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.

Author Topic: Amex F/R Master Thread  (Read 1801812 times)

Offline MarkS

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #160 on: June 08, 2010, 12:33:28 AM »
Not very long at all. Once you send on your 4506T it takes about 2-3 days and your up and running again! (Hopefully)

Offline steve2

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #161 on: June 08, 2010, 12:37:57 AM »
HEY GUYS. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP.

My FR is done. I SURVIVED. What triggered it was my business card (the card is on a TAX IS not a sol proprietor). They wanted to see my business tax returns from 08. I told her that the corp was opened in september 2008 and they was not much action in 08. we went back and forth. I wanted to show her my bank statements instead and she said she needs the returns, she was a very nice person BTW....
What eventually saved my tush was that my father declared me as a dependent in 2008. After she found that out she said to send in my last 3 months of my business bank statements ( the account I had been using to pay the card. I sent them in and she cleared the account within the hour. (the December one wasn't so hot but the other ones were ok) she also asked me a lot about the kind of business that I am running... etc.
anyone have a questions, let me know. I am willing to talk on the phone and give advise from my experience.



 Nice, a major problem for some is that the #s on the app were all made up = no way to show any proof to anything, so in that case its best to simply bluff your way out , if a person is new to Amex then theres not much they can do if they have been with them and have a good track record fall back on that and out of Principle tell them you refuse to send anything in

Offline Monsey

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #162 on: June 09, 2010, 07:19:00 PM »
I had a hilton amex for about six months with 20k credit. Last week i applied for the personal starwood card and got 2k credit. When i got my starwood card i transfered over 18k from my hilton and on the same day i closed my hilton card. Today i got a call from f/r. On my starwood application i said i make 125k a year and they asked me for proof. I told them that im a dependent on my father and thats his income. She told me i can send in the last 3 months statements of my checking account and any other investments to show them how much money i have and then they will decide what to do. Do you think i should close my account or wait and see what happens. They dont want my fathers tax return because it isnt in my name

Offline Avid Reader

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #163 on: June 09, 2010, 07:28:05 PM »
Do you think i should close my account or wait and see what happens. They dont want my fathers tax return because it isnt in my name

Dont close. Show them the statements. It worked for me.

Offline dvwing

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #164 on: June 09, 2010, 07:43:38 PM »
Well two days after my FR, I got hit AGAIN! The first FR was Monday on my husband's two accounts. Yesterday I sent in the 4506T and today I got THE phone call. Now my two accounts are suspended until the FR is done.

I think I know what triggered it. We got the new cards a couple weeks ago, went on to the AMEX link for adding a new cardmember for 1,000 bonus points for each one added. We added 2 per card, a total of 8 cardmembers between the two of us. Somewhere in the transmission it came through new accounts as a new card application instead of an added cardmember. I went in and did it again because the new accounts customer service rep told me to. Now I have been getting all kinds of letters saying that we have already applied for a card and they are cancelling the duplicate request. The thing is, it's not a duplicate request for a new account, but an additional card member.

FR told me there was a lot of inquiries on my credit report.

Offline MarkS

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #165 on: June 09, 2010, 10:10:02 PM »
They always say that they are not trying to close you down, and they value your business.....As long as you cooperate and send in your statements, YOU WILL NOT BE CLOSED DOWN!  
 All the hype out there about people loosing their accounts is for those who didn't comply and didn't send in the forms.
Even if the amount on your tax return/bank statements shows that the amount you wrote on your application is not true, they will simply lower your credit limit.
They tell everyone that there is only a 1% chance of being closed EVEN IF YOUR STATEMENTS DON'T MATCH YOUR CLAIMED INCOME!!

Offline D.S.

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #166 on: June 16, 2010, 03:44:57 AM »
I got F/R'd and I really want to sign up again. I love amex especially the starwoods. I am going to try in a few months and pray for the best.
Did it work???

Offline dvwing

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #167 on: June 16, 2010, 04:24:02 AM »
2 days after my husbands FR, I got FR. All 4 of our cards got shut down.

With the first one, we immediately faxed our form for them to access our tax records which showed 31k when our application said 50k a year. Took exactly one week and the FR went through fine with no changes to the credit limits.

The second FR was painless as they already had received the tax forms from my husbands FR and used all the same info. My cards were up and running with no changes the next day after his FR went through.

 :D

Offline Avid Reader

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #168 on: June 16, 2010, 09:19:17 AM »
2 days after my husbands FR, I got FR. All 4 of our cards got shut down.

