American Express ‘financial reviews’ send shudders down the spines of frequent flyers (and Amex cardholders) everywhere. But in my opinion they shouldn’t.
So I’m going to explain what a financial review is, what we know about what triggers a financial review, and why financial reviews don’t worry me a bit. Your opinion may differ on whether these are a big deal — and that’s fair — so hopefully this explanation helps you prepare in case you’re faced with one.
This past weekend at Frequent Traveler University I answered an audience question, and Frequent Miler offered by way of followup that I should highlight the risk of an American Express Financial Review as part of my answer. I did, because I agree it’s something that is helpful for cardholders to understand — even if it doesn’t worry me nearly as much as it does some.
What is an American Express financial review?
American Express wants to make sure you have the ability to pay back the credit they extend to you. So sometimes randomly, and sometimes triggered by your spending which seems ‘out of pattern’, they initiate a financial review.
They may suspend your ability to place charges on their cards either right away or after some period of time (if you haven’t cleared up the review quickly enough). You’ll get correspondence from American Express, but some people have found out about the review by logging into their online account or because a charge they tried to make was denied and they called American Express to enquire.
American Express will request documentation of you — about your income (possibly pay stubs or an IRS form that will give them access to a copy of your tax return) or possibly confirming your address — and they will give you a deadline to respond. Then they will evaluate based on what you’ve sent them if you have too much credit from them or not.
What triggers a financial review?
American Express tries to detect patterns that they think flag someone likely to be using up a lot of credit, either with them or with a whole bunch of credit cards, that could call into question the consumer’s ability to pay their bill. American Express doesn’t want to get left holding the bag if you can’t repay.
Sometimes they flag accounts randomly. It could also be because you’ve gotten several new cards, either with them or other issuers. Or because when they pull your credit they see you are maxing out those cards. All are potential signs you may be overextended.
So American Express wants to test your ability to repay the credit they are extending.
There are more reports of financial reviews on charge cards than on credit cards (they’ve already evaluated your ability to pay in the credit limit they’ve set with credit cards). But they do financial reviews on credit cards too. They’ll look at how much credit they’ve extended to you, how much total credit you have with other issuers, and how much money you can document that you make.
And they will either give you the all clear, adjust your credit line to a level they’re comfortable with, or close down your account entirely. In many cases where they close down an account it’s because you aren’t able to show them you actually make as much income as you listed on your application. Most people who are honest on their applications wind up getting through a financial review with their cards intact.
Big charges relative to your income call into question your ability to repay. Sometimes they’re big charges as a result of ‘manufactured spend’ (buying effectively cash instruments) and sometimes as a result of having big reimbursable expenses from work. They may not be as confident as you are that your employer will reimburse you quickly enough to pay them back on time; what they are interested in is your ability to repay and not your company’s.
Another big trigger for a financial review seems to be new accounts where there isn’t already a pattern established, combined with large transactions right away. That doesn’t always raise a flag, but it’s a common one.
There are lots of theories about what else triggers a review, and no one outside of American Express knows for sure. Often the specific activities that people report are associated with new cards, with a lot of spend, or spend out of pattern. Some examples of what some people think have triggered reviews include international spending and purchases of precious metals, using up most of your credit limit, frequently pre-paying your account in order to get more access to credit, taking large cash advances, buying a bunch of Amex gift cards, adding a bunch of authorized users to your account, and having a large credit limit (over $25,000).
What happens during a financial review?
A financial review can be annoying, since your cards can be frozen while they perform the review. They aren’t always good about getting the information about their pending review in advance. In most cases I’ve found American Express to have very good customer service, and I don’t know whether the common reports that people find out other than through the proactive communication by American Express is a rare customer service failing, or by design (they are worried about your ability to repay, so they ask for the financial review, they don’t want to give you the heads up perhaps and encourage you to spend a lot more on your cards before they shut you off?).
A financial review is, more or less, just income verification — just like you have to do for other lenders like car loans or mortgages.
As a result the most common thing that they request are your tax returns (they don’t want the copy from you, they want to get the copy straight from the IRS to ensure it’s genuine). They’ll usually request IRS form 4506-T which gives them access to a transcript of your return. I have heard one or two reports of a request for form 4506 which gets them an actual copy of your return at a cost to you of $57, currently. I’m not sure if that was simply something lost in translation (the lack of the -T) or something they do very occasionally. Sometimes they ask for your most recent pay stubs.
Their review could be for address verification. They want to be sure they really know where you live, so they can find you if you don’t pay. They may ask for utility bills in your name sent to your home address, or for bank statements with your address.
