American Express Financial Review

[pjinky]

Well, after 25 years of membership, I finally got the dreaded FR phone call yesterday. It didn't come as much of a shock though. I recently opened a business had have put around $300k through my cards in the past five months or so. I charged a little over $70k yesterday to pay off my HVAC contractor and $27k the day before to finish paying for another piece of equipment. I have no doubt that is what triggered the FR. 

Surprisingly, I'm already finished with the review and have had my accounts restored. Amex asked for the two most recent bank statements from an account used to pay my Amex bill. So, I immediately sent what they asked for. I followed up with a very pleasant attitude and asked if they could confirm receipt of the documents and asked for a timeframe. The guy on the phone pushed the documents into the review stage for me and thanked me for being kind and understanding. I feel like this department catches a lot of attitude from people. 

So, I run a lot of money through the account I sent them (about $200k per month - it's my business account) but I don't keep a large balance there - only around $25k to cover rolling expenses. I also sent them my bill payment account (personal checking) that only has $5k-ish in there at any given time. I transfer money from a HYSA to pay bills as needed. Because of this, they cut the limits on two of my revolvers. My Delta Reserve went from $80k to $30k and my Delta Platinum Business went from $35k to $28k. They also put $6k spending limits on my two charge cards. 

Upon talking to the representative tonight, I was told that the assets in those accounts weren't high enough to justify keeping my limits. Here's what I failed to understand from the initial phone call - you have to send them bank statements from at least one account that you pay your AMEX bill from but you can send as many other statements from as other account with liquid funds as you like to justify your position and limits. This was my mistake, as I have a preferred deposit account at Merrill and a couple of CD's that could have helped. I didn't send the statements because I thought they had to be accounts from which I paid Amex. 

I also understand every FR is different. Amex only requested bank statements from me but can ask for tax transcripts, pay stubs, or any other form of verification. The way the rep talked, everything is system generated and all they do is verify what the system asks for. 

As far as a timeline to restore my limits, I was told to ask after three months and I could provide my other bank statements at that time to justify the limits. 

I was never worried because I have never lied to them about income or assets. It's an inconvenience and it's frustrating I lost a huge chunk of my credit lines and my NPSL is gone, but I'm confident I'll get them back in time. I'm just glad I got to keep my accounts. A couple of them have some serious age and I really do use them religiously for the MR points and other spending perks. 

I hope my experience helps anyone else who gets hit with FR. Just send what they want and follow-up with them. They seem to want to close cases quickly. 

[pizzadude]

Thanks for sharing these data points -- it's unfortunate they still decided to cut your limits on those cards, hopefully this won't kneecap your ability to continue to use them for biz expenses. 

A couple of questions -- all of these cards you're using for these expenses are biz cards, or are any of them personal cards ?   Also how much more did your spending increase once you opened your business, compared to before this ?

[pjinky]

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@pizzadude wrote:

Thanks for sharing these data points -- it's unfortunate they still decided to cut your limits on those cards, hopefully this won't kneecap your ability to continue to use them for biz expenses.

A couple of questions -- all of these cards you're using for these expenses are biz cards, or are any of them personal cards ?   Blue Business Plus has been my go-to for these charges. The crazy thing is that limit has remained unchanged. I did run some through my personal Delta Amex Reserve to help hit medallion status. Always PIF though within a few days. 

Also how much more did your spending increase once you opened your business, compared to before this ? Before this business, I was running roughly $75k per year through all of my Amex cards combined. I've been running that amount or more through them each month recently. 

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It's just funny to me that I asked for a CLI about four months ago for my Delta Reserve. I asked for $80k, verified assets and was approved for $80k. It's not like they didn't have access to see those other accounts. At least recently they did. It was my understanding though that the FR team uses a different system than underwriting to make these decisions. 

[pizzadude]

Yeah it's a pain for sure, and I honestly believe the reps who you spoke with who said it was triggered by some kind of system generated action.   Guessing the 12X ish increase in spending set off major alarm bells inside their systems, but it's not like you weren't paying them early and often.  

[hdporter]

Fwiw, I imagine that Amex account reviews (of any type) are initiated, in part, off an engine that is based upon a rich history of account behavior that immediately preceded other account defaults.

Should your activity find a match, to any appreciable extent, you're likely to find yourself subject to a financial docs request.  There need be nothing suspicious or questionable in your account history.

It's in the interest of the subject of the query to comply as thoroughly as reasonable, making a point to include account statements that demonstrate as much liquidity as possible.

[pjinky]

I agree. I was very courteous and provided what they asked for. The only issue was I misunderstood that I could provide any account statements. I was told by the initial caller that only accounts from where I had previously made payments to them would work. It's an easy mistake. I'm not too worried about it. I'll ask for more later and provide all of my accounts at that point. 

[Tiggr]

Unfortunate. Those SLs are tiny, and cause an instant auto CLI denial on any other card as long as they are on your account.

[sjt]

Have you contacted them to see if you can submit other documentation?

[pjinky]

Sorry I'm just now seeing your reply. I haven't had much time to get on lately.

I did ask them about submitting further evidence of my assets but they said the review had already been closed. However, I was told to ask for increases again in a "few months" and I could provide documentation then. I asked for clarification on what a "few months" meant and was told three or four. I couldn't get a definitive answer. Of course, curiosity got the best of me today and I hit the CLI button on my Delta Reserve. I got the standard message that I had received a CLI too recently and to try again later. I'll check it monthly to see when I'm allowed to ask. I'll make sure to update here if I am successful.

[sjt]

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@pjinky wrote:

Sorry I'm just now seeing your reply. I haven't had much time to get on lately.

I did ask them about submitting further evidence of my assets but they said the review had already been closed. However, I was told to ask for increases again in a "few months" and I could provide documentation then. I asked for clarification on what a "few months" meant and was told three or four. I couldn't get a definitive answer. Of course, curiosity got the best of me today and I hit the CLI button on my Delta Reserve. I got the standard message that I had received a CLI too recently and to try again later. I'll check it monthly to see when I'm allowed to ask. I'll make sure to update here if I am successful.

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Try contacting Account Services. They may be able to help.