Topic Wiki

1)   What is a Financial Review?
In short - American Express occasionally freezes the credit card accounts of individuals with high-risk patterns, or for new account holders.
They request a lot of personal information, such as IRS tax returns, bank statements, letters from Banks ect…

Let’s break it down into 2 different types of Financial Reviews
A)   Mini Financial Review
B)   Financial Review

A)   Mini Financial Review
(please fill in info) This form of financial review, is usually a short process, it could be as short as one phone call. American Express might feel a need to verify your finances for whatever reason, and they could call you to verify information. Your accounts could be suspended from using until you get in touch with them, typically they will restore your accounts after a simple phone call.

B)   Financial Review
This type of Financial Review is very common. It often happens when opening a new account for the first time, usually if you are opening a Charge Card, or a Business Card or if on a new account you start off will a lot of high spending.
American Express will suspend your account/s, they will not remove the suspension until the review is over, which takes around 2 weeks.

If you cannot provide the required information, shut down your account right away.

2)   Triggers
Look below for a list of triggers and links.
 
3)   What will happen?
Your accounts will get suspended. You will be able to log in online, and see account activity, but you will get a message that charging is suspended.

They will contact you via phone and email. Once you get in touch with them, (typically) you will be assigned a specific representative to work on your case.

The will require mainly IRS Tax returns. The point of a Financial Review is to verify your income. They may also require Back statements, a letter from a Bank to verify your address, and other documents. People have reported that they did survive a Financial Review with just bank statements.

As long as you could provide the documents they request you will be fine, they might lower your credit lines, but you should be able keep your account open. Even as low as a $6000 tax return people have been able to survive a Financial Review.

In cases of a Financial Review after opening a Business Card, you will need proof of Business income.

If you cannot provide the required information, shut down your account right away.

As long as you could provide the documents they request you will be fine, they might lower your credit lines, but you should be able keep your account open. Even as low as a $6000 tax return people have been able to survive a Financial Review.

4)   What Steps Should I take?
Get in touch with Amex as soon as you could. Send in the request inform promptly. You will have a rep that will be working with you, and telling you what documents are needed. 4506-t is a transcript request from the IRS for you last tax return. You will need to fill out this form, fax it to Amex, it will take them 24-48 hours until they receive this form, they will request the tax return from the IRS that could take about a week.

Important: you only have 2 attempts to send them the fax, if they reject it after 2 attempts you will get shut down. You don't get more than 2 attempts. (source)
You may be able to get 3 attempts if you ask for a manager.

You need to be on top of it, if you don’t follow thru, they could shut your accounts down.


5)   What to do if American Express closed your accounts?
Once American Express closes your accounts, the only way to get back on is if you have the required information needed to pass a Financial Review. They will require you to request a 4506 form from the IRS (which will cost you $57) before they even approve any of your future applications.


To start you may want to read up here:

F/R triggers:[/color]

Credit line of $25k or more
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=1438.msg10906#msg10906

Family member receiving FR can cause other family members to get Fr'ed as well
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=6223.msg74003#msg74003 http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=8.msg24759#msg24759

Living at same address as someone who was FR'ed
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=8.msg77046#msg77046

Using majority of CL
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=7526.msg87716#msg87716

Large cash advance
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=5908.msg82906#msg82906

Nothing...
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=2723.msg30062#msg30062

Changing name on business card
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=3589.msg38101#msg38101

Mint purchases
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=146.msg22932#msg22932

Amex Gift Card Purchases
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=2422.msg26670#msg26670
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=8.msg40106#msg40106

Unusual spending
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=8.msg7627#msg7627
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=3710.msg39597#msg39597

Amazon payments (possibly)
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=3657.msg88656#msg88656
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=3524.msg42436#msg42436

Using close to reported income
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/2537

Logging in online too much (!)
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=8.msg13741#msg13741

Prepaying
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=1712.msg13732#msg13732
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=3710.msg39725#msg39725

Adding Cardholders (many?)
http://www.dansdeals.com/forums/index.php?topic=8.msg49318#msg49318

Refunds exceeding total payments made on the card since it was opened
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=8.msg845606#msg845606
[/font]
Though not exactly F/R, it's worth mentioning that Amex takes returned payments very seriously.
They often shut all accounts without going through the F/R process.
« Last edited by JACKSASSONBK on February 16, 2017, 06:19:07 PM »

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Author Topic: Amex F/R Master Thread  (Read 1912130 times)

Offline DMYD

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4780 on: September 21, 2015, 10:31:30 AM »
Quote from: yossig on September 21, 2015, 09:44:12 AM
anyone ever tried reopening same card after a FR? meaning "i" closed my cards before i finished swiping some of the bonuses. am i still under FR and if yes for how long? and they only make problems with new applic and not existing cards?? anyone a clue?
They may still require you to send in the tax form.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2015, 12:01:34 PM by DMYD »
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Online cholent

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4781 on: September 21, 2015, 10:39:29 AM »
Quote from: Jm1248 on September 21, 2015, 10:12:23 AM
Any chance the name of your business is your actual name?