Some people find this process extremely intrusive, as I say I understand why they want the information and I provide it to other lenders so it doesn’t bother me, but it’s clearly the case that American Express makes your willingness to provide them with detailed financial information a condition of doing business with them, and when they flag you for a financial review it’s take it or leave it.
My own financial review experience
I haven’t ever had a financial review on my personal cards. I currently have personal charge cards (Platinum, Premier Rewards Gold) and credit cards (Starwood Preferred Guest, Hilton HHonors). In the past I’ve had Delta cards and the American Express Surpass Hilton card. I have business cards as well – a Business Platinum, and have had in the past had the Business Gold Rewards and Starwood Business card.
My business platinum card (for my real job) gets a financial review every year. They’ve actually been happy with audited financials or business tax returns that I provide, without getting them directly from the IRS.
After the first financial review they imposed a hard limit on the card — but it was several hundred thousand dollars. One time after a relatively ugly year on the financials they cut the limit in half. They’ve since raised it back up in subsequent years. Most of the time they’ve left the limit alone, though that’s probably my fault, they’ve asked how much credit I want and I’ve told them I was satisfied with what they were already extending.
I’m fairly surprised that I haven’t gotten a personal financial review: I have cedit limits from them that are much higher than the standard threshold folks worry about of $25,000 (the credit line has crept up over the past 13 years or so quite a bit). I have had big work expenses getting reimbursed. I’ve always paid my bill on time, but that’s not something that’s a get out of jail free card for financial reviews.
At some point their computers will probably flag me personally and I’ll have to verify my income for them. At that time they might well shrink my credit line a bit, but since I’ve been honest from the start about my income I’m not worried about getting fired as a customer.
Does it hurt you if American Express closes your account?
I often sense that most people posting big concerns about Amex financial reviews may not have been completely honest about their incomes when they applied, and they know that providing the requested information will cast them in an unfavorable light. But it’s not fair to dismiss every concern about verifying income this way.
It’s certainly possible that someone could have been honest about their income when they applied, then went back to school and now have a lower income (though likely will have a higher income later). It’s perfectly honest on the part of the consumer, but it’s still understandable that’s something American Express would want to know and consider when deciding how much credit to extend.
Let’s say your income is no longer as high as it was when you first applied for your American Express card, and once Amex sees the lower income you think they’ll close your card(s).
Some people won’t comply with the review request and instead of waiting for American Express to close their cards they proactively close their accounts themselves. Their goal is to avoid the accounts being reported to credit bureaus as “closed by issuer”
Most of the time that decision is based on a misperception that ‘closed by issuer’ hurts their credit score. It does not.
If a bank closes your card because you are delinquent on payments or in default on the card that’ll hurt your credit score — though there it’s the delinquency or default, not the closure, that hurts your score.
Losing available credit can increase your utilization rate — it reduces total available credit, so you’re using more of what you have, and that can bring down your score (this is independent of who initiates the closure).
And eventually, when the card ages off of your credit report in ten years, having closed the card can reduce the average age of your accounts (another reason independent of who initiates the closure).
Having an account closed by issuer does not hurt your FICO score. But it still doesn’t look good to anyone manually examining the report since they may assume the account was closed due to a problem or concern and they’re likely to have a concern themselves until they understand it better. (Relatively few requests for credit involve such a manual examination.)
My suggestion for most people is to just go ahead with the financial review, the worst case is generally account closure, so why bring that worst case on yourself? And even if your income has dropped markedly, they may just reduce their exposure to you by reducing your credit limit.
If American Express closes your account after a financial review, does that mean you’re banned for life?
If you close cards instead of proceeding with a financial review you can’t just ring up later to re-open the cards. When you close a card American Express will often expedite re-opening the account but not in this case, they will still want to put you through a financial review.
But if American Express closes your account that doesn’t mean you’re shut out for good, there are plenty of reports of successful new applications some time down the line. And sometimes those even go through with an instant approval. In all likelihood the triggers for the financial review (such as difficulty verifying an address, or lots of inquiries) were no longer present.
Give it some time, apply when you know your address is verifiable and you haven’t had a ton of other inquiries, and your score is high and you may be able to get an Amex card again.
Preparing for a financial review
The first piece of advice is actually quite simple, you can avoid the worst consequences of a financial review by being honest on your applications. That won’t prevent a review, but unless your financial situation has deteriorated substantially since the time you applied it will almost always keep your account from getting cancelled.
You should also have another credit card, from another issuer. Don’t carry just American Express. That way if Amex puts a temporary hold on your ability to charge as a result of the review you won’t be shut out. It could happen while you’re traveling abroad or when you have extremely important bills to pay by card right away. So having a backup is useful. And that’s not just true for American Express cards, it’s true for any card since other issuers have their own processes – it’s just that American Express has been aggressive and well-known for theirs.
If you do believe your account will get cancelled, because the income on your tax returns is much lower than the amount you had told Amex you made when you applied — or if you are not going to comply with the financial review — and if you have a Membership Rewards-earning Amex card, then you probably want to transfer out those Membership Rewards points before submitting documents for the financial review or letting the time period for doing so lapse. That way you won’t risk losing your points.
Finally, don’t sweat it. You are asking them to take the risk that you’ll repay, and if you want to do business with them they are going to want to assure themselves of your ability to actually repay. If you’re not comfortable with that, there are certainly other issuers who may not ask for the same level of personal information.
Great stuff!
I’m living proof that it’s possible to get out of an FR with your cards intact even after the income stated on the app doesn’t match that on the 4506-T.
My situation changed and I was between jobs when the FR happened. There was a pretty big difference in the numbers. But they gave me a $5000 cap and let me live.
P.S- This was on the Biz Platinum.
I’ve been a member since 1988, and have never even heard of a Amex Finnacial review. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but thanks for the info so I’ll be prepared if I ever get one.
I had an American Express financial review a few months ago. I believe what triggered it was my new American Express Gold rewards business card and was spending money at CVS buying vanilla reload cards.
.
They asked for my tax return information, but when they went to get the form, they were unable to find it because I was a student the last year and I did not file my taxes separately from my parents. So then they asked for the last three months of pay stubs and the last three months of your bank account statements.
.
Throughout the entire process, the representative from American Express was on my side and wanted me to pass the financial review, so don’t think they are out to get you, the reps are just doing their job but they want to help you keep your credit with American express.
.
In the end, American Express lowered my SPG card from $9000 credit limit to $3000 credit limit and I had to close my SPG business card and my gold reward business card. But they did not touch the $9000 credit line on my Hilton Amex card.
Amex FR’ed me and shut down all my cards because my personal income was so different than my stated household income (which I stated accurately). I asked the rep to pull the rest of my household’s tax returns, but they refused. It’s a bad case of inconsistency, IMHO.
It’s been their loss, since, however. I’ve easily spent $800k/year (legit spend, not manufactured) 80% with Chase and 20% with Citi since then. Never been late with a payment and never carry a balance. Morons.
I just went through a financial review that wrapped up yesterday. Prior to the FR, my AMEX situation was Delta Options (credit limit $30K), Plat Pers (CL $10k+), Premier Rewards Gold Pers (CL $10k+), Premier Rewards Gold Biz (CL $10k+). The activity that triggered the FR was the attempt to purchase about $20k AMEX gift cards on TCB’s 2.5% cash back day. I called AMEX to see why the charge didn’t go through, and they started asking a ton of questions and the agent then initiated the FR and asked for two years of tax returns. I explained that I lost my job last year and thus they wouldn’t see the level of income that they should. Not only that, but the new job I got pays almost double what I was getting paid. And in addition to that, I’m a consultant, so I travel every single week and have substantial reimbursable travel costs. All of those explanations went in one ear and out the other — the agent didn’t care. And she said she couldn’t accept a pay stub as evidence of income. I submitted the 4506-T that same day and the FR was completed not more than a week later. None of my accounts were closed, but my Delta card’s CL was changed to only $6k and each of the charge cards now has a limit of only $3k. The lowered limits are painful — I have been putting all of my reimbursables on the Premier Rewards Gold Biz — not sure if that’s feasable anymore. For someone who has been a cardholder since 2001, has never once been late on a payment, and who regularly charges $5k+ per month, I thought this was a pretty harsh outcome.
Remember that Amex lets you reallocate credit lines on their website so you could get yourself up to a high enough limit on one card for those reimbursements I imagine..
I went thru a financial review a couple of years after an increased spending trend for my business. This was quite a number of years ago, and they accepted my IRS returns faxed to them. At the time, they didn’t lock down the cards-they just notified me that they wanted the info. Other than taking the time to put the docs together that they wanted, it wasn’t much of a problem.
