Recession is forcing American Express to reduce credit lines for no reason
I have always liked credit cards since I was a 18 years old. I have never really abused them and have never been a big user of them. However, I have always liked having the convenience it provides and having them in case of emergencies.
My credit history is perfect, goes back over 20 years, and I have an above average FICO score. Recently, for no reason I am aware of, a few of my credit cards reduced my credit lines down to the balance I owe on them. I actually used these credit cards for my business that I run. I have plenty of credit but I don’t like how they possibly could affect my future credit profile.
Literally one day, I had a $30,000 credit line card with a $10,000 balance. This is about 33% of the credit limit used. They reduced my limit to the $10,000 mark. I haven’t made any late payments on this card nor any other cards that I carry. The interest rate on this card is 3.99% fixed for the life of the balance. As long as I don’t miss a payment it will stay that rate. So now on my credit profile, it will look like I maxed out that card since I am at 100% of the credit limit. I have heard of card companies raising interest rates on a card if you are late on other cards, but all my cards are paid early. I do online banking and have them paid usually the day after I get my statement. I also have automatic payments set up to pay the minimum in case I overlook a payment. That is my failsafe backup plan in case my memory betrays me.
My guess is that the housing bust has hurt the banks and they are looking to reduce any further losses in their credit card portfolios. My feeling is they did this across the board with people who carry a big balance. At first it really irritated me, but I realize this is just fall out from the recession we are experiencing. That is one heck of a way to tighten up credit.
This literally happened yesterday and I haven’t had a chance to call the credit card company American Express to find out why they did this. I don’t expect to get a satisfactory answer since the account representatives are not the credit managers who make policy. The credit card company is free to do whatever they want as far as credit lines and rates, as I am free to cancel them and use other credit card services. In the future, when I have them paid off I will no longer use their services for my business.
I have a FICO score over 700, but because of this recent change I am guessing it will lower my score. I get free FICO scores through one of my other credit cards, so when they update next month I will see if this has had an adverse effect. If it so happens that my scores have been impacted negatively, who knows I might need to start looking at debt consolidation measures that might help turn things around.
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We’re at the mercy of credit card companies, because they’re the ones holding the money. But like you said, just move on to one which would provide better policies.
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The thing is, we are at credit card companies’ mercy. But you are doing the right thing, just move to the next available service that provides better policies.
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The exact situation you described has happened to me twice recently. Late last year, they reduced the spending limit on my Starwood rewards card with no provocation and then cut off the “Flex Spending” option on my Platinum. I’ve never been late once on any account, well over 700 credit score, etc.
I was also upset that at around the same time they had denied a charge on one of my charge cards that supposedly has no spending limit and they said it was because of the balances on my other accounts. When I then told a customer service rep that I simply took out another AMEX charge card and it went through fine, she was unable to address why one card would work and another did not.
I then spoke with an AMEX customer service manager about this situation and after a very long (1 hour) debate on how reducing credit actually penalizes customers even more for the same issues that they claim to be doing this for, she didn’t have a logical response. After pressuring her, She also confirmed that AMEX is getting away from issuing credit (they took away my flex spend rights on my platinum card) and regretted launching the “Flex Option”. She then had the nerve to actually say that I should pay down my balance on my Blue card. I laughed at her suggestion, stating that at 3.99% it makes no sense for me to do that especially when ING, Etrade etc are offering ~5% interest in a savings account.
I was pretty much insulted at this point as I have had a number of cards with AMEX over the years for personal and business reasons and paid of the charge cards and closed the accounts.
I kept my Blue card and one charge card open, and well of course over a few payments with no spending activity, they saw an opportunity to take away more credit. This month, they made the biggest cut by reducing down my Credit Line on my Blue Card, which they previously had not done. I don’t’ use the Blue Card much and simply transferred some balances to the card to take advantage of the low 3.99% APR. They pre-approved me for the line and encouraged me to take advantage of the balance transfers. If I had known they’d take that away, I’d have not done it. I have had a balance of $13,000 with $20,000 credit line and they recently reduced it down to $13,200 for “a recent review of your credit history.” Now it looks like I’m maxing it out.
The thing that makes me most upset is that my balances with all of my credit lines (non-AMEX) are LOWER than when I got the card and I even paid off a $30,000 loan on a vehicle in cash, and I even had a higher % of available credit than in the past.
Bottom Line: AMEX is doing something to reduce their risk in credit they’ve issued. But whatever system they are using, it is flawed as it seems to penalize the best, most loyal customers, as well as those who may be abusing their credit.
I smell a class action lawsuit coming, so justice may be served after all. At the very least, your blog is a good starting point.
Having just read a fantastic article about “Consumer Vigilantes” in Business Week (March 3rd edition) and finding out that there is someone else out there in the same situation as me, leads me to believe that something should be done about AMEX’s practices.
I think that it is completely wrong for a credit card company to reduce your available credit if you’ve been a loyal customer and have paid your bills on time and your credit history has not changed. Because by doing so those companies have the power to hurt your credit score when you’ve done nothing but honor your agreement to pay and spend within the guidelines that they set.
Hi Jimmy H,
I was hoping I wasn’t alone in this situation. I wrote about it just to air out my frustration by their surprise move. I did call them and they basically told me the same thing. I get a feeling they are getting many calls like this because the first customer service representative turned the call over to a supervisor immediately before trying to address my concerns. I was polite and nice through the whole conversation and of course didn’t get a real answer for the change in my credit line. The supervisor said something must have changed in my FICO score and that they regularly monitor for changes on credit reports. She mentioned they use Transunion. I just happened to subscribe to that service and get my credit score update every month and told her this. I advised her my score actually has gone up from the previous month by 3 points. She was stumped, and just said there was nothing she could do and apologized profusely.
