Normally, I don’t go off on a rant on my blog, but I really don’t think that I can leave this one alone…
I just got off the phone with a Manager at American Express (who refused to give me her name, but I have her employee ID Number) because I just got some absolutely ridiculous news.
American Express just cut the available credit limits on one of my credit cards by 95%. I’ve had this card for 23 years, without missing a payment and for most of the past 23 years, have paid the card in full each month.
About a year ago, I took a AMEX Blue for Business Card Offer from them for one of my businesses. They offered me a card with a $40,000 limit and 0% for the first 6 months, so I took it. Then in the past 90 days, they arbitrarily cut the credit limit to $100 over my balance, and then this week, cut it again because I paid down the balance.
Apparently, American Express’ new policy is to cut EVERYONE down to just what their balances are (plus a few dollars) essentially making all their cards unusable. The funny thing with all this is the reason they cited for the second limit reduction is that the Balance to Limit ratio was too high. My Balance to Limit ratio before they started cutting was about 25%, but when they cut the limit, it jumped to 97%, thus triggering another 90 days review and limit reduction.
I don’t know about you, but with whatever you think about the current financial “Crunch” it seems to me that people like myself with credit scores of well over 700 would be the ideal customer for credit card companies such as American Express. It makes no sense at all why they would be so quick to completely piss me off and make me cancel all of my accounts with them, especially since I’ve been paying the accounts on time for 23 years.
Let me know what you are experiencing with your American Express Cards. I think that we all should write letters of protest to them. I sure as hell know I’m going to be selling my stock in Amex and recommending to everyone to do the same.
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Hi Mark,
Amex did the same thing to me. I have a Platinum card and an LOC for My Mobile Vault. We make always payments on time, using the on-line payment system (which sometimes makes mistakes – another story).
Last fall, we sent over financials requesting a credit increase – 2008 was GlobaFone’s best year ever and an increase would help us avoid having to ‘pre-load’ our account to cover Satcom hardware costs. They CUT our limit by 90% citing a negative revenue and profit trend (reality = 130% and 160% increases respectively). After exhaustive discussion, pointing out how completely stupid the reasoning – clearly nobody actually READ the financials – I got the limit restored to ½ of the previous limit. I actually got an underwriting manager to agree the decision did not make sense and she ordered another review
AMEX also kept lowering our limit on the line of credit, same scenario as you have. Last week we had a discussion with them because our on-line statement showed that the line of credit had been cancelled (???). AMEX says I cancelled it in January but has no phone call logged, no written request, no date and time, etc. The reality is that AMEX cancelled the LOC program. The on-line system also applied the payment to the Platinum card, not the LOC. The ‘Click Here’ link put the payment in the Platinum account, not the LOC account. Brilliant.
The bottom line is that AMEX is a completely customer apathetic company. They do not care about you or your situation or your needs. They are a faceless, nameless company so that nobody has to take responsibility. They do not return calls and nobody has the authority to actually solve your problems, and I’ve found in many cases, they don’t want to anyway. All that said I’m keeping my Platinum card for one reason and one reason only: Membership rewards. I have over 1 Million points which I can move to my Continental, Delta, US Air or Southwest accounts.
AMEX is a terrible company but they have just one program that keeps me as a client. We understand their orientation and method of operation so our expectations are very low. As long as we know the rules of the game, we can play. If you want a credit/charge care that cares about you, go someplace else. AMEX is not a customer-centric organization.
If you can handle the AMEX created challenges and obstacles, there is real benefit for you as an AMEX card member. Just keep good notes of conversations and ask for conclusions in writing. All that said I hardly endorse them.