American Express Membership Rewards - Fraud review

today i tried to use my card and it was declined, i called amex and they said that a fraud review is being carried out and someone will call me in 24/48 hours, but until then i cant charge to my uk platinum card. does anyone know what this is?

today i tried to use my card and it was declined, i called amex and they said that a fraud review is being carried out and someone will call me in 24/48 hours, but until then i cant charge to my uk platinum card. does anyone know what this is?

I hope you really heard "Fraud Review" and not the dreaded Financial Review (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=444860)!

The dreaded FR really shouldnt be dreaded..if you didnt lie on your application and your not in alot of debt its not going to matter..I sort of wonder why they need to do FR anyway..I have allways noticed that Amex does 2 "Account Reviews" on me every month..i see by pulling my Experian report every month one is listed as "Amex Account Review" and another is just listed as "American Express Co." every month on different days..they keep close tabs on their accounts thats for sure..@:-)

i called again today and they said that it is a fraud review and it is still with their fraud team and that they dont take calls from customers but will get in touch with me, what kind of nonsense is that?

"It's for your protection" :rolleyes:

i called again today and they said that it is a fraud review and it is still with their fraud team and that they dont take calls from customers but will get in touch with me, what kind of nonsense is that?

I'm a U.S. citizen with stellar credit. I've recently moved to the U.K. (August 2007) and since *finally* being approved for a U.K. Amex (platinum credit card--I already have a U.S. plat charge card, no need for the U.K. one), my wife and/or I have been declined due to "fraud reviews" at least five times.

Time 1: About 500 GBP for a new television
Time 2: About 20 GBP for a London Underground top-off
Time 3: About 2 EUR for a train ticket
Time 4: About 100 USD for a cheap necklace
Time 5: About 2,700 GBP for a cruise

I spent between $1,000-$5,000 on my US card and spend about 2,000 to 5,000 GBP, paid in full each month in the UK. I've just about had it with the U.K. fraud reviews. Each time, I've called, they blame me for not telling me where I'll be, etc. What drives me nuts is they have my phone number (mobile phone). I don't understand why they can't just call me rather than reject the charges. My little US bank does, so I can't understand why they can't. I understand their need to protect themselves, but it borders on rediculous.

Anyhow, saw this thread and thought I'd pile on. I'm sure I'm due for a few more rejected charges in the future.

I'm a U.S. citizen with stellar credit. I've recently moved to the U.K. (August 2007) and since *finally* being approved for a U.K. Amex

Did you use the Global Transfers process to apply based on your USA history with American Express?

Interesting. I am in the USA and have a personal Platinum card. Just recently I have upped my spending to about $1500/day consistently. In the first week of my increased spend I got two denials within two days, both fraud checks, but they were able to let the transactions go through within five minutes of me just calling up Amex and verifying some information with them. I haven't gotten another fraud check in about a week now.

I told them that I would be spending $1500-$3000/day for many months to come and the guy said they should all go through now. He said that maybe "every now and then you might get checked just to verify things are ok" on my account but other than that he didn't flag anything as being out of the ordinary for me to do.

Just my story. Interesting to see other people having to wait so long on a simple fraud check. Must be a UK thing?

Are you calling Amex core business hours?

Did you use the Global Transfers process to apply based on your USA history with American Express?

Yes, we used Global Transfers. The whole process still took over a month.

The funny thing about the fraud reviews is just the way they do them. The TV one, I sort of understood as it was the first big purchase we made on the card. The irony of it is that even after my wife (who made the purchase) called Amex while in the store, they still weren't going to let it go through (she's an authorised card holder). Finally she asked them to look at our US spending patterns, which they did, and then approved the purchase.

Each of the others was met with a "well we're glad it was you, sorry for the inconvenience." I just don't like the way that they handle it in the U.K.

As another poster pointed out, this seems to be a UK issue. I spent a fortune on my US Plat card before moving here and had only one problem--and they called me AFTER approving the purchase to make sure it was me (rather than the UK way of reject reject reject and let you deal with it later).

In AMEX UK's defense, they did rectify the situation quickly, but its embarrassing to have a card rejected. My favorite was in Fortunoff, we were buying my mom an inexpensive necklace--my wife's card got rejected, she said to the store clerk "oh that's funny, I just used it" to which the store clerk responded "perhaps you were using it too much." Needless to say her manager got an earful, but we then used my card (same account!) and it went right through.

No they have stopped my card and are carrying out what they call a fraud review, it is not a situation when you call them and they say oh we just want to check its you. They said the review will take a few days and that they will contact me. Also the csr said he cant discuss the details of it. I am basically being treated like a criminal!

...clerk responded "perhaps you were using it too much." Needless to say her manager got an earful....

:confused: You complained because the shop assistant had a sense of humor?

OP---what was the outcome?

:confused: You complained because the shop assistant had a sense of humor?

He's American :D

Has anyone here ever had a fraud review OR financial review with a Centurion card?