Based on the way the call was handled, I can tell they expected these type of calls. This seems to be a policy they ran through their entire database of customers in our same situation.
I remember a few years back I had an FCNB MC branded credit card which was the Speigel and Eddie Bauer visa and mastercards. They had cut my credit limit in half for no reason. Then the following month they cancelled their credit card agreement with Visa and MC and closed out my card. When I called them they said they were just shutting that part of their business down. It made sense after it all happened.
Here is a link of that incident:
http://www.complaints.com/march2003/complaintoftheday.march4.3.htm
I tried doing a search to see if there was something similar happening here, but I couldn’t find anything. The main news that I think may have affected customers in our situation has to be there last earnings statements:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVaUKS9bOLVg&refer=home
Wow… yeah amazing how many people are in the same situation with AMEX. Thanks for the links. It would not suprise me in the least. AMEX has always been big on customer service, but that only goes so far if their practices don’t match.
I’m all for responsible borrowing and spending but to reduce someone’s credit when their score is impacted by it is not right if they have met all the obligations of their accounts.
Some may disagree but some lawmakers do not. Help is possibly on the way… the industry term for this practice is called UNIVERSAL DEFAULT and Citibank actually abandoned the practice in 2007 and Chase is soon to follow. (I have big credit lines with both those companies, so guess who is going to get my business now?)
Good article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1715293,00.html
You can file a complaint about your credit card company with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Customer Assistance Group, 1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3450, Houston, TX 77010-9050. They have been bombarded with complaints about credit card companies.
Same crap here! American Express doesn’t give a damn about its loyal American customers who have kept them in business, maintained good credit and pays early. DON’T USE AMERICAN EXPRESS. None of my other cards have done this. Don’t reward them for sticking it to us.
Hi JIMMY…
OMG…I have been online today trying to figure out if I should close my AMEX Gold Rewards Charge card…and came across your blog. I am SO relieved I’m not the only one going through this with AMEX!!!
I have been a loyal customer of AMEX since 1995 and because of them offering me so many promotions in the past — and increasing my credit lines (without asking), I have accrued five AMEX cards…all for different “perks.” A few months back I went online to pay my bill and thought someone had stolen my credit cards. They had reduced my credit limit on two of my cards…just like that! I have paid every single one of my cards on time…every month for the past thirteen years. I have spoken to CS endless times and have gotten nowhere. To make matters worse, last month when I tried to use my Gold rewards card (which I hadn’t used in a few months prior), they put a hold on all five of my AMEX cards…I still don’t understand, but the jist of it was that I had started using my Gold card again over the last two months, but BEFORE that I hadn’t used it in about six…and even though the balance was ALWAYS paid in full every month, they saw the spending as a risk (condensed explanation).
Anyhow, I could go on…so many issues with them now…and they declined my ONE charge this month AGAIN (bill was just paid in full last week) until the bill is paid on its due date in three weeks. I still want to know if CLOSING my Rewards Gold card (that charges $150.00/yr) will damage my credit. I know closing CC accounts literally damages your credit rating. Again, this is a no-limit charge card.
Amex just did the same to us. We have never had a late payment, had a twenty point increase in credit rating over the last months and have been agressively paying down our balance–which will stop as of today. I’ll make minimum payments and turn my dollars to other cards–after I write my congressman and discuss their behavior with our corporate attorney.
I recently started a small business with my wife and we decided to use Amex as our card of choice for the startup costs which we projected to be about $12,000 over a period of about 4 to 6 months. We have a green Amex, A Blue Amex and a Corporate Amex (for the record). I tried to purchase a refurbed mac computer online for $1700 and the charge was denied. I called the computer company to tell them to re run the charge. Denied. I called them again and they said I needed to call Amex. Called Amex and they said, Oh we’re sorry, we just wanted to make sure it was you making the charge. Yes, it’s me. Ok then, we will authorize the purchase. Tried the charge again (this has taken two days now). Denied. Called Amex and was told by service rep this time that he was not authorized to allow the charge. Asked for a manager. Manager was rude (Mr. Christmas, ha!) and basically told me that we never had a balance of over $800 for the 8 years we have had the card (and I made sure he saw that we paid it off EVERY MONTH!) and that he would “over ride” the charge for this one time. And that the charge was approved the previous day but that I charged lunch ($6.43) after they authorized the $1700 purchase so it cancelled the over ride the previous day (which NO ONE EVER TOLD ME). Then he made up some other stuff which was not true and I got angry with him and told him that his staff lied to me and that my $$ was in my checking account as we spoke and I would never charge anything that I could not pay. He said I would need to 1.) pay off the outstanding balance after the computer charge went through befoere they would let me charge anything again, 2.) call ahead for pre-approval on every purchase, 3.) that I had to get a new Corporate Amex for company purchases in that company’s name, and 4.) that I had too many inquiries on our credit file (which was a lie because we had just refinanced our 30 year 6.875% fixed mortgage to a 15 year 4.5% fixed because we had NO inquiries on our credit and awesome credit payment history.
After all of that, Amex reduced the limit on ALL THREE OF OUR ACCOUNTS and TWO OTHER CORPORATE ACCOUNTS THAT MY WIFE WAS ON to $100 over the balance and basically froze the accounts by requiring pre-authorization for any charge.
Amex is going bust because I am telling everyone I know about this (and they all say they have had similar experiences by the way). I’m keeping all the cards open and paying them down to $0.01 so that they have to keep me on the books and send me account statements every month and I will send inquiries to them every month until they choke. I may even open up more Amex accounts just to keep doing it. I am writing my congressmen, sending a letter to every board member and officer in their company as well.
And we do not plan to offer Amex as an acceptable form of payment on any of our websites or in any of our stores, or for retail or wholesale purchases.
Membership has its privileges…phooey!