Yes, but with a title added
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Offline Jm1248

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4782 on: September 21, 2015, 11:22:57 AM »
Quote from: cholent on September 21, 2015, 10:39:29 AM
Yes, but with a title added
If the business name is in your own name you may be able to get away with just sending in personal tax returns
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Online cholent

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4783 on: September 21, 2015, 11:27:05 AM »
Quote from: Jm1248 on September 21, 2015, 11:22:57 AM
If the business name is in your own name you may be able to get away with just sending in personal tax returns

Great. Thanks so much for all the info! Now nothing left to do but send in the form and pray for the best.
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Offline yossig

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4784 on: September 21, 2015, 11:41:51 AM »
Quote from: Jm1248 on September 21, 2015, 10:14:12 AM
General consensus is once you had a card you can not get the bonus if you reopen it, even if you never received the bonus.
Mixed opinions about how long to wait before reopening cards. Generally people wait 6 months. Upthread someone reported getting approved after waiting just 4 months.
i'm not applying for a new card, just reopening it (i think you have 30 days to do that) and then its considerd the same card that had the bunes attached  to it!?!
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Offline yossig

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4785 on: September 21, 2015, 11:44:29 AM »
Quote from: DMYD on September 21, 2015, 10:31:30 AM
They may still require you send in the tax form.
do you know of any one that did it?
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Offline DMYD

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4786 on: September 21, 2015, 12:02:15 PM »
Quote from: yossig on September 21, 2015, 11:44:29 AM
do you know of any one that did it?
Yes and they asked for it when they applied again
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Offline Jm1248

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4787 on: September 21, 2015, 12:21:10 PM »
Quote from: yossig on September 21, 2015, 11:41:51 AM
i'm not applying for a new card, just reopening it (i think you have 30 days to do that) and then its considerd the same card that had the bunes attached  to it!?!
Oh you want to reinstate the same card that was fr'ed?? Not sure if that's a great idea or if it's even possible
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Offline yossig

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4788 on: September 21, 2015, 12:32:57 PM »
Quote from: Jm1248 on September 21, 2015, 12:21:10 PM
Oh you want to reinstate the same card that was fr'ed?? Not sure if that's a great idea or if it's even possible
why shouldn't it be possible if i closed it the worst that can happen is that they'l ask for tax papers and that's what i wanna know if anyone has experience with this.
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Offline rileywiles23

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4789 on: September 21, 2015, 03:40:37 PM »

Quote from: pixi on September 21, 2015, 09:38:16 AM
When did you get the FR?  What's you status now?  They didn't want to take the pay-stubs at all?
Im not sure why it makes a difference when I got my FR, but it was last week. Still pending a decision. As I stated before, they didn't allow pay stubs, but it seems that's a ymmv.
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Offline pixi

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4790 on: September 21, 2015, 03:48:09 PM »
Quote from: rileywiles23 on September 21, 2015, 03:40:37 PM
Im not sure why it makes a difference when I got my FR, but it was last week. Still pending a decision. As I stated before, they didn't allow pay stubs, but it seems that's a ymmv.
wanted to know if its still pending or you are over , did you see any reports that they did accept pay-stubs ?
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Offline hvaces42

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4791 on: September 21, 2015, 04:51:34 PM »
Got my cancellation letters today. Datapoint for MR and CB: 90 days to transfer MR and CB will be credited to the account within 60 days. My CB was credited right away. Also got pro-rata AF refunds.
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Offline yitrap

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4792 on: September 21, 2015, 05:03:11 PM »

Quote from: hvaces42 on September 21, 2015, 04:51:34 PM
Got my cancellation letters today. Datapoint for MR and CB: 90 days to transfer MR and CB will be credited to the account within 60 days. My CB was credited right away. Also got pro-rata AF refunds.
Just wondering, why didn't you cancel them yourself?
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Offline hvaces42

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4793 on: September 21, 2015, 06:53:25 PM »
Quote from: yitrap on September 21, 2015, 05:03:11 PM
Just wondering, why didn't you cancel them yourself?
Wasnt given the option.
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Offline D93

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4794 on: September 21, 2015, 07:12:41 PM »
Quote from: hvaces42 on September 21, 2015, 06:53:25 PM
Wasnt given the option.
Huh? You didn't have 14 days to send in your docs?
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Offline Matovu

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4795 on: September 21, 2015, 07:53:29 PM »
Quote from: hvaces42 on September 21, 2015, 06:53:25 PM
Wasnt given the option.
You probably can still cancel all your cards by yourself, ot takes a few days for their system to do it.
So call up customer service and close the cards on your own.
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Offline yomo

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4796 on: September 21, 2015, 07:57:07 PM »
After 4 years my wife was fr'd. Wish there would be an easy way out of this!
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Offline hvaces42

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4797 on: September 21, 2015, 07:57:56 PM »
Quote from: Matovu on September 21, 2015, 07:53:29 PM
You probably can still cancel all your cards by yourself, ot takes a few days for their system to do it.
So call up customer service and close the cards on your own.
They're showing as cancelled. I sent them docs and should have passed. Had income but wasnt on biz last year. They didnt care.
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Offline mosh.now

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4798 on: September 21, 2015, 08:23:14 PM »
Just got F/R - anyone know if pending purchases will go through?
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Offline Yehuda25

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Re: Amex F/R Master Thread
« Reply #4799 on: September 21, 2015, 08:29:10 PM »
Just got a purchase denied on a charge card because there isn't enough credit available, is that a bad sign?
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