Don’t always believe what you read in the blogs! Cardinals Fang, Biggles and Ximenez of The Spanish Inquisition stay up long hours scouring the country for financial heretics upon which to inflict a financial review. When working for AMEX the good cardinals spash red messages over your online account information denying access to your credit lines (at times determined to inflict the most pain and suffering). The bloggers never tell you about the hot tongs, the rack, being asked to turnover their firstborn child, or even worse, being prodded with the comfy cushions. An AMEX financial review is nasty and something to be dreaded, like a root canal, or a long visit from your inlaws (shudder). Remember their two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency.
Interesting information here. I can vouch that Amex in Canada has a similar process, albeit not quite as intensive. Earlier this year, I got a call from them that they wanted to “verify employment and income details”. I spoke to them and the issue they had was that the employer listed on my application from years ago was no longer in business and they needed to update their records. They wanted to know my current employer and income details, but were not able to accept a non-Canadian employer. However, I offered them access to my (Canadian) bank records which included transfers from overseas clients. This was escalated to a supervisor and after a few days, they advised that everything was okay. No change to credit limit and no freezing of the card involved.
We have a number of serious, strict laws in this country (the U.S.) which protect the privacy and sanctity of an individual’s tax returns and I would never waive any of those rights simply to get a credit card. Large loans, such as a mortgage or even a car loan may be a different matter.
Having now read this, we will all be flagged.
Isn’t the likelihood of a financial review closely related to how much you spend on the card? How much as you spending annually on the card?
Went through one in Jan but they only asked for bank statements
I’ve got 4 accounts all 10-18k in credit lines each, I wonder if asking AMEX to lower the credit lines would keep you off the radar for an FR? Does anyone have an opinion on this? Historically they’ve been the most generous of all the banks regarding credit lines in my experience and I would never need anywhere near that much anyways.
I can’t remember if this is a leading indicator of the FR, but if you have an access to your Experian soft-pulls and see:
AMEX ACCOUNT REVIEW
Address:
PO BOX 981537
EL PASO TX 79998
(800) 874-2717
It’s considered bad news. I remember reading about this “El Paso, TX” is a key element to the FR. You get this soft-pull if your card is inactive for a while as well.
I went through a FR recently. The agent told me it was triggered by my use of my HH card at CVS buying Vanilla cards. In the past, I rarely used my HH card except for Hilton stays and cell phone/cable bills. So, all of a sudden I was charging $10-15k per month. However, I would pay down the account immediately, so my credit limit was never exceeded and the balance would be zero every few days. I have been an AmEx cardholder for 20 yrs always paying in full each month. The rep told me that you are not allowed to use an AmEx card to purchase cash cards – according to him, only cash or a debit card is allowed. They ended up reducing my limit on my SPG card to $3k and set limits on my Plat and PRG cards. When someone has paid in full his account for 20 yrs, I don’t see how one can say it had anything to do with fear of not paying his account. And I don’t see what business it is of AmEx as to what you are purchasing at CVS.
Great stuff Gary. I had a financial review from Amex back in 2007 because I had recently changed some policies within my company and was now outlaying a much larger amount of money. Despite my positive financials and my positive history with them, they did cut my limit although they told me that it would be open to increase in the future. I never needed the increase, but obviously I wanted to be careful not to use up too large of a % of my available credit as that can negatively hit my active FICO score.
Gary I was at the FTU and in the session in which someone bragged about spending 10K in one day on his new Amex card and was shut down and was going through a FR. It’s people like this and ramalama8 who have caused all the problems in this hobby. They become greedy and want it all for themselves, and when something gets taken away Office Depot these same people complain and point fingers at bloggers. If people didn’t try and get enough points for that FC RTW trip in one purchase this hobby wouldn’t have the issues it has.
Gary, thanks for the advice — definitely will pursue that.
Tony, thanks for the dig.
@AnonAnon – did the phone rep actually provide data that you were purchasing VR cards or did s/he just see 10-15K at CVS and put one and one together? Just curious because to date the word on the street always has seemed to be that CC companies don’t analyze purchases on a line-item basis. That would be new to me.
@CW, to clarify, I asked the FR rep if it was the CVS charges which triggered the FR and he confirmed that’s what did it. I told him that I was simply trying to earn points for an upcoming vacation.
When the FR was complete, once again he stated that it was the CVS charges which caused the FR and he went on to tell me that it was against AmEx policies to use a card to purchase cash equivalents. Now I am reluctant to use my AmEx card to buy VRs.
There’s a distinction between an Amex FR proper and income verification for a large credit line increase request. Some people report getting an FR when they ask for a CLI above $25K, but it’s typically not the same thing. Amex will sometimes ask for a 4506-T to verify income for a large credit limit, but you can decline to provide it and they will simply decline your request leaving your account open. If you get a full-blown FR, they suspend your charging privileges and you must provide the information or your account is shut down.