TJ i like your plan about paying it down to .01 Can you please explain it more. I had a similar incident with AMEX…my FICO score was shot because they lowered my credit limit from $6000 to $3500. My balance was $3200. This is after I made a big payment and I’ve never missed or made a late payment b4. I called AMEX and the rep told me they will lower my credit limit to a comfortable level for them. I was infuriated and asked “gee why didnt you lower it to $0 while you were at it”. Well he basically insinuated they would’ve except “we can’t lower the credit limit below your balance” !@#$% Friggin A! I think we should all team up against AMEX’s cruel treatment against customers!
I’m trying to make a balance transfer to Amex because they offered me 3.99% interest until I paid off the total of the loan. After I read all these complaints I don’t known if this acction is going to be a some kind of dangerous movement for me with Amex. I need advice in this matter please.
Hi Jose,
It really depends on your situation. 3.99% is a good rate especially if you apply it to a bigger balance with a higher rate. Chances are within 6 months they may lower your credit limit to the balance you owe but you will still have the low rate, provided you don’t make a late payment.
I still have a balance I am paying off at the 3.99% with Amex. After they lowered my credit limit, my FICO score went down 25 points after 2 months. If you are thinking of getting a mortgage this will affect you adversely.
If you are not getting a new loan within the next year, then I would transfer the balance. A better option would just be to pay off the balance if you have the available funds to do it with.
Good luck with your decision.
Cheers!
WOW! THERE IS A BIT OF COMFORT IN KNOWING I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE. TODAY, AMERICAN EXPRESS DID THE SAME TO MY COMPANY CARDS AND EVEN PUT A LIMIT ON MY PLATINUM AMEX. I ASKED THEM TO RETURN THE FEE I PAID “FOR THE PRIVILEDGE” OF HAVING THE PLATINUM CARD (WITH NO LIMIT). THEY REFUSED.
I HAVE EXCELLENT CREDIT, NO LATE PAYMENTS EVER AND A HIGH INCOME. I KNOW THIS WILL EFFECT MY CREDIT SCORE UNTIL THE BALANCE IS PAID OFF.
I WILL BE CONTACTING MY ATTORNEY!
Bank of America has also started the same stuff. I have 750 plus score and owed 600.00 on card that has a limit 38000.00 they called and said that my new limit is 2000.00 I cancelled the card and will no longer use this bank.
I am closing my account on Monday. They reduced my credit line for the second time. Credit scores are 718, 736 and 764. Never been late. I just opened a new Citi card with a 9K limit. Guess that caused it. They will no longer insult my integrity.
This happened to me last week have 6 cards with Amex (Business and Personal) over $35,000 in credit as well as some cards with no ceiling. Never paid late, no balance ever, have been a customer for over 7 years with a 740 fico. Out of the blue they call me and wipe out all the credit on Amex. Although I don’t really need the credit from them (still just the point of this) wish they would really get in trouble for doing this, especially to customers that pay their bills, have an excellent track record and credit history. This feels awful.
American Express did the same thing to us. We are never late and got our limit reduced $10,000. I do have a balance with them, but because they did this it makes it look like we are at our limit. I did not know this was legal. However, My goal is to pay them off and never use them again. I also have a business and I am going to stop taking their cards. I hope one day this comes back to bite them in the ass. There is no excuse for what they did.
Amex just suspended my account. It is in good standing, current, with no late payments. Reason: they want to review my finances. They asked me to send either recent checkstubs, bank statements or tax returns for past 2 years…..can you believe this! Never in my life have I had to do this for a credit card, and I have a strong credit score! I have had recent (last 2 months)large purchases on an associate card, but had just mailed in a $5000.00 payment on a $14,000 balance. (minimum payment required was only $1200. I said I did not feel i had to submit my personal documents, as my account was current, I just mailed in a large payment, and there was no indication my account was a high risk account. (member since 2000, never any issues). They refused to remove the suspension and said they would not do so unless i sent in the documents. If they do not receive them within 15 days they will cancel my account. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I am not applying for new cards or even asking for a higher credit limit. I feel there is no valid reason they have to ask me for this information as I have obliged by all their terms and conditions. I am so frustrated and insulted by the way they are treating me, that I will never use their services again.!!
OMG! I can’t believe this! I thought that I was the only one this has happened to. So today, I received two letters from AX indicating that my credit limit has been reduced on both of my cards, Jetblue AX limit $8k (balance $0) and Delta AX limit $15k (balance 10k). Informing me that Jetblue has been reduced to $500 and Delta to $10k. These people are F8^&% crazy! I have never never never never been late and always paid more than minimum! I called AX and they tell me that negative info has been reported on my credit report (which is BS)! I told them that i have a current credit report from Experian dated August 8th and there is NO negative information and they know it! Something is seriously dishonest about AX and now it appears that I am maxed out of credit with these a-holes! I am contacting an attorney this week!
Same here.
Seems there is a trend and I can only imagine how many people this is affecting.
Here’s my facts.
Customer since 2000.
Platinum Card with regular monthly spending in excess of over 30K and no current balance had a limit of $1,100.00 placed on it.
My Green Card with a balance of 11K had a limit of 10K placed on it, so I am OVER the limit now.
Unreal huh! And, kinda scary what this must mean if a credit card company needs to stop extending CREDIT. Afterall, isn’t that what they are in business for?
Same here bro…i think they are red lining those that have mortgage in high risk area. Customer since 1999. Blue – 20k to 500 (no balance) – CLear – 25k to 4900 (4800 balance) and i know my clear will go down because everytime i pay down they cut the limit (chasing balance). I called they ask me to call Experian. I told them i have it infront of me and we can do a 3 way call…phone got disconnected. i call again, they said call at again in 6 months…f man…my score just drop 40 points from 700 to 660 because amex with balance from 25% to 99%. I want to see class action lawsuit. i know the money is not my, but the credit score system has a big flaw as well…WHY WE LET CREDIT SYSTEM CONTROLLING US!!!
