Posted on 03/09/2009 4:50:01 AM PDT by christx30
If you have an American Express card, beware: your card could be put on hold at any moment, even if you think you've made all your payments on time. That means, you won't be able to charge anything on your Amex card.
That's exactly what happened to Cathy Jones, a businesswoman with three Amex charge cards. She got a call from Amex last week saying her cards were now on hold, while the company did a financial investigation to make sure she could pay her bills.
Jones was baffled. She's been an Amex cardholder since 1989 and can't remember being late on a payment. So, to get some answers, Jones and I got on the phone, and called the customer service number on the back of her card.
An Amex representative in New Delhi, India, said because of the bad economic times, American Express is now doing financial investigations of thousands of cardholders. The rep said Amex is insisting these customers fill out an IRS form 4506-T, authorizing the company to get their tax returns for the last three years. The rep told us if Jones didn't fill out the IRS form, they'd cancel her charge cards for good, within five days. And here's the part that concerned Cathy Jones: The rep said these "investigations" were being done, not in the US, but in India.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Say no more.
It would certainly help to would bring back all of positions sent ‘over there’ during the now-departed times of ‘full employment’.
Looks like AmEx is going the way of the other decrepit credit card companies.
That’s it. I am done with American Express.
Except perhaps to short their stock.
My husband has NO choice. The corporation he works for has all their employee expense cards through American Express.
I guess American Express should consider a new name.
Orient Express?
Same here. We haven't received notice of this though. Have you?
Typical drive-by posters...don’t know a damned thing.
It it were your own money you were lending, wouldn’t you want to find out ways to ‘stop the bleeding’...stop losing money to all the small businesses going bankrupt?
I know several people that had high credit ratings and in six months they were filing bankruptcy.
Bad stuff happens.....and sometimes it happens quickly.
It’s smart business sense to reevaluate the risks.
Then how are tax returns from 3 years ago going to help?
How does looking at a 3 year old tax return help?
Ok, I least I didn’t post 3 years after you did!
RE “Wow... why would anyone use AmEx now that they are doing this stuff?”
I love my Chase card dont have AmEx but she may have other credit problems not mentioned like cable bill .
It’s called unsecured debt.
LLS
Because it provides a good composite of how much of the person/company's gross income...which is always used in applications...is being written down on the Schedule C.
Send copies of tax returns to New Delhi... yeah, okeydokey.
Amex can certainly tighten up their credit review if they wish. If asked for my tax returns, I think I will instead send back my Amex blue card. I’ll send it to New Dehli wrapped in presents from New York courtesy of my cat’s litterbox.
The AmEx card I have is also a corporate card and we’re forced to use it by the company in order to be reimbursed.
I’ve not received notice of any of this, but I sent the link to my upper management to see what they have to say about it. The company employs just shy of 50,000 people so hopefully if this is being done they can stomp on it for us.
If it were me:
“I have no intention of sending MY tax information to India.
This sound more like an attempt to extort identity theft.
If AmEx believes this is a good business practice, then it’s important for me to tell them otherwise.
The only prudent action is for me to cancel all 3 account immediately!
He should contact Corporate HQ and let them know there may be an attempt to extort ID theft and the company needs to change contracts!
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