my big question on the mint coins is: was coins the only purchase on those cards. i buy mostly on one card but also use it for just about everything else as well. so is this targeted due to mint ONLY or? txs!

Goodness – you really keep plugging away at the $450 fee Amex platinum, month after month after month. I think in every post you should place a disclaimer stating that you do get referral miles for each sign up through your link. It's just the decent and correct thing to do.
It is an ok deal, but really the endless justifications for how that $450 fee is not so bad – you get this bag free, and this (poor) lounge entry, is getting a little tedious.
This is an informative and useful blog, but please keep it all sparkling clean/kosher to keep our confidence!

I finished my initial spend on the personal SPG card about a monto ago with coins but used it also for everything else. Thank God, I never got the dreaded review.

I would NEVER sign over to AMEX the 4506-T. I would offer to send them paycheck stubs and/or W-2's.

Also, they ask for household income & what if the other member(s) of the household do not consent to sending AMEX their information!

Please note the Spirit link is NOT for 5000 free miles. You have to attend one of their events to receive a certificate for the miles.

This is simply a way for them to spam your inbox once you have signed up.

To My Anonymous Brother: Come on my brother See the light. 75,000 Delta miles, lounge access for one year and elite status for the same year, SPG Gold status for a year all for a net cost of $250.

What are you smokin' brother?

What if you told Amex the Mint coins were a bonafide gift? Would that be against the policy of either the Mint or Amex?

so we tell the mint for spend.
so we tell amex we collect coins?

Dan, who is financially uneducated, wrote concerning AMEX:

I said I used them for the intended purpose as stated on US Mint.

And what was that, Dan? Hmmm?

Form 4506T is the request for a transcript of ones tax return. Tell AMEX to go to hell and close your accounts. Unless, of course, you disclose your INCOME properly and don't mind a private firm (not the IRS) scaring you into an audit.

Man, this is just too funny.

The FT thread is a bit old but it is still useful. I don't think much has changed since then.

AMEX does not accept any other form of proof except for the requested 4506-T. Either sign that or they will close your account in 5 business days, and they are very strict about that.

If your reported income was same/close to your tax return, you should be fine. As has been discussed endless times on the now-locked coin thread on FT and the FR thread, the banks see coin purchases as very high risk activities, especially if you max out the AMEX cards only or mostly for coin purchases and you have a huge credit line. They want to make sure they are extending credits to those creditworthy and they are comfortable with. Financial Review is the way AMEX chooses to achieve this.

Yes, I got the FR in 2009 April and passed. They froze my card out of the blue, called me specifically asking about the Mint purchases, asked for my signed 4506-T, and un-freeze my card 3 business days after I sent the 4506-T. They were very polite and professional, but were also very direct on what they wanted. Nothing else. According to the FR thread on FT, no other AMEX CSR is allowed to give you any assistance except for the assigned FR agent.

Since then, I have been advocating to mix daily purchases with coin purchases with the AMEX card. Many people think they could get away and ignore the warning until one day their cards (and everyone's in the same household) are all frozen for the FR.

I also pass up the opportunities to request a higher credit line (which they granted anyway a few days ago without asking). The last thing I want is a big credit line that poses too much risk for AMEX and dings me with another FR.

Since I only have the SPG AMEX, I don't know if this still holds true. Once you close (or are forced to close) the AMEX cards with MR points, you have 30 days to redeem your points before they are forever gone. Some FTers even take a step further and redeem all the AMEX MR points before the FR was completed. Login behind it was better safe than sorry. Make sure you call and ask AMEX if your MR points are safe for 30 days if you do not pass (hope this never happens) the FR.

buschoi

Financial review. Sorry Dan , I don't have any experience with that. I hope to keep it that way. How heavy were you hitting the coins? Myself I have two Amex accounts. Each account has 2 cards, one for me ,one for spouse. 4 separate card numbers. Probably do a total of $5,000 per month spread over these two Amex accounts. Most of my day to day spending also goes on these cards so it's a nice mix. I was hoping that level would not trigger the FA.
Has your Mint purchasing been more extreme than mine.
I have read somewhere that if you keep you monthly coin purchases below your stated cash advance limit , you are okay. don't know if that's true. What has your pattern been?

FTG provides the info, it is our job to decide if the AMX card or anything else in his blog meets our needs or not. It met my needs and I am happy to have it and no, I haven't decided if I will be renewing it or not. But for what I got out of it for first year I am perfectly happy with it.
1) Used up the 200$ incidentals for an Intl trip where I knew I had to pay fees for my over weight luggage.
2) The gold upgrade in starwood gave me 50% more point while I stayed in one of their properties last week during a long conference. Seeing as I did not pay for the hotel, some one else did, that was free points for me.
3) have been using the card to get in to various lounges while traveling sardine class.
4) The 75K delta miles + what I already had allowed me to do a 100K matching through venture card which I was already planning to get due to the way they do intl transactions. This is just gravy over the top.
It is always Buyer be aware, FTG you keep it up and I will decide if the info meets my needs or not and thanks for the blog.

Dan, who is also financially uneducated, also wrote concerning AMEX:

"I don't think we should have a problem since I stated our personal income correctly on our application."

I'll betcha $1 US MINT coin that statement is also NOT TRUE. In fact, not even close to being true.