Wow. There are some great posts and stories on this site. I’m truly amazed by the magnitude of the credit line reductions. I’m reading Amex is in trouble. They are having difficulties rolling over debt as are most of the banks.
If you have a FICO score below 780, you are seen as a higher risk and credit lines will be adjusted.
My best advice is to not carry balances on any credit cards, and make your payments in full to zero out the balance BEFORE your statement closes. The credit bureaus will lower your score when your CC balances go over 10% of your available credit. For example, never spend more than $2000 with a $20k credit line.
The trendlines indicate banks are going to take enormous losses on unsecured credit card debt in the next 24 months, so it’s understandable they don’t want to lend. But, like a previous poster said, a lending business that doesn’t lend, is out of business!
And I thought I was alone. I’ve had three cards with amex since 1995 – a blue and platinum optimum and another one. I get notices that the credit line on all of them ws cut – to $200 above the minimum. The blue card had a $541 balance – it’s the card that gets paid off every month – it had a $5000 limit – I never charged over $1k on that card. The other cards had a $7 and $8k balance. In one fell swoop I lost about $20 k of credit and now have 3 cards near the max level – my score is shot to hell now (well and because I am going through an ugly divorce with a witch who maxed out other cards) and the experian report they quote as the reason – no problems reported at all
There has tobe something we can do. Their arbitrary action has had a very negative impact on our credit scores
OMG….they just stop my cashback program…Business Platinum that pays 1% and 5% for gas…mother f….
wow. i didn’t know so many people got cut from Amex. I encountered the same problem. I have 3 cards, they cut 2 to 500 limit back in Jan and now the cut the 3rd one last week. I received the letter stating “housing balance is too high” those who want to see the letter can email me. wow…oh well at least i’m out of debt with credit card and they won;t get a penny from me anymore…..na da!
AMEX sent me an email this morning telling me that my spending had been unusually high last month. This was absolutely ludicrous. I have had months with much higher spending and I pay religiously every month in full. I have been a loyal card member for the past 6 years.
I called and spoke with a rep and asked him what the deal was. He said well, I know that you haven’t received your bill yet, but you could make a payment now, in good faith!!!! What the …….!!!???
I am paying this last months bill and then turning in my Platinum card…..do they realize what the heck they’re doing here…..????
I read that their shares had fallen 11% on Friday…..so “tap” their good customers for cash earlier than it’s due……!!!!!???
Wow…you know what AMEX did today? they called me asked me to join the credit protection that i need to pay 8 cents/dollar balance. I don’t have any balance for the credit card they just reduce to 500. They said, if i’m a member, they can increase back to 15,000 that i used to have. What a great way to sell the credit protection. I need to find an attorney for class action lawsuit.
I got this!
Lately, Cardmembers have been buzzing about our island getaways, insider shopping savings, and those rewards. E-mail us what you love about your Card and get a $50 American Express® Gift Card if it’s published. Write to Blue@aexp.com
I completed the surver and shot emails to blue@aexp.com and also Chris at below. I told them new motto for AMEX “Please leave me alone”
Do You Need Help?
If you have any problems or questions about your American Express account, please e-mail American Express at http://www.americanexpress.com/messagecenter or call them at 1-800-528-4800.
If you have any problems or questions about the survey, please e-mail Chris Parker at cparker@rtiresearch.com.
Your responses will help guide the development of future improvements to email communications from American Express
If anyone is serious, and I hope that you are, I would be very, very interested in pursuing a class action suit against American Express. What they are doing is absolutely sinister and criminal. No one is regulating them or any of the other card companies, but this incredibly bad behavior by AMEX should be aggressively and directly addressed. Please let me know…
Jenny (email: arbido1000@yahoo.com)
Exact same thing happened here. All limits on all (5) cards were reduced in march becuase of “too many revolving accounts” and Purchases made at locations that show you to be a risky consumer.” ?? what Wallmart? Vons? Ebay? Went on vacation after paying 2,500 on one card anticipating at least 5k available – they lowered the limit to exactly $100 less than the remaining balance!
Here is what I have learned:
They cannot lower your limits for 90 days after the last reduction – so calendar plans accordingly because they WILL LOWER YOUR LIMIT MORE even if you are current on your payments.
I would suggest all long standing members request in writing under the Freedom of Information Act all documents AE used in making their evaluations. If enough of us do this it may start to wake them up to treat long standing members with some consideration.
TO Camm above,
Can you provide the statue or law to proof that AMEX cannot lower the credit limit for 90 days after the last reduction.
As for Freedom of Act it’s a good idea. I have credit protection, i didn’t see AMEX pull my credit at all yet they say they use Experian. and some people in the thread said Transunion. Very Fishy.
guys, Wells Fargo is doing this on their Business Line credit cards and probably more! even to customers who have never missed a payment!
Discover just increase my interest from 12.99 to 24.99 because of my credit score. Thanks to Amex that drop my limit to 1000 and i owed 900. My score drops 40 points in one month. I payoff right away but it didn’t stop discover from increasing my interest…time to toss that card on the side
for the 1st time i called the AXP customer service P U S S Y for not calling me about reducing my credit limit. I’m stuck checking out at a hotel with the card declined. Lucky my son Visa card has the money (i dont bring Debit card around). Time to close the account. I like the card for cash back but with this service, i don;t care anymore
Finally i got an evidence to file a lawsuit against Amex. My gold card got denied and they said i need to pay down. I told them GOLD card shouldn’t have limit, and they said it’s above my average spending. This case is the same like internet service provider that said unlimited bandwith but cut it at the back. FInally! before i start the conversation, i told the customer service i’m recording the conversation for the use and reference.
