Amex F/R Master Thread

[Yehuda25]

My question is would  i get approved for a larger credit limit when i apply for a new card or my profile by amex will stick with the credit limits that they lowered my limits to.

whatever they would have approved you for had you not gotten fr/d.

[chinagel]

how much should i have to worry about a new fr if i passed mine 4 months ago? i wanna get a few more cards but am worried about all the spending

[youkay]

how much should i have to worry about a new fr if i passed mine 4 months ago? i wanna get a few more cards but am worried about all the spending

As much as you were worried before you were FRd....

[chinagel]

As much as you were worried before you were FRd....

there is no diff in risk of fr b4 and after passing?

[Z56]

I applied for the spg personal CC, they asked me to fill out a form to give the IRS the ability to look at my tax return... The problem is that I haven't filled taxes;) what should I do ?? Any experience with this ??

[David Smith]

I applied for the spg personal CC, they asked me to fill out a form to give the IRS the ability to look at my tax return... The problem is that I haven't filled taxes;) what should I do ?? Any experience with this ??

It's like a pre approval FR. Either call them up and offer bank statements, or give it up.

[emjee]

how much should i have to worry about a new fr if i passed mine 4 months ago? i wanna get a few more cards but am worried about all the spending

You should be fine. I did it about 6 months after but I don't think it makes a difference.

[Z56]

It's like a pre approval FR. Either call them up and offer bank statements, or give it up.

Can you please explain? I don't file taxes and they want to see my income... So how is it a pre approval??

[tzifanya54]

Can you please explain? I don't file taxes and they want to see my income... So how is it a pre approval??

Usually an FR occurs once the account is active and money is being spent. For whatever reason the FR'd pre approval. So unless you can pass it, they won't approve you.

[David Smith]

Can you please explain? I don't file taxes and they want to see my income... So how is it a pre approval??

It's an FR upon which your approval is dependent. I'd forget about it for now and try again in a few months (after building up a bit more of a credit profile).

[Yhgfkj]

It's an FR upon which your approval is dependent. I'd forget about it for now and try again in a few months (after building up a bit more of a credit profile).

yes seems its new times ,got it recently by a few people when applying with thin files ,
one side this way is better than being fr"d right after approval ,

[ari2955]

Funny, I got it on 2 apps, but 4 other apps were approved.

This was for DW, thin file.

[Z56]

It's an FR upon which your approval is dependent. I'd forget about it for now and try again in a few months (after building up a bit more of a credit profile).

I actually have an unbelievable credit history, this is actually my first time I applied for an amex CC I've only been by Chase... So what should I do ? If I would apply for the plat would it work ?

[meezewho1122]

My wife had 4 separate FR's. Each time they brought my accounts on the table and put them on hold as well. The last triggered FR's for my entire extended family, about 10 family members in total.


Interesting to note that one of the reps told me here is different types of full blown FR's.
Here's the history, hope it helps...

1. When we first signed up for an amex card abt 8 years ago (many cards I should say) we got approved for all of them but was immediately fr'd a few days later. Rep had said that there was an account in bad standing from a few years back which caused the review. Turned out that my wife was an authorized user on one of her former employers account which had late payments. After removing her from that account we were asked for pay stubs (no tax returns) and after two weeks we were good to go.

2. A week after we get our first card and did all the spending, we returned a large purchase of $8k to an amex card from another purchase and got the unwanted "restricted" call again. We apologized and said it was an honest mistake. No financials were requested and they put our account back in good standing.

3. Few years later we opened 4 cards and spent all the money swiping at a relatives terminal. A big no no for amex. We got a call from the dreaded "restricted" number. The rep asked many details about our connection to the business I was told that this is a "different type" of FR so they wont need any pay stubs or tax returns, just bank statements and based on the liquid sitting in the account they may limit some of our lines of credit.
We passed without having anything limited.

3. about 5 months ago we opened 7 cards and we did, I guess, "too much" spending. We were doing the Iphone thing and bought 10 phones per card. I called in each card to make sure we were okay for all the purchases and the rep in the credit department said we are fine. BAM Mr. "restricted" calls us again. The rep said that purchasing iphones in considered risky business and if we would have made the exact purchase on other items our account wouldn't have ended up on her desk. She  said her office is overloaded with iphone purchases and she has no clue what one person would do with 100 iphones. We were asked to provide tax returns which for various reasons I didnt want to give i to them, I explained to them that my personal returns are much lower my business makes. I got out of having to give them the returns and gave them other documentation instead. After 2 weeks we were back in business with just two cards limited to $10k.

I wont tell you what my tax returns say but I will tell you that one of my family members returns were very similar to ours and decided to take the "I am going to sue you" and "I will put amex out of business" route and got shut down



Some pointers from my experience
1. Be nice. Extremely nice! These guys are the police and its totally up to them to keep you open or closed. They judge you not only by your financials but also by how you deal with them.
2. Dont try the "can i speak to your supervisor" trick. I heard all of the supervisors first name (though, it seemed that many of them sounded like the same person) and like the good ol mafia they stick up for each other.
3. If they ask for a some docs that you cant provide (because you haven't made a penny in your life, or you dont plan on making money) be nice, explain to them why your tax returns show nothing and ask them if you can provide other documentation to prove that you have the ability and the will to keep your cards in good standing (please dont MSG me for ideas how to avoid sending in tax returns, you got to be creative)
4. One of the factors they determine is your payment history. So if you have been making large purchases and paying it up ask the rep to look at your payment history together with your paystubs to make their decision.




 

 

I must thank you for taking your valuable time to write this post. I agree with some previous comments; one of the most informative and useful posts I've ever read. You don't get anything for this, but truly care for us all. It's only for people like you who share their experience, that help us go through situations like these. Sometimes I question myself as to why people take the time to provide feedback and dedicate their time to report back on any topic...The only thing I can think of is that if not for sharing experinces, how else would we expect to learn from each other and continue to grow in every area?  The more I read on DDF, the more I feel obligated to comment with my thoughts to help others.
Keep it up! And thanks so much again!

[Baruch]

I was f/red.
I closed all my cards.
A few months later I applied for a card and got approved.
But the card wasn't allowed to spend any money.
Yet there was no charging suspended message online.
Everytime I called they transferred me to the f/r dept. I just hung up.
Yesterday my card was working perfect.
I don't know what happened, but maybe someone can learn from my experience.

[GettingReady]

It's my understanding, and personal experience, that once you've been FR'd, calls get routed to their department. Not sure how long that lasts.

[newdealseeker]

I was f/red.
I closed all my cards.
A few months later I applied for a card and got approved.
But the card wasn't allowed to spend any money.
Yet there was no charging suspended message online.
Everytime I called they transferred me to the f/r dept. I just hung up.
Yesterday my card was working perfect.
I don't know what happened, but maybe someone can learn from my experience.

That was probably what they call a mini FR. I've had that a few times. Most of the time they just want to confirm some account information and you're good to go. In that case, if you ignore them, after about 2 weeks the message falls off.
If it's a full blown FR then they'll call you.

[Yehuda25]

I was f/red.
I closed all my cards.
A few months later I applied for a card and got approved.
But the card wasn't allowed to spend any money.
Yet there was no charging suspended message online.
Everytime I called they transferred me to the f/r dept. I just hung up.
Yesterday my card was working perfect.
I don't know what happened, but maybe someone can learn from my experience.

Iv'e had my phone transfer to them way after being FR/d, possibly  nothing to worry about.

[meezewho1122]

Was just approved for 4 new cards last week, 2 business 2 personal . Called in to activate BGR category 3x points. Was told that account is under financial review.
The whole night I thought of the questions they might ask me regarding spending, business relation, income, payment from multiple sources, logging in 6x a day ( have a lot of activity on each account ) , why I opened new accounts, and basically any trigger discussed on this DDF thread. Prepared all my answers and called it a night.

Next morning:
After almost 45 minute old with FR dept, I tell the rep that I was surprised when I heard I'm under FR cause I recently just had one "mini review" regarding large purchases in September 2015 and this would be my 5th review. "I always pass them with no problem, but is this maybe becuase of my new cards approved? "
Placed me on hold and came back to the line " I'm not sure why, but the system picked something up, it's probably because of the new accounts - we want to make sure we're lending appropriately. Well, I checked all your accounts and removed the flag, I don't really have any concern at this time, you really handle your accounts we'll. Your good to go! "

All this was quite surprising to me. Usually when account is under FR, I see online in Red "charging suspended ". This time, there were no red flags online.
Also, it wasn't yet assigned to a rep either.
It was probably in the " early stages" and was developing a review.
Was able to be proactive and spot it early before they blinked.

P.S. I can say that most of my reviews were flagged on Thursdays-Fridays
They just love to disrupt my shabbos

[CS91]

I tried buying GCs at CVS last night on my MB Plat. and charge was declined so I logged into the app and checked my email to see if there was a fraud alert but there wasn't anything, so I just pulled out my regular Plat. and the charge went through.

This morning, got a missed call from 888-800-5234 but no voicemail. Googled the number and found mixed reviews as to whether or not it was the fraud dept. or a scam number. Called the number on the back of my card to see if it was a legit call and the rep said that last night, my MB Plat. account was placed under financial review but that it's since been cleared up and I'm free to use my card. Thing is, I never called them last night and I never got that message that spending has been suspended. And I happened to have used the card earlier this morning (small purchase) and the charge went through.

Anyone experience something similar to this? Should I tread carefully for the next few days?