In late 2017 Chase axed my cards (I got back with Chase in 2021 btw) and Citi did the same in 2019, so I always wonder when American Express would bestow me with their infamous Financial Review. Well, it finally happened.
What Triggered the Financial Review
Relatively large (with respect to my normal spending habits) spending on my new Business Platinum card is what did it. I had purchased a few thousand worth of items and still had not paid the bill (the due date was far away). I paid rent directly to the rental company and also paid something else via Plastiq (this was prior to Amex not working on Plastiq) on the same day. I think a day or so later, I saw a message on my account saying “Charging suspended. Please call 1-800-678-0738 if we haven’t already spoken with you”. This message would remain throughout the duration of my financial review. Oddly enough, a few minutes after I saw the message, I got a call from American Express.
Financial Review Call
First, the American agent wanted to be sure that the recent charges were made by me. The rep also inquired about a merchant (related to gift card purchases) she was not familiar with. She inquired what was the purpose of the gift to which I mentioned along the lines that they were going to be a personal gift to someone. She even inquired about a $400 (gift card) purchase I had made at Staples to which I said it was for business.
After making a brief inquiry about my business and job, I was asked about my income. I started my income to be the same as my tax filing for last year but I had (at that moment) not accounted for a part-time job I had recently left. When I was putting together my paystubs I realized that my predicted annual income was short by $20k than what I had stated (i.e., last year’s income). Opss. I tried calling Amex to fix the statement I had made earlier but I didn’t get a hold of the agent reviewing my case. The agent who picked up the phone stated that she would make a note of what I had mentioned to her.
Anyway, the other thing I was asked for was bank account statements. The agent wanted to match the payment on my American Express card with that withdrawn from my bank account. She also said additional bank balance might help the case. I ended up submitting some statements of my Fold account as well as statements of some unrelated bank accounts where I was hoarding some cash.
(Sidenote: I always tell myself not to shuffle money all the time but I end up deploying most of my cash chasing bank bonuses, APY, and whatnot, so when banks ask for multiple statements, it gets a little annoying to piece it all together.)
Uploading Requested Documents
The two types of documents that were requested, namely bank statements and paystubs, were to be uploaded by following the instruction in an email that soon followed. The email read:
American Express recently requested some documents in order to conduct a financial review. Detailed instructions on how to return those documents are below. To avoid possible closure of the account(s), it is critical that this information be completed correctly and returned to us within the deadline discussed by the American Express representative.
Oh, yes, I think the rep had given me maybe 1-2 weeks to submit the documents. Also, the rep had said that it would take them about 1 week to go complete the financial review. Once I submitted the document, it was reiterated that the “documents will be processed and the review will be complete in 5-7 days”.
It is a good idea to call after you submit the document just to double-check that they got all the documents they want. This is how I found out that I had forgotten to submit an additional statement (they wanted 2/bank).
The Outcome of Financial Review
A few days after submitting the documents, American Express spammed me with a whole bunch of emails (1/card) titled “Important Account Status”. It basically stated that they had “assigned a Spending Limit” on my cards, including charge cards.
Another set of emails, titled “Important information about your account” was concurrently sent by American Express. This email was simply informing me that I could check out a secure message from American Express by logging into my account. The document in this secure message explained the reason why the spending limit was put in place. It read,
your total annual income indicated in the information you provided is insufficient for spending beyond the limit identified above
Closing Thoughts
Follow your existing spending pattern or change it slowly. And maybe don’t fumble around when stating the income.