@AnonAnon – thanks for the clarification. Nice to know AMEX isn’t out there digging up receipts and poring over them…yet. Though it seems you volunteered a bit more information than I would have. You were a loyal customer making purchases of goods at a retail store and paying off your bill in full. End of story.
I don’t mind using VR to pay off mortgage or rent each month, hence why I only buy 5 of these each month. But if people are simply buying VR for easy points (i.e. buy the cards, get the 5x points, reload to bluebird then send a check back to your bank acct) then isn’t that a form of kiting?
@Gary
how do you reallocate credit lines on AmEx website?
thank you.
@Walt K
+1 My posting earlier was for the full blown shutdown.
I used to be able to do reallocations all the time by calling, then it stopped in 2008 and rarely I have been able to do it since by calling
I am not sure where to look for it online either.
This was one of your best posts imho.
@ffi
Profile and preferences -> see more options -> manage credit limit -> transfer available credit to another card
Weren’t the Amex FR triggers set up, at least in part, by some people using the Six Sigma approach to try to eliminate “defects” in credit lending/extension/exposure? Other aspects of the charge/credit card unit were certainly subject to the approach.
I just met my Amex business gold card minimum spend. I did $10k in three months. Would moving my $3000 a month spending to a different Amex (my SPG) cause a FR since I am no longer putting that much spend on the Amex Bus. Gold?
@Matt – $3k a month usually won’t cause flags, though it may depend on your limit on the card you’re doing it on (eg if it’s a $3500 limit it might)
Amex may not let you reallocate credit limits between cards if you’ve had the cards for les than 18 months. At least that was my experience.
@CW – I too got FR due to having a HH card that I hardly used for a couple years and then began using it for 10k per month at CVS. The first thing the FR person asked me was are these CVS purchases gift cards? So they couldn’t see they could only guess.
@MrWho or anyone else – how long from that soft-pull to when AMEX makes contact with the account holder?
I just checked and I had an soft pull on 4/16 🙁 I am yet to hear from AMEX, and I am still spending on all AMEX cards (SPG, Prem Gold personal and business, HH Surpass) – i.e. they have not suspended any accounts yet.
The AmEx soft pull previously mentioned is completely normal and in no way an indication of impending doom. AmEx will regularly soft every cardholder to ensure you do not have sudden credit issues. So e times they will soft monthly or every two months, but sometimes they will soft twice per week. That’s their style and there’s nothing to worry about as long as your credit reports do not reflect credit deterioration. Also, the softs can come from AmEx in Texas or also in Arizona.
Wow, very interesting stuff here. I am new to all of this. Does Chase do financial reviews as well? I have been buying gift cards at the office supply stores with my Ink Plus. One day they called the manager out and he questioned why was I coming in and buying so many gft cards each week. I just told him that it was for raffles at work. I am not sure if he had any right questioning my purchases?
@AnonAnon I have had extensive discussions with Amex regarding the purchase of gift card, reloadable cards , etc. What I have found is that each card has it’ own separate Cardmember Agreement. None of them I have seen say you cannot use it to purchase “cash equivalents” [I hate that term as it doesn’t mean anything]. What the Agreements DO say is that you won’t earn points for such purchases. However, this does not apply to all amex cards.
SPG specifically prohibits it. Amex Business Platinum does not. My Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Amex does not prohibit it.
In any case, Amex says they are not supposed to be awarding MR’s on Amex gift cards purchased “online or at a Travel Services Office.” This implies purchases from a retailer will validly get MR’s. Their reps try to interpret the Agreement and think they are attorneys in doing so, but my feeling is if the charge is not specifically or generally excluded from receiving MR’s, it is included. Nowhere in the Cardmember Agreement does my Business Plat say I won’t receive MR’s for buying AMEX gift cards online–that came from agents researching this in their manuals. I’d be interested in knowing if people are getting MR’s from buying AMEX gift cards online, particularly the $3,000 gift card.
I’ve looked at a number of other cards and actually talked to executive office personnel, and Barclays Virgin America card as well as US Air cards exclude “cash advances.” The rep for Barclays Bank president’s office said you would get credits.
As to Chase, they have so many cards, but generally they are not SUPPOSED to earn MR’s . In no case I have seen do they bar the purchase of gift cards or reloadables.
I didn’t start researching this until a few weeks ago when it became an issue with one of my providers.
