Hi everyone, I'm ISSAC. Back in May, I went through both an AMEX FR and a Chase family shutdown at the same time, and I'm sharing my experience here.

Background

Back in May, for some reason, I needed to spend $100,000 in stages, about $10,000 each time. Before the first purchase, I called Chase and AMEX and told them when and where I would be making a $10,000 purchase. Both banks' customer service agents happily told me they had marked it in the system and that there would be no problem. After the call, I went to the store and used my cards. Both the CSP and Platinum went through instantly. I paid them off quickly after the purchases.

Two days later, I called Chase and AMEX again and told them that I needed to make a $10,000 purchase on the CFU and Platinum. This time was the same: the reps cheerfully told me there would be no issue. But when I actually tried to use the CFU, the transaction was declined, and I didn't even receive a fraud alert text. I thought that was strange, tried two more times, and still couldn't get it through. So I called Chase. The agent was very cold and told me that the account is under review and that I would get the review result in 7 business days. There was nothing else they could do. I was pretty speechless, so I just used the Platinum to complete all the transactions, and there were no problems at all.

Chase Family Shutdown

After I got home, I contacted Chase through secure message and asked why my transaction was declined even though I had called ahead to notify them about the large purchase. The fraud department contacted me shortly after, confirmed that it was indeed my transaction, and then restored card usage. The card was revived.

A few days later, I went to CVS and, to my surprise, got declined again. I was furious and planned to call customer service when I got home, but then I found that all 4 cards showed "Account is closed." I was shocked — could this really be the legendary family shutdown? I quickly searched online for advice from people who had been through this before, and on U.S. Credit Card 101 I found a series of Chase family shutdown-related posts:

So I called Chase and was told that I had indeed been family shut down. The customer service agent was still very cold and told me I would receive a paper letter explaining why I was shut down, and to wait for it. They also submitted a second review request for me, saying the result would be ready in about 1 week. Soon after, I received the first letter, which said the reason was that the CSP account was too new and had large purchases too soon, with the balance increasing too quickly. About 2 weeks later, I received the second letter, which said the account could not be reopened, and the reason was still the same as in the first letter. From this interaction, I have two guesses:

  • Chase accounts that are too new (mine was 3 months old) cannot make large purchases, and calling customer service ahead of time doesn't help
  • The department that handles family shutdowns may make decisions independently from the fraud department and has nothing to do with it

So I gave up resisting as well (to be honest, I was just too busy and didn't feel like managing so many cards).

AMEX Financial Review

Here comes the interesting part: at the same time the Chase cards were locked, all of my AMEX cards were also suspended, which means they were FR'd. The suspension notice also included a phone number. Basically, the situation was the same as in the article below:

Very soon, I received an email saying that I had been FR'd and that someone would contact me. After that, I got a call from Arizona. A rep asked me for my employer's name and my current annual income, and also told me that I would need Form 4506T. He said they would email me the form along with the instructions. I asked how long the FR would take, and he said that after they received the form, the review could be completed in about 5 days. So I filled out the form, signed it, faxed it, and sent it to AMEX that same day.

Over the next few days, I kept checking my AMEX account. Around the third day, it was unlocked, and at noon I also got a call from the same rep telling me the review was complete and the account could be used normally. There was no mention of increasing or lowering the credit limit, so I didn't ask. After the FR was completed, I used the AMEX cards to finish the remaining $60,000 in spending without any issues.

Summary

From this experience, Chase is very sensitive to large purchases, while AMEX is more friendly toward them. Chase family shutdowns are very hard to reconsider, and calling ahead or quickly paying off the balance afterward doesn't help much. AMEX FR, on the other hand, is relatively easy to pass as long as the income is stated truthfully and can cover the spending (in my case).

ymlulu's Analysis

From Chase's family shutdown, we can see:

  • The Chase FR department is independent from the fraud department and front-line customer service. So don't assume that because your card swipes normally, nobody is watching you behind the scenes.
  • With a new Chase card, you should still be a bit careful. Just put some spending on it to meet the sign-up bonus requirement; there's no need to dump a huge purchase onto a brand-new card all at once.
  • A new card itself is already a higher-risk behavior. New card + very large purchase = doubled danger
  • Chase cares more about the large purchase itself and doesn't care that much whether you have the money to pay it back

From AMEX's family shutdown, we can see:

  • AMEX only cares whether you have the ability to pay. If you do, then swipe away...

In short, if you're going to make a large purchase, especially a very large one-time purchase, you should still be careful. It's best to "train" the card first, for example by putting large purchases on it regularly so the bank's algorithm can gradually get used to it. If possible, try to spread very large purchases across different banks and different cards, since that is the lowest-risk approach. If you really have to swipe, AMEX is still the better choice.

If you don't want to cause all kinds of unnecessary trouble, you can refer to the card usage method below: