@Anonymous wrote:I have no idea.
And if I ever get FR'ed, guess what I'll be doing in the meantime... charging to all my other cards.
I get the "hassle" part. Sure, it is, but I have options. And if I get declined on a card while I'm with other people, I KNOW that I have at least 4 others that'll swipe just as well.
Not a problem.
...and there it is...common sense at its best. Instead of hating Amex, complain with your wallet, not your keyboard 
@CreditCrusader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I have no idea.
And if I ever get FR'ed, guess what I'll be doing in the meantime... charging to all my other cards.
I get the "hassle" part. Sure, it is, but I have options. And if I get declined on a card while I'm with other people, I KNOW that I have at least 4 others that'll swipe just as well.
Not a problem.
...and there it is...common sense at its best. Instead of hating Amex, complain with your wallet, not your keyboard
Kind of comical.
A forum without keyboards.
Or the people on this forum who in their signature only have 2 AmEx's, a JCP and a CapOne. I guess the restaurants you invite people to accept JCP. Or McDonald's where pretty much that's all your CapOne limit will get you.
@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditCrusader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I have no idea.
And if I ever get FR'ed, guess what I'll be doing in the meantime... charging to all my other cards.
I get the "hassle" part. Sure, it is, but I have options. And if I get declined on a card while I'm with other people, I KNOW that I have at least 4 others that'll swipe just as well.
Not a problem.
...and there it is...common sense at its best. Instead of hating Amex, complain with your wallet, not your keyboard
Kind of comical.
A forum without keyboards.
Or the people on this forum who in their signature only have 2 AmEx's, a JCP and a CapOne. I guess the restaurants you invite people to accept JCP. Or McDonald's where pretty much that's all your CapOne limit will get you.
I doubt that someone with Amex in their wallet only has JCP and Cap1. You know precisely what I was getting at with that comment...namely that using other cards is far more gainful as a statement against Amex than 1,000 pages of whining.
FYI...hyperbole typically doesn't get you anywhere in a debate.
@CreditCrusader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditCrusader wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I have no idea.
And if I ever get FR'ed, guess what I'll be doing in the meantime... charging to all my other cards.
I get the "hassle" part. Sure, it is, but I have options. And if I get declined on a card while I'm with other people, I KNOW that I have at least 4 others that'll swipe just as well.
Not a problem.
...and there it is...common sense at its best. Instead of hating Amex, complain with your wallet, not your keyboard
Kind of comical.
A forum without keyboards.
Or the people on this forum who in their signature only have 2 AmEx's, a JCP and a CapOne. I guess the restaurants you invite people to accept JCP. Or McDonald's where pretty much that's all your CapOne limit will get you.
I doubt that someone with Amex in their wallet only has JCP and Cap1. You know precisely what I was getting at with that comment...namely that using other cards is far more gainful as a statement against Amex than 1,000 pages of whining.
FYI...hyperbole typically doesn't get you anywhere in a debate.
You should have realized by now that the issue isn't really the inconvenience since that is not exclusive to AmEx. Many, if not most, lenders have been known to cancel cards or CLD cardholders.
As much as you pretend it is not, the issue is making an informed decision and it's unclear why you have issues with that. If you are and half the universe feel comfortable giving anybody access to your tax returns, great. You have the absolute right to do so. You also have the right not to do so if you so choose. Also your right. I think the term we've used here is something like informed + consent.
There are posters who show only Credit One, CapOne, JCP / Macy's and a couple of AmExs. Or do you also take offense at the fact that AmEx, like many other issuers, isn't really as exclusive a club as you'd hoped?
I think Amex can discern much more about me from the wealth of data they have access to simply because of the items I charge to the card than they can get from my tax return. But while I'm not worried about giving them my returns, I understand those who do have that concern.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
Gentleman, can we please refrain from introducing various insinuations and sniping at individuals into what's otherwise a lively and interesting discussion?
I know people in this thread have strong opinions, but we can do without the above-mentioned behavior.
@Anonymous wrote:
@cashnocredit wrote:
@bs6054 wrote:I think it was specifically about 1099-INT vs declared interest. I am guessing that home seller financing isn't reported as interest (but don't know).
Just curious why your interest earnings aren't on 1099-INT. I know if amounts per account are below a certain threshold, no 1099 is issued (but the amount is reportable).
Taking a foreign tax deduction of course makes it clear that something foreign (investments, assets, income) is involved, but not all interest bearing accounts deduct foreign tax at source (mine do).
Re McArthur's comment:
Now, whether you reported that overseas interest income is another thing, but you should have.
Yes, reporting the account to the Treasury and not reporting the interest to the IRS seems a little living on the wild side, I would assume information is shared!
I have, over the last 10 years, shifted much of my financial assets out of brokerages and banks and into private investments including some loans/mortgages. Only institutions issue 1099's. Of course the income is still taxable and I do declare it aand pay the tax. The government is gradually increasing the scope of payments requiring a 1099 but it hasn't affected me yet.
One example most are familiar with,: If you lend a friend 10k at 10% the 1k/y you get is not 1099'ed but one still owes tax on it.
I didn't mean to imply that every time you have reported interest that isn't 1099'd it means you have a foreign source of income. Still, taken as a whole, your income tax returns can reveal much more than people think. It all boils down to how much you trust the entity you give that data to.
I don't know what AmEx would take of it, but were I to review income tax returns on an individual as part of their security clearance renewal, I would be concerned with interest income that wasn't 1099'd. I'd be concerned with an adult whose SSN was issued after Randomization. An ITIN would be a major issue.
If AmEx asked you to explain the non-1099'd interest income and you gave the reply stated above, do you think they'd wonder whether, given today's economic climate, your investments were sound and whether or not that could have anything to do with your economic health? Now, I am not saying anything about you particularly and I trust you have very good investment & financial skills, but not everybody has and what if they lumped you in with them? After all, they have a solid track record of lumping people into the same category when it suits their purposes / paranoia. Just ask Kevin J. (Son of John).
Bottom line: It's your call.
Well, yes I have had a good investment history. Not perfect but not bad. I've only had net losses in one year and those were minor and only on the LTCG side of things. The carry forward was eliminated by the next year's gains. Investing well is hard work and I spend a lot of time doing it. Oddly, while I know corporate finance and SEC regs pretty well I knew squat about consumer credit until alomost 4 years ago. Much of what I did learn was a result of learning how MBS were rated. FICOs are a big part of that but these ratings underestimated correlated risk - as B. Madoff pointed out in a TV roundtable a few months before his Ponzi collapsed.
Generally, having a record of lot of income one declares and pays taxes on is associated with good financial decisions. As far as someone looking at getting a security clearance, I also would consider that a major issue that must be looked into. Money launderers and spies getting large payments don't get 1099's either. But it's pretty easy for the background checkers to verify that the income is legitimate. Of course generally they are more worried about people with financial stress that might be compromiseable. Magical financial assets that came from some relative's inheritance is more likely an active foreign asset indicatot instead of someone initially getting clearance.