Read article below and file a complain to secure our future. Also send a copy to your senators.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/consumer-hotline-would-make-easier/story.aspx?guid=%7BB156D62D%2DE9F0%2D479E%2DBCA2%2DBBC8DDB4D9EE%7D
I hate to start with “I’m so glad I found this site” because so many of us are in the same nightmare but I thought I was nearly alone in this matter.
I have been quite religious in my use of Amex and managed to acquire 4 cards with them and about $40,000 to boot. Well, now they’re CHASING MY BALANCE (see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/business/21credit.html?pagewanted=all) and as a small business owner, not tied to real estate but to probate matters, I need a line to help grow my business. Though it will take me sometime to pay down what I owe AMEX, they’ll be paid and then I will mostly likely use my credit union credit card more. Screw the miles and what I thought was an excellent card that catered to me. Now that I think about it, I think I need to cancel some of the monthly services they sell me!
Good luck to you all and if someone does get around to complaining to the Department of Corporations and/or the Federal Trade Commission (they will help you in this matter), and even to the point of a class action suit for damaging our credit scores, I will join y’all!
Peace!
I really don’t have good credit and I was happy I got approved for a 2000 limt blue about a year ago. had a balance of 635.00 just found out tonight my limit is 800. Thought it was fraud, but to my surprise my limt has been lowered. Gee I wonder if they can lower it more after I just paid my balance in full. hummmmmm Only if I knew amex play the unfair credit act.
After searching and reading all this. I don’t feel alone. I thought it was fraud, but turns out amex blue went from 2000 to 800 without a notice. just paid off my balance of 635 lets see how low can amex really go. amex the new name to the unfair credit act.
Never late above min. payment Wished I searched about amex before I applied.
You are not alone. American Express and other large banks are performing these acts on thousands if not millions of perfect payment consumers, and the scope covers all areas of credit from personal cards to HELOCS. The media, as driven and owned by the banks would have “us” believe that this act is a mandatory lifeboat response having to do with managing risk and loss precipitated by the mortgage fiasco which in fact was created by the banks themselves when they threw billions of dollars at unqualified consumers around 2001 with knowledge of their poor risk and just to make a buck. The truth is that the main banks, thanks to affiliations with the Federal Reserve, will always “win”. For the past 8 years of this crony administration the banks have not only made huge buckets of cash via the standard interest-rate way on cards but in addition, have been gloried by corporate tax breaks. Now the tide is turning and the thieves will be driven from office in November via the peoples’ elections. This means no more tax slash for banks. So they’re waking up, albeit groggily and with greed at the forefront, as always, driving the corporate bottom line, they are sticking it to long standing good faith customers without the slightest regard for damaging their credit. This becomes a temporary double-win for the banks as they incrementally raise interest rates to squeeze the last drop and chase the balance to unconscionably wreck the credit of good faith customers like yourself. In order to understand why this happening, you should distance yourself from your personal picture and examine the larger picture objectively. The fact of the matter is that this is a planned operation by the main banks in conjunction with the Federal Reserve to gain substantial control over the populace, whittle down all but the highest class and proceed with the next step in the New World Order. What can you do in response? Well, you can quit spending on your cards and rip them up. Quit living beyond your means if it involves using credit and savor the feeling. You can feed the negativity created by dwelling on their injustice or you can learn new ways of living to free yourself from the clutches of institutionalized banks. Or, you can calculate the damages the banks have in fact caused you by ruining your good credit and might be surprised to find that the amount of those damages just might equal the very amount you owe them. What a coincidence. Wash.
Thanks all for your input. I have a business line of credit with Amex. Without prior noticed they BOUNCED a line of credit check i had written and then sent a letter to me that they reduced my line of credt. BTW, I have not received this letter yet. I have been an Amex card holder for over 10 years and my FICO score if over 760. I’m upset.
Happened to do a search on others getting screwed by AMEX and found this blog. I have been a customer since 1995 and have 3 cards. My BLUE credit limit was just reduced 65%! I called to inquire why and got the standard BS that it appears everyone else is receiving. I then told the rep that I think the real reason for my credit limit decrease was due to a recent charge I had made at Wal Mart, which then sent up a red flag, so AMEX using their “Credit Profiling” decided that I was a risk. And to her credit. the rep agreed with my comments.
My plan is to pay off my card and not ever use it again. Lord knows I can’t cancel the card because I don’t want to damage my credit rating any more after what AMEX has done.
Today I received and email advising me that my credit limit has been reduced to $100.00 over my current balance. I have been a loyal customer for years and have never missed any payments. This is going to have a negative impact on my credit. This is unacceptable. AMEX has lost an excellent customer. Does anyone know if there is a class action lawsuit against AMEX for this?
Seems as if it is an epidemic. My lmit has been reduced for the second time in 6 moths. Like several others here, I opened the account to take advantage of the low transfer rate. Now the credit line reductions are negatively impacting my FICO. I’ll be sure to dissuage ANYONE from doing business with AMEX. With any luck, they’ll crater like Lehmnn Brothers.
Just got my notice. $25,000 to $3000! Never late! I’ve decided to let them eat my $3000 Balance! What a bunch of dumb@sses! 18 years down the drain. No more cards after this! Why let your life be controlled by a bunch money sucking fools. Cash only baby! Good riddens American Asspress
My AmEx Blue ($5,000) limit was canceled today, after my account was reviewed. I’m dealing with a medical collection issue right now, so I’m not that surprised. I am surprised about everyone else. My question is what happens to my accumulated points/miles?
