Hi Everyone...First time, long time. This is a long one so here it goes...

Had an AmEx Plat since 2011 (added an SPG card in 2012.) In June of 14, I spent far more than normal by putting two business class TATL plane tickets on my card. Paid off the amount but got the dreaded Financial Review phone call. Unfortunately, I hadn't filed taxes for 2013 (I was too busy to do it, which is a lame excuse, but got a refund in the end, so really just gave the IRS a nice, long interest free loan.) Anyway, I called AmEx and told them this. I offered a notarized offer letter from my new job, my bank account statements, and even the head of my company's HR department to verify my income.

I was told none of those worked and the best/only option was to file the taxes and then mail them an unopened transcript from the IRS since the 4506 form would likely come back with a not filed response. I filed taxes on 7/15 (deadline for the documents for them was 7/16) and got my transcript on 8/30, which I promptly FedExed to them. I was told by one agent that they would treat this as if I had gotten the paperwork in on time since I had communicated with them and this was the soonest the transcript was available. I was given a 48 hour window from when they scanned the docs for a response. Cool, I thought.

At 72 hours, I called in and was told it had to be forwarded to a special department. I was given a 24-72 hour window on that one. Called back at 72 hours and was told this would take 7-10 days as they were making an exception for me due to the duration I've had my accounts with them.

11 days later, I got a call saying they've made a business decision...they're not reopening the accounts.

FWIW, I had ~$70,000 in income on the IRS form, although I got a substantial raise this year that wasn't shown. My line on my SPG was 15K.

Should I call/write either the FR people or someone at corporate customer service on this one? I would think that 70K is more than enough income to sustain one, if not both of those accounts, and frankly, I'm fine with giving up one of or lowering my credit lines.

Separately, the way they handled this was completely botched, from how my documents would be handled, to the timeline, and at the very least, I'd think I'm due my FedEx overnight costs back, but that's just me.