, so now they're paranoid about any unusual large transactions, especially on a new card, and they evidently reset the algorithms to make sure it never happens again.

[Gunnerboy]

Any return payments?  Did you indicate different income levels when you app'd for Gold and Green?

[FicoMike0]

Good point, @Gunnerboy 

Were you spending more than your reported income would support? They don't want to be caught laundering money.

[FicoMike0]

Check and see if you're on the no fly list.