As to the AMEX FR I received this at the height of the financial crisis in mid 2009. Amex had some really bad people working on the reviews at the time, and I actually felt threatened (not physically) by some of the tactics and lies. One rep told me I had numerous delinquencies on my credit report or they wouldn’t possibly have done the FR. I initially refused to comply and my limit was reduced to $10,000. Since I needed $30k for a trip I was going on in a few weeks, I decided to comply. Despite showing strong 7 figure liquid net worth AND income, they reduced my limit from 100k to 50k, I assume because I was not using AMEX very often.
What really peeved me was that after this was over, I was standing in the airport at London Stansted and attempted to pay for a ticket with the card and it was declined. I called AMEX on Skype from my computer–in the terminal, and was told someone had ATTEMPTED to use the card at a Chuck E Cheese in Illinois. They simply HAD to cancel my card and I could only get a replacement by going back into London. I told them they could issue a non platinum card at the TSO in Amsterdam, and we went back and forth for 4 hours with them insisting they had to mail it from the US. I was so pissed by this time, when they finally agreed to issue a card at the TSO in Amsterdam, I was appalled they would not deliver it, but made me pay 50 Euros each way to get there and back.
Never heard of Chase performing an FR, but they have been known to close accounts suspected of awards abuse and then blacklist you.
@JC – although to be clear, many of the cases of abuse that Chase closed accounts over (though not all) were really extreme things like 1 cent purchases over and over thousands of times on Chase Freedom cards when those were generating 12 points per..
Gary, actually not. The vast majority of people blacklisted for awards abuse were those churning the Chase AARP Visa when it was first introduced having 5% rewards. The most common m.o. involved Vanilla reloads. I seriously doubt any merchant would allow a one cent purchase since they pay far more than 1 cent per swipe plus their standard percentage.
@JC – by ‘things like’ I meant pretty extreme examples of abuse, not “buying Amazon, iTunes, Southwest, etc gift cards at Staples” and yes there were AARP 5% cash back offer folks with account issues for sure. But there were also a bunch of folks doing 1 cent transactions with Chase Freedom.
Went through a financial review with Amex last month after newly receiving my biz gold card. They called, sent me the lovely 4506-T form. I filled out signed and sent back same day. 3 days later they called me back and said the blocks were lifted on my new card plus my personal blue cash card and nothing would be changes. As far as what I reported to them, I of course used my current year income which is 40k more than last year’s tax return and our revenue this year has already exceeded our total income from the previous year so there even though our reported items on the application (which were true and accurate based on current year revenues) was different than what our tax return reflected we still had no problems with “surviving” the financial review. I actually think it helped us from a business credit stand point because now they have verification that we are in fact generating more than enough revenue to meet our obligations to AMEX.
So, a FR doesn’t mean you will lose your cards or even end up with lower limits.
Just sharing my recent personal experience.
Best.
Did anyone feel that the trigger for a financial review was paying off a higher level of debt (18K)
While I understand their desire to protect their interests, the way they go about this is extremely disruptive to some of their best customers. The first time they FRed me on my business card, they had granted a number of line increases I didn’t request and wasn’t using, then shut down the whole line without warning. It was my SPG Amex so I had tied lots of recurring vendor stuff to it to earn points. I suggested they just put the line back to the small (<$10K) amount I originally requested, used, and always paid off, turn it back on and never mind the FR, but once the account was in FR they said they were going through with it no matter what. The process was not instantaneous. Temporarily changing vendor payment info, dealing with FR documentation, then changing it back caused me a lot of hassle in a very busy week when I really didn't need it. I also got some fees and fines from the declines that tipped me off to the FR. The whole "we occasionally turn off your card for a while without warning or cause" concept really soured the relationship for me, and at this point my only interaction with Amex is a Bluebird I use for paying questionable or one-off vendors that I don't want to give access to any larger lines or accounts. Chase and Cap One, who have better practices in my experience, now have most of my business for paying vendors. Chase reviews accounts too, but their practice seems to be to just reduce the line during review, not deactivate the account, and they have never demanded 4506-Ts from me. Anecdotally: occasionally Amex seems to target an industry or size of business for FR regardless of account performance. I sometimes hear from a cluster of people all doing similar work (mortgages, tech, etc.) that they all just got FRed within days or weeks of each other; I imagine this has to do with perceived risk increases endemic to a particular industry or market. It seems implausible that they all tripped the same financial trigger at the same time.
A few years ago when the mint was still open for cc ax requested a 4506 form not 4506-t for my mom, wife and myself