So, I had faced a financial review (FR) by Amex. Kindly learn from this thread to avoid a FR and how to come out of it.
Please read : (**long post alert**) I reside in Jaipur Rajasthan and had applied for amex as soon as it was launched in Jaipur in 2015. The first card issued to me was Amex platinum reserve which I closed within a month as the Amex’s offline acceptance was pathetic to say the least. It still is.
I reapplied after a few months but this time for Plat travel and then started my journey to mint Amex points since 2016. I achieved each and every spend based targets/milestones and received 100% fee waivers every year based on the spends.
I was offered MRCC as companion card and I gladly took it. I was minting more points than ever. Thing to note here is that these were the days when Paytm/MobiKwik and various other wallets had so many loopholes and they were being used by everyone to manufacture spends and I was no different. Combined with a lot of genuine spends and wallet loads, I had amassed a lot of points.
Around Covid times ie Jan 2020 I was getting bombarded with emails/calls from amex to apply for the plat charge (70800/- annual fee) for almost a year and a half.
Fast forward to 2021. I took the plunge as they were offering an irresistible upgrade offer of 80k taj vouchers or 1.5 lacs points.
Now, things start to go downhill. I had clearly told the Amex sales person that according to the eligibility criteria for the plat charge, I am falling slightly short of the required annual ITR. He said no worries Sir, just go for it, there’s going to be no problem.
Now, my first purchase on plat charge was a pretty big one as it was a no spending limit card (there’s always a shadow limit).
That’s when all hell broke loose. Within 5 minutes of taking that transaction, I was bombarded with Amex emails. ***ACCOUNT SUSPENDED*** Contact Amex for more information. And NO! it wasn’t just for the plat charge, it was for all my Amex cards.
So, before I called Amex, I searched online and not much info was available about India specific FR but found many stories of the US.
in short, a FR can go either ways ie all your cards closed and points forfeited and you are in all probability done with Amex OR you come out of it with some curbs on limits and you go on with your life having learnt something about Amex.
For me, I came out of it with all my cards and points intact but took a massive hit on my Credit limits. They reduced my limits by 60% across the board.
What happens exactly after you get that dreaded email:
You call the amex support, they ll just transfer your call to a specific department that deals with FR without giving any info.
I was transferred to that department and they just told me to send my bank statement and ITR.
They ll give you 15 days to comply and furnish the documents and if you don’t they ll close your cards.
Usually, FR decision takes anywhere between 30-45 days and in the meantime the Amex account ie all the cards remain suspended. Everything is suspended. You can’t even redeem your points.
After about a month or so, I got a call from Amex informing about the FR decision that it’s all good to go from here but we have reduced your credit limits by x amount.
This was a sigh of relief as I had amassed a huge amount of points and was mainly worried about forfeiting them.
Well, all’s well that ends well. Lesson learnt. Some things to always avoid especially with Amex to steer clear of a FR:
1) Never use your card at a particular merchant frequently for huge amounts. (Spend manufacturers will know what I mean)
2) For charge cards avoid checking your spending power frequently. Do it only before taking a high value transaction. Make sure it’s genuine. Amex can ask you to furnish the invoice.
3) If you yourself are a merchant. Never ever swipe your own card on your own pos machine. This will bring you straight to a FR 100%.
I have covered almost all aspects of a FR. Will be happy to answer your queries regarding this.
P.S. fast forward to today I still hold all 3 of my Amex cards and multiple limit enhancements have been offered (mind you offered and not requested by me) by Amex since 2021 till date on all my Amex cards. Also, I learnt that it’s better to keep redeeming the points regularly.
Thanks for reading through
Please read : (**long post alert**) I reside in Jaipur Rajasthan and had applied for amex as soon as it was launched in Jaipur in 2015. The first card issued to me was Amex platinum reserve which I closed within a month as the Amex’s offline acceptance was pathetic to say the least. It still is.
I reapplied after a few months but this time for Plat travel and then started my journey to mint Amex points since 2016. I achieved each and every spend based targets/milestones and received 100% fee waivers every year based on the spends.
I was offered MRCC as companion card and I gladly took it. I was minting more points than ever. Thing to note here is that these were the days when Paytm/MobiKwik and various other wallets had so many loopholes and they were being used by everyone to manufacture spends and I was no different. Combined with a lot of genuine spends and wallet loads, I had amassed a lot of points.
Around Covid times ie Jan 2020 I was getting bombarded with emails/calls from amex to apply for the plat charge (70800/- annual fee) for almost a year and a half.
Fast forward to 2021. I took the plunge as they were offering an irresistible upgrade offer of 80k taj vouchers or 1.5 lacs points.
Now, things start to go downhill. I had clearly told the Amex sales person that according to the eligibility criteria for the plat charge, I am falling slightly short of the required annual ITR. He said no worries Sir, just go for it, there’s going to be no problem.
Now, my first purchase on plat charge was a pretty big one as it was a no spending limit card (there’s always a shadow limit).
That’s when all hell broke loose. Within 5 minutes of taking that transaction, I was bombarded with Amex emails. ***ACCOUNT SUSPENDED*** Contact Amex for more information. And NO! it wasn’t just for the plat charge, it was for all my Amex cards.
So, before I called Amex, I searched online and not much info was available about India specific FR but found many stories of the US.
in short, a FR can go either ways ie all your cards closed and points forfeited and you are in all probability done with Amex OR you come out of it with some curbs on limits and you go on with your life having learnt something about Amex.
For me, I came out of it with all my cards and points intact but took a massive hit on my Credit limits. They reduced my limits by 60% across the board.
What happens exactly after you get that dreaded email:
You call the amex support, they ll just transfer your call to a specific department that deals with FR without giving any info.
I was transferred to that department and they just told me to send my bank statement and ITR.
They ll give you 15 days to comply and furnish the documents and if you don’t they ll close your cards.
Usually, FR decision takes anywhere between 30-45 days and in the meantime the Amex account ie all the cards remain suspended. Everything is suspended. You can’t even redeem your points.
After about a month or so, I got a call from Amex informing about the FR decision that it’s all good to go from here but we have reduced your credit limits by x amount.
This was a sigh of relief as I had amassed a huge amount of points and was mainly worried about forfeiting them.
Well, all’s well that ends well. Lesson learnt. Some things to always avoid especially with Amex to steer clear of a FR:
1) Never use your card at a particular merchant frequently for huge amounts. (Spend manufacturers will know what I mean)
2) For charge cards avoid checking your spending power frequently. Do it only before taking a high value transaction. Make sure it’s genuine. Amex can ask you to furnish the invoice.
3) If you yourself are a merchant. Never ever swipe your own card on your own pos machine. This will bring you straight to a FR 100%.
I have covered almost all aspects of a FR. Will be happy to answer your queries regarding this.
P.S. fast forward to today I still hold all 3 of my Amex cards and multiple limit enhancements have been offered (mind you offered and not requested by me) by Amex since 2021 till date on all my Amex cards. Also, I learnt that it’s better to keep redeeming the points regularly.
Thanks for reading through
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