I have been trying to reach AMEX for at least a week trying to figure out why my card was CANCELLED unexpectedly. Everytime I call, I get routed to a recording that says my wait time is over 10 minutes due to an overload of calls. The website is spouting some bologna about a systems update and the one time I did get through to someone, she could not access my account to tell me why the card was cancelled. There is no way to leave an email on the site as that is apparently down as well and I have not received any letters in the mail letting me know what is going on. Anyone know how to get some answers about what is going on with AMEX?? This is really starting to piss me off.
Same here, they haven’t lowered my credit limits yet, but they shutoff my flex pay on the #1 account I use for my business. They did lower the limit on 2 other cards I have 1 was like all of you 100 over what was owed so I had a over limit fee. Being a small business owner I rely on Credit to stay afloat. If this is happening to other small businesses it wont be long before we can’t make payroll and start laying people off… DEPRESSION HERE WE COME!! I’m not really worried about my credit score just for the fact that getting credit is impossible now anyway..
If you shop at Walmart and use your AMEX card, AMEX software will mark you as a potential problem. It really is not based on your credit score or your history with AMEX. It is simply as “profile” and if you fall in this “profile” .. AMEX will reduce/eliminate your credit line. Walmart evidently is in the profile…
Unbelievable…I have 3 cards – today I got an email that my 47,100 limit is now cut to 10,500!! I use this card for my business and pay it off each month, I have 777 ficos – I called and the CS agent did not deter from her “script” I told her I have a mortgage company and my credit profile in front of me I know how this works – there is no “reason” to cut my line, I am in no financial distress. She of course didnt care – I am faxing my taxes and my Report with a nice long letter requesting a re-review. People cannot SURVIVE if our resources are taken away from us. How they can penalize the good credit worthy is beyond my, but I intend to give it my best fight! Good Luck everyone.
I found out both my balances with Delta AMEX platinum and Blue have been reduced by over 85% to $5000 from over $40,000. I have $50 of available credit. Which I discovered when I tried to check in to my hotel for work tonight. EMBARASSING.
Have been on hold for over 2.5 hours.
I plan to contact my attorney in the morning and pay my AMEX bills via certified check by Friday.
Then I will be closing my accounts…after I max out using all of my points.
I am trying to plan my wedding right now. AMEX just lost out on helping me finance my honeymoon.
LOSERS.
One more complaint, I have got reduction from 13,000 to 1000, AMEX just 268 dollars above my current balance because 200 dollars are cash advance , now I have avialble only 68 dollars to spend for the rest of the month, Last year , I did carried balance up to 10,000 and was paid in full evry time , on time before due date within one week of the receipt of the statement.
All other credit cards have not reduced my limits
what I can do , that I am not going to use this card any more, if people want to control them, let them know , credit card companies does not exist in space, they do need consumers for thier existence. there will be time when companies will start loosing business, the poor performers from financial market will vanish in air, and the remaining strong players will take care of consumers,
Just happened to me today. American Express Platinum. Dropped credit line from $28k to $100 over my current balance $16k. I put over $100k on this card last year and was on pace to do the same this year. Never paid late, never maxed out. I spent over $18k last month with them and paid in nearly $20k. Noticed the drop when I pulled up on line this a.m. to make another payment. Tried calling in twice. On hold for over 30 minutes the first time before I hung up, and over 40 the second before I hung up. Finally got an email of the decrease today at 3:30 p.m. That’s about 7 hours after I noticed it was already in affect. What if I had been on a business trip? About to pay for a several night hotel stay? At a big lunch with clients and got declined? American Express Customer Service is the worst ever. This has been the only card I have carried for a couple years. Not anymore. I’m done with them. They don’t have the best interest rates, not accepted everywhere Visa is. In fact, I have vendors actually ask if I can pay some other way because of the high fees they’re charged by Amex.
I’m done with AMEX.
Here’s the most F’d up part about it. When I call in, I get a message saying wait times are in excess of 10 minutes and sit on hold for 30 – 40 until I got irritated and hung up. Coworker calls in, his credit limit didn’t get cut and he gets right in. They have it set up so that if your credit line just got cut, they send you into hold hell. They actually have their system set up so that if you just got your credit line decreased, it knows and won’t give you any assistance.
I call in now and refuse to give my card number until I get a rep, and I got right through. Imagine that.
American Express is likely in a lot of trouble – it makes no sense what they are doing. I would LOVE to be part of a class action suit against them for what they are doing. It is blatantly damaging to too many of us good paying customers who have complied with every aspect of their agreement and been responsible with credit for over twenty years. They make me want to re-think the credit practices I have followed my entire life – I feel like the fool …. and I shouldn’t be feeling that way. They just reduced our limit right after we made a large payment, right down to the level of the remaining balance. They deserve to lose a very large % of their customers FOREVER. And hopefully a brilliant attorney somewhere will come up with some aspect of this that is illegal and start a suit against them. I recommend to everyone in this situation to keep perfect records of everything that is happening from the first denial of credit or reduction in credit line until this situation comes to a head, especially noting any ill caused with other creditors or your credit score that resulted from this action on AE’s part (without notice!). There is something rotten and stinking about this. Write to your Congress Representatives about this and find out if there is anything they can do. At the very least, this is a BAD BAD BUSINESS PRACTICE by AE, that could (and should) sink their ship. They deserve what they are going to get for this move. It is disgraceful that any company would act this way to good customers – there were many better options for how to handle this in a fashion that would not have caused this much alienation – again – I think they must be in deep doo doo to pull a stunt like this. Very upsetting.
I believe that there are thousands of us that suddenly found ourselves in the same boat. I believe that AMEX will soon come to the conclusion that their thinking was flawed. What they have done is to exacerbate the situation for all of us. What interests me the most is what while the government has doled out 250 billion dollars to nine banks to free up credit.. they all seem to be sitting on it, while our rights as credit card customers continue to go unaddressed. All Congress does is continue to talk about the predatory practices being deployed today. I’m sure that until election day we as consumers will continue to receive all the sympathy in the world from the politicians and see nothing done to relieve us of the practices being deployed that are directly impact our financial well-being. Hard to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys anymore.. politicians or Wall St. take your pick.
