how to avoid AMex FR

[rred4]

I still havent recieved my Delta Gold, but the way everyone is talking im worried about getting it and having any problems with freezes and FR. What triggers this

[MidnightVoice]

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rred4 wrote:

how to avoid AMex FR?

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1   Don't get an AMEX card

2   If you have one, don't use it.

[haulingthescoreup]

Put yourself in the mind of a credit card company. (scary!) They are trusting that if they allow you to borrow up to $2000, or whatever your CL is, that you will promptly pay it back, without them having to beg and plead and all. If you are a really cautious and conservative company like American Express, you will frequently do soft inquiries for several months on your new customers to see if they are starting to skate on thin ice financially --for instance, they get a bunch of other CC's all at the same time, immediately load them up with charges, and make minimum payments at the last possible minute or even late.

As a lender, you're going to get alarmed. And if you made it part of the terms and conditions of the card you gave these new customers, you will do a financial review to review their documented income on their tax forms and pay stubs, and add up their mortgage payments, minimum payments to the other CC's and so forth, and decide if you think that these customers can afford to carry their credit and are really worth keeping. If you, the lender think that the customers are too risky, then you will either reduce their credit availability or cancel it altogether.

So back to being the customer, don't do things that scare the lender. Imagine them looking at your credit report at any given time, and be respectable and prudent and responsible and all those other Girl Scout/ Boy Scout virtues that make you look like a good credit risk and a customer worth keeping and eventually giving CLI's to.

[fused]

While I do not know every trigger, these seem to be the most common ones in no particular order.

- Tapping the luv button (online CLIs) too often, asking for big CLIs too often

- App for too many CC's in a short period of time (Amex and non Amex) and requesting CLIs on them (Amex CCs)

- Out of habit spending and/or paying (making large payments, then in future months only paying the minimum due)

- Carrying large balances on your Amex revolving cards

- Carrying large balances on your non Amex revolving cards

- When using PIF charge cards, Amex gives a flex pay option on your charges and allows you to roll (your PIF charges) them into a revolving account. Abusing this is a sure fire way to get an FR. The flex plan is designed to pay off charges over a few months and not years.

- It's rumored now that making a large BT to an Amex card and not making sizable payments on it can trigger a FR...I don't know this to be fact yet.

[Anonymous]

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fused wrote:

While I do not know every trigger, these seem to be the most common ones in no particular order.

- Tapping the luv button (online CLIs) too often, asking for big CLIs too often

- App for too many CC's in a short period of time (Amex and non Amex) and requesting CLIs on them (Amex CCs)

- Out of habit spending and/or paying (making large payments, then in future months only paying the minimum due)

- Carrying large balances on your Amex revolving cards

- Carrying large balances on your non Amex revolving cards

- When using PIF charge cards, Amex gives a flex pay option on your charges and allows you to roll (your PIF charges) them into a revolving account. Abusing this is a sure fire way to get an FR. The flex plan is designed to pay off charges over a few months and not years.

- It's rumored now that making a large BT to an Amex card and not making sizable payments on it can trigger a FR...I don't know this to be fact yet.

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All of this and what hauling wrote too.

[haulingthescoreup]

You know, if CCC's are going to offer low APR or 0% APR on balance transfers, and then think that it's suspicious that you're taking advantage of that interest rate, then they ought not to offer them. That's a bit too much like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, and then yanking it away.

[fused]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
You know, if CCC's are going to offer low APR or 0% APR on balance transfers, and then think that it's suspicious that you're taking advantage of that interest rate, then they ought not to offer them. That's a bit too much like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, and then yanking it away.

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Yes, Exactly! I have read at other forums about this BT and Amex thing but I'm having some trouble believing it. The source is questionable at best.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@fused wrote:

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haulingthescoreup wrote: You know, if CCC's are going to offer low APR or 0% APR on balance transfers, and then think that it's suspicious that you're taking advantage of that interest rate, then they ought not to offer them. That's a bit too much like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, and then yanking it away.

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Yes, Exactly! I have read at other forums about this BT and Amex thing but I'm having some trouble believing it. The source is questionable at best.

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Well, one thing about Amex is that I think I haven't seen any 0% BT's from them, or maybe only a limited offer. Theirs seem to run around 3-4%, and I think that they are expecting that they be paid off in 4-6 months max. Whereas to me, a 0% offer from other companies is a statement that it's OK to just park it and leave it as long as possible, as they make money off of you on the initial BT fee, and they hope that you won't pay it all off in time, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Great info everybody is providing.  Very accurate.

[Anonymous]

Regarding the freeze (Amex referred to it as a 'Hold') on my card for Identity Verification, as I posted a few days ago it has been lifted.

Since then I've used it with no problems & now have a balance of over $600.  I'll PIF once the statement hits.

Hoping I've jumped thru enough hoops for them.