Dan…..you're stupid for what you did. You're even more stupid for sending the email to FT-Fat-Guy and then he posts it on a public blog for THE IRS TO SEE!

Again, this is so farkin' hilarious.

Same thing happened to me when I asked them to increase my credit line from 12K to 16K. I at first was astonished that they would freeze my account and then I was mad.
I usually do around 10K a month and was increasing the business I was doing with a supplier, therefore the request for a larger credit line. I also paid my bills in full each month.I guess they don't take these things into consideration.
No way am I going to give them my confidential tax records, especially when the person that called me was from a country that is borderline friendly with the U.S.How do you know that the information you send can't fall into harms way.
So I cancelled my account immediately and waited 2 months to reapply for the same card. I not only was approved but my credit limit increased from 12K to 18K. Go figure.

I also got a Amex Financial Review 1.5 years ago. At that time, we were reselling stuffs online and used couple of our Amex cards to make the purchases. The cards were used for large purchases. The purchases were all for the same amount and happened many times in a day. Although we only used couple of our Amex, when we got the FR, all of our Amex cards were frozen.

When we contacted Amex, we were asked similar questions as Dan and had to fill out the same form within the next 5 (five) days. We were also told that my purchases are in violation of Amex credit card agreement. Nonetheless, we complied with their requests and all of our cards were released without any issues soon after that. Just that simple !

My thoughts on that is that as long as your income stated on your application is similar your tax return, you should be fine. Form 4056T is mainly used to evaluate your creditworthiness, verify your income and also to detect fraud from happening. Personally, I really don't think FR causes a red flag with IRS.

Hope that helps !

Wow the nastiness in a few comments is amazing… "dumb", "Fat-guy"? Grow up people!

I TRAVEL TO INDIA WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO AMEX AND THAT GREAT NATION I WILL NEVER SEND MY RECORDS THERE,BECAUSE I KNOW HOW THINGS WORK AS DOES EVERY INDIAN INCLUSING IN THE GREAT IAS (INDIAN ADIM SERVICES) …
SO DOES THESE FR SEEM TO BE OCCURIG MORE OFTEN?

"Narikin: Isn't it obvious to you that I get a referral on credit card ads? What is the big surprise there? AS I have stated many times before I get a referral. It also happens to be the best offer out there right now and has been for over two months now. I'll gladly discuss other cards and their bennines as they come up. And BTW, I also put up cards that offer no referral.RE: The Continental 50K link and the 35K US Airways link. Sure the referrals are nice, but the miles and deals are what we are searching for. Do you have a better card to suggest?"

Better card for most people? The Capital One Venture card. Basically $1100 free. Can't beat that. They obviously hurt your feelings, though.

A good chunk of my income is inside IRA-type accounts which do not appear on your tax return until you take the money out of the account. I always include that income in my "income" on applications since I can take the money out whenever I want, and money is money. Thus Amex' FR is worthless to them as to me.

Anyone know how Amex and other issuers look at a situation like this?

I applied for a credit union AMEX. (5pts/$ for airline tickets=8 cents/$ ). I initially got turned down because I used "net" income from my rental properties. I spoke to them & I should have put "gross" rental income because they deduct my monthly mortgage payments from my income when doing the credit analysis. When I sent in documentation of rents received & they were more than my mortgages, I got a very nice CL.

The 4506-T is not relevant in my case because I depreciate my rental properties on my taxes and it shows a much lower income (on paper) than I receive.

Now, how does AMEX do their credit underwriting in my case? Do I put "gross" rents or "net" rents? With 5 properties, there is a big difference between "gross" & "net" rents.

In my case, I would take the signup bonuses & if I got a FR, I would just close the accounts & take all the MR points with me!! I do not want to give them the tax returns which I consider very confidential. Nor my spouse's!!

Only mortgage lenders get my returns. Never a credit card company!!

Nice to see you at the Sheraton last night Rick! We had a great chat and I learned a lot. I'll never forget Senor 2 posts

Has anynody confirmed that you can use AMEX Plat incidentals $200 for AA giftcards?

To say that the Amex Platinum is a bad deal is just ridiculous. And to insinuate that Rick is foisting bad deals for some self-serving agenda is equally silly.

Rick has made it very clear that he gets a referral bonus for some of these cards. Not only that, but has asks politely, and says THANK YOU for using his referral. There is nothing nefarious about this. Wish our government could learn a thing or two about such transparency.

My first ever experience with travel rewards came directly from this web site, and it was to sign up for the Amex Platinum. When coupled with the Delta bonus promo, it resulted in me achieving my first ever airline status. All without flying a single mile. Thanks Rick! PLUS – I now have access to the Lounge at the airport, and best of all – esp since I have teenage daughters with whom I'll be travelling next week – NO CHECKED BAG FEES!

I also learned that I can get primary (not secondary) car rental insurance by using my Amex card for a flat fee for the week of <$25. That basically cut my car rental cost in half. And don't tell me that's not worth it, if you've ever tried to handle a claim on a car rental using your everyday car insurance – esp overseas!

Anyway, different travel reward bonuses will be more or less helpful to different people depending on their situation. That's what Rick is trying to do here! Point out what's available, and how it might help. I resent anyone posting that he's somehow taking advantage of us by openly stating that if we sign up for a card based on his help, he's appreciate the referral bonus.

I know he more than deserved mine.