I am another person in the growing list of mistreatment by AMEX. I could understand a policy of credit line cut backs with high risk cleints, but like many others I have an extremely long and blemish free credit history as well as substantial financial means. I derive my income from investments requiring financing, the cost of which is directly related to FICO scores these days. AMEX’s actions have caused me DIRECT financial damages, by what I believe are to be their unfair and indiscriminate practices. Where does one turn to obtain some justice in this matter?
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Today I have received mail from AMEX that my credit line has been reduced from 20,000$ to 100$.
I was never late on payment. But there was a collection agency for 100$ by a hoospital on my credit history.Which made them to reduce my credit line. Don’t know how citi/BOA acts now..
Today I have received mail from AMEX that my credit line has been reduced from 20,000$ to 500$.
I was never late on payment. But there was a collection agency for 100$ by a hoospital on my credit history.Which made them to reduce my credit line. Don’t know how citi/BOA acts now..
What a joke AMEX is. I found out that my credit limit had been reduced from $38K down to $2,100.00 when my card came up declined at dinner. I called them up and they left me on hold for over a half an hour. I finally had to hang up. I called back again, this time without punching my card number in, and was connected right away with a service rep. I have never been late with a payment and pay my balance with them in full every month. I ripped into the representative on the phone, but they really didn’t seem to care about my situation. He explained that becuase of a change in my credit score they decided to reduce my credit limit and they have the right to do so per the card agreement. I asked to talk to a supervisor and of course, none were available. I was told I would get a call back in 24-48 hours, but I highly doubt that will happen. They have left me no choice but to take my business elsewhere.
I too got the diss this week from Amex. THey not only reduced my Blue limit but also my Gold flex spending. I called and the credit rep was no help. I just sent an overnight letter outlining how I use their cards for personal expenses as well as for my small business. I mentioned how I have been a loyal customer for 16 years and have spent well over $500K with them and this is the treatment I get. I told them to revise what they have done and issue me a written apology or I will terminate all accounts with them and no longer accept their card with my business.
Well, I am glad to know it’s not just me they did this to. I opened my business last year and got an amex blue business card to xnfr all my large equipment purchases to for a 0% rate till this December. I also have 2 other business cc’s with balances but I pay EVERYTHING early, MORE then then minimums and never have missed any type of payments (mortgage, cc’s, etc). On my personal amex they lowered my credit line from 5k to $700!!!! I had a $500 balance on there. Their reasoning was my mortgage loan was too high. WTH?!!! How does my mortgage, which I pay early every month, have to do with my account?
Then my blue business card had a $10k balance with a $21k credit line. They just emailed me 2 days ago telling me they dropped that down to $11,500 because of credit history. Excuse me… I was livid. I called them up…. they used the same excuse of my mortgage.
I explained this is a business card… I am using this to run my business… without the credit to be able to purchase supplies and equipment I can’t sell those items and can’t make the money to pay the freaking card. uh.
I am doing a xnfr to get rid of their card. I am not closing the card as that is not smart, but I just will take it out of my wallet, xnfr the balance and not use it again.
I really was hoping for a good experience with amex, bummer cause they have ruined my feeling of them.
My husband has been an Amex customer for 30 years! About 2 weeks ago his flex account was cut off. We are allowed to use our card but all charges must be payed in full.
That is fine, I would like to pay the flex off anyway. The part that bugs us is that Amex called to tell us when our next payment was due and how much. We pay our bills on time every month.
Another odd twist. This past Sunday we went to Costco and purchased $200.00 worth of items. The person in front of us was taking forever! The line didn’t move for over 15 minutes. Turns out they couldn’t process his Amex. Then ours wouldn’t go through nor the guy behind me. Turns out, anyone using Amex was unable to get their transaction processed using that card. Clearly Amex was the problem because our debit card went through.
We use our Amex because we get points every time we do. Every Christmas a lot of our shopping is done using the points. That is why we use Amex. That and the fact that for over 30 years we have had a good relationship with them.
I was angry at first but I realize that Amex is in some sort of financial crisis. They have to be or they wouldn’t suddenly start pulling back peoples credit.
My solution is that I will stop using Amex, I will use my debit card only and pay off the flex account by doubling up my monthly payments.
To tell you the truth, My husband and I were mortified when they cut off our flex. We felt like losers but it turns out they are probably doing this to most of their customers. I wonder how many of them will be around when the market gets better?
Same thing here. My Blue account limit just got cut in half, from 14k to 7k. My balance is under 6k so I have some head space there. I have never used the card for purchases and have always paid more than the minimum on time. My FICO score is over 700 and I can’t see how I was a risk to them. I was getting a great 2.99% rate with them from a balance transfer. I did everything right and now they are going to F up my credit rating for NO reason.
Well I know what card I won’t be using once that BT is paid off….
I just canceled my OPEN account today. I will NEVER ever again become and AmEx customer. First, they reduced my Blue card down from 14.4K to 500 dollars. I didn’t even carry a balance on it. Just gas here and there. Then, today, my bank called and said that my check from my OPEN account was denied. I had a 10K OPEN account, used 8K for some business expenses and they cut the line to 1k. Thankfully I had the cash to cover the 8K to the bank. But, I bounced other checks because they didn’t notify me they were cutting my line. I called and customer service didn’t care. AmEx sucks. I canceled my account and will never go back.
AND…I have a 768 FICO!