With the first one, we immediately faxed our form for them to access our tax records which showed 31k when our application said 50k a year. Took exactly one week and the FR went through fine with no changes to the credit limits.

The second FR was painless as they already had received the tax forms from my husbands FR and used all the same info. My cards were up and running with no changes the next day after his FR went through.

 :D

NICE!! Happy for you. Thanks for posting the results.

Offline askmoses

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #169 on: June 16, 2010, 04:26:43 PM »
I was fr and when I cancelled then reapplied they wanted a certain form that would have cost me some 50 buck(or so) to obtain from the IRS. They specifically said they wanted that one so I decided it just wasn't worth it....
which forms did they as you for?

Offline dvwing

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #170 on: June 16, 2010, 08:11:40 PM »
I was fr and when I cancelled then reapplied they wanted a certain form that would have cost me some 50 buck(or so) to obtain from the IRS. They specifically said they wanted that one so I decided it just wasn't worth it....
which forms did they as you for?


4506T No charge

Offline Avid Reader

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #171 on: June 16, 2010, 08:16:02 PM »
2 days after my husbands FR, I got FR. All 4 of our cards got shut down.

With the first one, we immediately faxed our form for them to access our tax records which showed 31k when our application said 50k a year. Took exactly one week and the FR went through fine with no changes to the credit limits.

The second FR was painless as they already had received the tax forms from my husbands FR and used all the same info. My cards were up and running with no changes the next day after his FR went through.

 :D

Do you know what triggered it?

Offline askmoses

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #172 on: June 16, 2010, 09:17:07 PM »
They specifically asked for the 4506.... no T which is the transcript which would make it free. Not sure why they went so gung ho on me....

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Re: Amex Financial Review
« Reply #173 on: June 16, 2010, 09:25:42 PM »
Maybe cuz you canceled on them, they thought you had a reason to and got suspicious.

Offline Monsey

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #174 on: June 18, 2010, 05:19:24 AM »
I had a hilton amex for about six months with 20k credit. Last week i applied for the personal starwood card and got 2k credit. When i got my starwood card i transfered over 18k from my hilton and on the same day i closed my hilton card. Today i got a call from f/r. On my starwood application i said i make 125k a year and they asked me for proof. I told them that im a dependent on my father and thats his income. She told me i can send in the last 3 months statements of my checking account and any other investments to show them how much money i have and then they will decide what to do. Do you think i should close my account or wait and see what happens. They dont want my fathers tax return because it isnt in my name
SURVIVED! I got a call today that they arent closing my account but they would wanna reduce the credit line but they cant because its against the law to lower someones credit within 60 days of opening that new line of credit so i still have my 20k credit limit. Thanks avid reader for the help.

Offline Dan

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #175 on: June 18, 2010, 10:32:35 AM »
They always say that they are not trying to close you down, and they value your business.....As long as you cooperate and send in your statements, YOU WILL NOT BE CLOSED DOWN! 
 All the hype out there about people loosing their accounts is for those who didn't comply and didn't send in the forms.
Even if the amount on your tax return/bank statements shows that the amount you wrote on your application is not true, they will simply lower your credit limit.
They tell everyone that there is only a 1% chance of being closed EVEN IF YOUR STATEMENTS DON'T MATCH YOUR CLAIMED INCOME!!
This is true only if you have a real reported income.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline MarkS

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #176 on: June 18, 2010, 10:48:36 AM »
This is true only if you have a real reported income.

As long as you have any reported income. It doesnt have to be anything near what you wrote on the application.

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Financial Review
« Reply #177 on: July 01, 2010, 03:16:10 PM »
Can anyone explain what the deal is with Financial review? if you actually make the income you post on your application, is there any downside to FR? What can they do pursuant to FR?

Thanks!

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #178 on: July 01, 2010, 03:55:51 PM »
If you have too much suspicious activity (opening too many cards too quickly, spending too much of your available credit, have credit lines out of proportion with your income, spend on suspicious items, etc.) that can cause AMEX to request your past year's tax files.

If you make on the books what you claimed and don't mind giving AMEX that data you'll be fine.  If you make less you may get your lines cut, if you make nothing you need to shut down your accounts before they shut 'em down for you.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline gozalim

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Re: Financial Review
« Reply #179 on: July 01, 2010, 08:33:31 PM »
SPG Personal vs. Business:
which is more likely to be churnable?
which is more likely to trigger a Financial Review?