AMA

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?&showforum=2

oops, meant to include a url in post #83 above for the credit boards. Lots of info on AMEX & F/R, do a search, etc.

itsme

All I can say about the way you handled it is ^^^.

sna430

I wonder if the do Financial Review to AMEX cards issued in foreign countries?

Romadoc

I once notified them in advance of an expected big increase in a month's spending. Reason...a daughter's wedding at the Ritz Carlton is not exactly inexpensive. I offered to pay the expected cost in advance, but they declined the offer. Points, points and more points.

miikka

Depends on the country and the local laws. So far I have only heard reviews happening in the USA only. In some countries they will review you carefully before giving you the card in the first place, when you get the card then they will not come back to you unless you don't take care of your bills.

Robbiedeluxe

Which is the case in Norway, where you have to provide all sort of documentation (proof of income, etc) when you apply.

xihua

I got done talking with the member services department. She said, the only time AMEX account services department will do a financial review is if they see an unusual debt ratio on all of the credit bureau files compared to the initial income you had stated on the application. So basically if you lied about the income you make on the application or you had a change in income, you will be getting a call from AS department. I guess the only ideal way to avoid this is call AMEX when you know you will make a purchase that will be out of the ordinary and tell them to note and approve the purchase so you don't embarrass yourself in front of the merchant.

motytrah

That doesn't pass the smell test as your credit report doesn't have income on it. At least no credit report that a consumer can look at.

TAHKUCT

That makes sense. I do recall somebody posting in a forum somewhere that Amex does check credit reports often.

TAHKUCT

What xihua meant is that Amex compares your debt ration (available on a credit report) to your income that you have reported on your application form American Express

yyliu88

1st time, one 8K charge when my normal charges are 5K per month. Once they verified everything like my bank statement(long story), finally, supervisor overturned decision. I have CL 27K on spg card. This was in March

2nd time on my wife account, 13K charge in Singapore. I told them before I travel, I will have a large charge in Singapore. but still, got FR. This time, nice supervisor used my information one month ago approved her FR. this was in May

Both time were handled by Florida call center, which are friendly and willing to help!!

3rd and 4th time, spend 20K in total at diff places, but still got FR. I though after last FR, they should lift my "internal spending limit." but I was told due to a $500 !!!!!!!! yes $500 paypal charge. they freezed my accounts again, asked for bank statement, W2 and receipt for that $500 paypal charge. This was just happend 3 days ago at Phnioex call center, people are rude and tried to give u as much trouble as possible! They know both my and my wife account got FR and they know we are one family, but still ask us fax everything twice to the same person!!!!!!!


BTW, for past three years as AMEX card holder, never late payment, pay in full every month, but the logic for FR is not about the past, it is about ur future payment ability by looking at your PAST YEAR W2.

Also, they don't use ur saving account balance as consideration, either, so even if u tranfer ur money to checking then make payment to Amex, they still only calculate ur AVERAGE DAILY checking account balance!!

Why didn't they just issued me a card with lower CL!!!!!!!!!

Interestingly enough, when I asked them about my points, none of FR people knows what I am talking about. Then tranferred me to Membership consulting department where u will get when u canceled the card. Those folks there didn't understand why I want to cancel since I am very good customer. I told them I canceled them because I got FR so many times recently, she asked me what the FR was.

PimpNumOne

That sucks. I keep my checking account balance around $300.00 after I pay my bills/IRA/Other Savings and such. I keep the money that is currently not in use in my HSBC or ING savings account. Better there getting 5% interest than in my checking account getting 0.5%.

Dumb AmEx. Don't they get that MANY people have AmEx for work expenses that get reimburst via paper check? If you looked at my W2 and tax returns verus my AmEx bills you would think I would be filing for chapter 11 tomorrow; BUT there is that monthly expense reimbrstment check and savings/investment accounts to consider.

AmEx is annoying. They should say you have not pre-set limit BUT charges that would put your current balance below $###,###.** will be approved without question. Simple. That way there are no surprises.

awake

One thing that you may try is www.yodlee.com. I have a Fidelity AMEX Platinum which has "no preset spending limit". On Yodlee, it actually shows an available credit amount. I am not sure if this is accurate.

I hear that PayPal is a trigger for all sorts of credit card reviews, limit changes, etc. I would not use it with AMEX.

mia

I am not surprised if the charge was for exactly $500, because most legitimate retail transactions are not "round number whole dollar" amounts. I imagine we will see more of this because American Express has just agreed to pay $65 million penalty for inadequate money laundering detection procedures...

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/...Laundering.php

weave

Bizarre stories about FR. Don't quite understand the system.

Several months ago my wife was having a lot of medical work done that was going to cost a total of $80k. Her Dad was going to loan her the money out of his estate. There's no way Amex was able to know that.

So I asked the place if they would accept Amex for payment, and they said yes. The first treatment was going to cost $25k so I called for pre-auth. Because my usual monthly spending is $1k to at most I think $5k. I was willing and ready to prepay the $25k BEFORE the charge was made, but when I called for pre-approval, they said I was approved. Well golly, I let it sit in ING for about 5 weeks (thanks to the way my billing cycle went) and paid it a few days before due date. Nice.

Two months later, then next $25k was going to be done, so I called again and I got a message of "Sir, you don't have to call for pre-approval for these sorts of amounts."

Nice.

A month or two later, I just went ahead and did the final $30k charge.

So for the year I had $100k in charges, which I assure you is more than I make in a year. Now true, I have ZERO debt and been a member for over 20 years, if that makes a difference.

And now I'm sitting on 200k of membership reward points too! WOOHOO!