AmEx Financial Review for no visible reason

(Similar topics can be found here and here, but I am starting a new thread, as circumstances are different – I am much more mainstream of a cardholder than the OPs in the other threads. I hope the moderator does not mind.)

I received a letter from AMEX saying they want to talk to me. It turned out that they put me under financial review, placed my account on hold, so no new charges will go through until it’s resolved. For it to be resolved, they want to see my 3 months of bank account statements and 2003 income tax return. I mentioned that I already have 2004 W-2 (the tax form from work), and they asked to fax that as well.

Now, here is why I think it is unusual that they put me on “financial review”:

• My credit line is $15,300 (not incredibly high, certainly not higher than the magic $25,000 level which I heard can trigger financial reviews).
• I’ve had that credit with them from the very beginning in November of 2002 when the account was opened; have not had any increases since then.
• My balance is just ten bucks, and it’s been pretty low for a while ($167 in December, $899 a month before, zero a month before that).
• My balances on all credit cards are low, about $1,300 on average and never higher than $1,900 in any month in the past year.
• I always pay in full and on time (with one exception, see bellow).
• I do not own a business.
• I do not have multiple cards with AMEX.
• I have not made large balance transfers or unusual purchases recently on any of my cards.
• I have not gone over the limit anywhere, do not have negative balances anywhere and did not pre-pay on any accounts.
• As far as I know (checked in August 2004), I have nothing negative in the credit reports, no new inquiries or accounts, no new credit with them or other creditors (well, except for $2,500 “no credit pull” increase from another card issuer three months ago, in October).

When I asked them what triggered the review, they told me they occasionally do them on customers. Why me, why now? The reply was that they do it on all customers. When I politely told them to cut the cr@p, they said that they never did it on me before, and they wanted to verify my financials at this time. This was also not a reply to my question, of course, but I gave up at that point.

Here is what I think may have triggered the review (although these reasons are very weak, I think):

• This is the month of my anniversary date.
• My card just expired. (They did send me a new one, with expiration in 2009, however, despite the financial review.)
• Recently I tried several times to get a credit line increase on their web site. They did not give me one without pulling my report, asked to apply. I did not, but their computers may have noted that I am looking for more credit.
• Just less than a month ago, I updated my credit profile on their site – gave them my employer name, length of time with the company and my income. This was NOT an application for credit. I had asked them before submitting it to give me a good reason why I would want to give them this info. They did not say anything logical, but I figured that I would be more likely to get automatic increases if I did give them this info, so I did.
• I had a two day late payment three months ago. The payment was due on 10/17, I forgot to schedule it, noticed and paid on 10/19.
• My annual cash rebate is due me in late March (unless I forfeited all or part of it because of the late payment. It does not look like it, as they are still counting my Cash Back amounts on every statement). The amount is not large (~$65), so I do not think AMEX is looking for ways to close my account just to not pay me that money.

I intend to give them all these documents, and maybe more later – I am thinking investment accounts statements and copies of savings bonds if they want to see my net worth in order to keep my credit limit where it is. I have no problem with them having the right to ask me those questions. Even though I seem to be an improbable candidate for a financial review, this is their decision to make. I see no reason to hide my financials from AMEX; the figures will be in line with what I mentioned on the application and in the credit profile update.

What do you guys think? Any ideas? I plan to fax the docs to them later today and then call in a couple of days to check the status. I’d still like to know the reason why I was picked for this.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions, and hopefully this will help others. I will post updates

seugene said: As far as I know (checked in August 2004), I have nothing negative in the credit reports, no new inquiries or accounts, no new credit with them or other creditors (well, except for $2,500 “no credit pull” increase from another card issuer three months ago, in October).


Interesting situation OP. I would probably try first to investigate with the credit report. A lot could have changed since August 2004. Go to the privacy guard website and pull your report for a dollar. Maybe there is something on your report that you don't know about.

I've looked through the AMEX website and can't find a place (online) to request a credit line increase. Can someone help me out? I have a Blue Cash card, btw.

I wouldn't send my tax returns to ANY credit card company, it's none of their business what my deductions are, whether my spouse or I are blind, how much we gave to charity last year, the names and social security numbers of my children, etc.

If they want income verification I'd be happy to send them copies of my W-2's.

Edit:
It's possible that the request for a tax return would violate Regulation B. For example, you have the right to not disclose alimony, child support, or separate maintence income. These items might appear on a tax return and it might be impossible or impractical to redact a tax return in a way that didn't disclose this information (it might be fun to send AMEX a redacted tax return that blacked out just about everything except for W-2 income that was the basis for the credit application.

gatzdon said: What are the odds that American Express is not initiating the request, but rather assisting the Federal
Government (or any other agency) in obtaining this documentation?
If the federal government like the IRS or Homeland Security wanted this information from you wouldn't they ask you directly?
Since you can tell AMEX to take a hike and that your income tax return in none of their business. This is always an option.
And they have the right to close your account if you don't present them with what they want.

gatzdon said: I read through all the threads and I can't believe nobody asked the following question:

What are the odds that American Express is not initiating the request, but rather assisting the Federal
Government (or any other agency) in obtaining this documentation?

Think about what they are asking for. If the Feds wanted it, they would have to research each bank
individually and follow up on multiple requests.

With Am Ex's request, if you follow through, you voluntarily present it in a neat little package and Am Ex's
TOS allows them to pass it on.

Just some food for thought.

But, each bank/employer is required to send all your financial information directly to the Fed Government automatically each year by law.

I'm sure this is just a random check. I highly doubt you did anything wrong to trigger it. It's AMEX's right to request the information from anyone who they extend credit to.

