Introduction
I haven’t seen a blog post on this but there is a Flyertalk thread about it. This happened to my wife last week, and I’ve heard of other readers getting these calls lately so the threshold of getting the call might have dropped.
What is the trigger
This seems to happen on AMEX BUSINESS cards. I haven’t heard of anyone getting this call on a PERSONAL card. What triggers the call? Large purchases or perhaps multiple small purchases.
The four questions
Sorry I don’t remember the questions exactly and the last 2 questions in the FT thread were not what my wife was asked.
- Is your business a money services business?
- Is your business a currency exchange business?
- Does your business transact more than $1,000 in money orders daily?
- Do you transmit funds for others?
Conclusion
I’m not going to tell you how to answer those questions since I don’t know your business. Just expect a call if you have an AMEX BUSINESS card and are doing large transactions. I got this call about 2 years ago and haven’t had any adverse action, and I didn’t slow down. I don’t think it leads to a FR either.
They seem to be trying to identify MS cardholders, presumably so they can clawback or deny points. I buy lots of GCs that I use to buy inventory to resell, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I got the call too, though I don’t currently have any Amex Biz cards.
Sometimes these calls do qualify as “mini-FRs”. Especially if they call after a large purchase. That’s my experience.