I can tell you though, that during the first year I opened my account, at the time I was only making about $35,000. I was charging only everyday expenses to get the points, paying the bill on-time every month - never been a day late. Had very good credit scores too (in the 700s). Nevertheless, every other month I was still getting calls from AMEX advising me that they temporarily suspended my account until I paid my bill (this would be weeks well before the bill was even due), unless I furnished more financial information. Each time I paid the bill online that day, then the account was immediately unfrozen.

The calls were actually annoying, but one CR explained to me that they closely review all accounts during the first year, doesn't matter who you are. After the first year, I'm sure they do the same thing, but alot less frequently. I haven't recieved a call since then (although I do have a much higher income now) and that was a few years ago.

seugene said: Recently I tried several times to get a credit line increase on their web site. They did not give me one without pulling my report, asked to apply.Why several times ?

seugene said: What do you guys think?I'd tell them to go to he||. There are plenty of other credit cards I could carry with much less trouble.

jlrdallas said: ...now where did I put my foil hat????...
I know people who have worked for the IRS. The suggestion doesn't strike me as particularly paranoid at all.

gatzdon said: The only reason I thought of it is because I was recently reading an updated article on how eBay/Paypal advertises
their willingness to comply with law enforcement on researching an individual who uses their services. (Tell me that one
is conspiracy theory).

Like I said, don't take my suggestion that seriously, but the OP's profile is pretty benign to demand a full financial review.

Paypal advertises their willingness to comply with law enforcement because they have to. Basically, anyone would have to under the circumstances.

xoneinax said: seugene said: Just less than a month ago, I updated my credit profile on their site – gave them my employer name, length of time with the company and my income. I had asked them before submitting it to give me a good reason why I would want to give them this info.So they requested by phone that you update this profile ?


Why would you give them the info anyway? I never have with any of mine.

Did they call you and ask you for info over the phone? And you gave it to them? What is your phone number?

Signed, Mr Phish...

seugene said: Just less than a month ago, I updated my credit profile on their site – gave them my employer name, length of time with the company and my income. This was NOT an application for credit. I had asked them before submitting it to give me a good reason why I would want to give them this info. They did not say anything logical, but I figured that I would be more likely to get automatic increases if I did give them this info, so I did.


This feels like the reason to me. Did the info you gave them match the employer name on your credit reports (at all 3 bureaus)? Was the income radically different than what you told them when you applied for the card (for example, did your original application include household income? Were you working elsewhere when you originally applied?)?

Also, you say you pay every month in full and on time. Perhaps they are not too keen on keeping customers who don't pay them interest (profitability scoring).

I just called them. They have not processed my fax yet, which is not surprising, as it’s too early. They say they picked me because some information that they got from credit bureaus and other sources did not necessarily agree with what they had on record for me, and they wanted to make sure they are giving me “the correct credit line” and otherwise review the account. I asked if there was anything negative on my credit reports. They said no, nothing negative that they see, just that they wanted to verify something. When I said that income is not listed on credit reports, and they basically want proof of income now, so what is there to verify?, the guy said, “Exactly, proof of income is the most important thing we need”.

I increasingly think that this is just a random thing. I probably mildly improved my chances for a review by several recent actions that I did (wanted more credit, updated financial info etc), but I guess the moral and the novelty of my case as much as I can tell from looking into reports of other past financial reviews here and elsewhere is that it can happen to pretty much anybody with AMEX.

Mr. Phish and CheapDB, they never asked me to update the financial profile (well, until now). See my previous post above, you probably missed it.

ILikeDollars, the employer name that I gave them online matched two of my credit reports. The third agency, and possibly others of the three actually stopped updating employer names long time ago, from what I can remember when talking to them a couple of years ago. They had the name of my old employer. The income I gave them was higher than at the time of the application, but approximately truthful – it will be confirmed by the docs I sent them now. I did not keep the original income figure I gave them on the application, but it must have been around or not less than 85% of the income I gave them a month ago – completely believable in view of average expected income growth, I think. I was working for the same employer I do now when I originally got their card.

I hope I am profitable to them, even though I do not pay interest. They get merchant fees, and I am not inactive on the account – charged approx. $8,700 in the past year.

Jlrdallas, it is a credit card, not a charge card, so I could be carrying balance.

I might have missed it, but which credit card do you have?

seugene said:
• I had a two day late payment three months ago. The payment was due on 10/17, I forgot to schedule it, noticed and paid on 10/19.

I'd think that of all the scenarios, this might be the most reasonable IMO.. not that it "calls" for it, but this is at least something they may be wanting to verify...

I sure hope its not the online CLI request, I pull this all the time... I'll try to stop...

veryhungry said: I pull this all the time... I'll try to stop... yup, you might go blind

Don't give them anything...They can pull your credit at anytime, based upon what you have said, they have no right to request this info. The worst that will happen is that they will close your card or increase your interest rate which doesn't matter since you don't maintain a balance. Ask them to send the request and justification for the request in writing.

None of us "outsiders" will ever know the reasons behing AMEX FR... late payment and frequent CLI requests sure sound like possible triggers, but who are we to tell?

How about this - tell them you will gladly provide docs if they stop playing games , lies about "periodic checks, etc" and tell you THE EXACT REASON your acoount was flagged for review - that will help all of us!

related linky

veryhungry said: another linky

Thanks, this FR may become much more common than an IRS audit.

I certainly hope that this FR does not become a trend fo the CC industry.

dcwilbur said: seugene said: What do you guys think?I'd tell them to go to he||. There are plenty of other credit cards I could carry with much less trouble.

Me too. Life is too short to deal with these chumps.