Never been late with a payment.
my wife just got an email today from AmEx saying they were lowerring her credit limit. After calling AmEx they tell her the drop in her credit limit was due to a review of her credit report and $hit. After reading all the coments on here I relized that my wife and I used our Blue Card at Walmart last night for some last minute Halloween things. What a load of crap how is it legal that they can lower your credit limit and through that your credit score just for shopping at Walmart? It looks like the begining of a downward spiral for us all: one card lowers your limit which lowers your score which flags you to your other credit card poviders which in turn lower your credit with them which continues to lower your score even further. the idea is disturbing to say the least.
AMEX CAN DROP DEAD! I have 4 AMEX cards with $75K limit total. On two, I have balance xfers currently at $20K each, one at 1.9%, other at 3.9%, paid down from $30K each. They just cut $10K credit limit off the card with the 1.9% balance. I told them, why should I pay off a 1.9% balance xfer when I’m getting 4% on my savings? Now, that card looks maxed and will F–K up my FICO score! They said I should pay down my balances! Another review in 3 months. I won’t, don’t trust them, they will cut more credit if I pay them off. I’ve shoppped at Wal-Mart for years, don’t think that’s the issue. Plus, they just offered me a Gold Amex charge card, not credit, I can buy as much as I want but have to pay it off each month. Plus, they used to let you juggle the avail credit limits among your cards online, now they don’t and said they won’t do it for you if you request it. F U AX!
About a month ago I went online to look at my amex accounts and had a suprise. I have four cards with them a green charge card, a delta gold, a blue and clear card. My delta gold limit got reduced from 13k to $500 and my clear got reduced from 10k to $500 and my blue got reduced from 7k to 5k but only because my balance was $4800 which max’s me out. so I went from having 30k in credit with them to 6k in one day. they lowered all 3 at once. no change in my credit even though they claimed I have over 700fico score. been with them for 4 years. and my green card they won’t even let me use at all only on a 3 dollar purchase here or there it would get approved. one time i called them because my green card got declined for $100 purchase and they said they would feel comfortable if i make my payment that’s due even though it just came to me and wasn’t due for 3 weeks!! F american express i hope they lose all their customers.
The same thing happened to us. We never received a letter from amex until we called to complain. No valid reason was given. They tried telling us we had something on our credit report that prompted the change. We requested a copy of the credit report they advise they pulled the information from and of course, our credit remains to be perfectly clean. The receptionist could not explain this. It’s easy to avoid using AMEX, it’s upsetting to know that the almost perfect credit score we have sacraficed to maintain over the years, is at risk because of this ridiculous act. There has to be other options for us. We shouldn’t have to take this with out a fight.
Well, add me to the group of angry customers who will NEVER use Am Ex products again. I have a small business and I have an Am Ex Business Capital Line that we rely on. We charge product, pay it off, charge product, pay it off… This week, they just reduced my Line down from $15,000 to $12,000–doesn’t sound drastic, but of course that is just above the balance I owe. I’ve had the card for years, same as everyone else, no late payments etc and always pay way over the minimum (and, since I own a Toy Store, always pay the whole thing off in January). We don’t have a bad mortgage or any problems on other cards either.
Looks like Am Ex may be trying to “chase” my balance. Well, I’m going to pay the whole thing off in January as usual and then tell Am Ex where they can stick it. My shop will also STOP taking their card immediately. I see in the news tonight that Am Ex just slashed 10% of its workforce AND has predicted a bleak future outlook. Well, they are making it bleak THEMSELVES by cutting off their good, paying customers–I don’t know how they will ever crawl out of their hole if they can’t tell the difference between a good customer and a bad one, and if they STOP offering the ONE product they truly have–credit.
If ONE RED CENT of the government bailout goes to Am Ex, it will be an injustice.
THIS HAPPENED TO ME, WHY IS THIS NOT AN ILLEGAL PRACTICE, I WANT TO BE A PART OF A CLASS ACTION SUIT AGAINST THEM TOO, THEY ARE SCREWING IT UP FOR THE GOOD GUYS WHO ARE PAYING THEIR PAYMENTS-NEVER LATE AND LOWERED MY CREDIT ON BOTH PLATNIUM CARDS
Its like they know that I was going to pull out the full line and burn their ass when I filed BK.
Amex has asked the Govt. to bail them out! Greedy darn banks, they screw their good customers and then ask for a bail out.
I am not just ticked at the banks,I am ticked at the people who bought homes they couldn’t afford and then stopped paying their bills.
In the end they all get a bail out but honest hardworking people who pay their bills and mortgages get screwed.
My AMEX Blue, like most of you here, in great standing. Never been late and always more than min payment made. My credit is impeccable, not one derogatory; yet, AMEX found it necessary to reduce my limit from $13K to 1,000 above my Bal of $3800.00. I am all for a law suit, not so much for the credit lost, but the NEGATIVE Fica Score IMPACT!
Just like everyone else here… My balance was decreased and FICO score droped 40 points.. now i’m in the 600-700 range which puts me as “high risk”. I have a blue card used mostly for business expenses…since my employer does not provide me a card. Unfortunally it is my only credit card…never late. My card is alwyas paid in full each month. I’ve had an average of $1500 the last few months, but now my job is at risk as I need to travel for 2 weeks on a $1000 credit line..lol Used to be 20k…thanks AMEX! I understand the credit crunch, but they didn’t have to kill my score to prevent me from getting another card. They need to be suied for this behavior!! and should disclose thier “red” flag retailers (ie. walmart) causing “Irregular Activity”
If your account has been “adjusted” and you call in to discuss, you enter your account number. If you notice, the holds are long and they answer by their last name. “This is Mr. Jones, Smith or whatever.” The regular customer service dept goes by their first name. That’s why some are getting right through.
I have had three cards with AMEX cards since the mid 90’s. All three credit limits have been reduced. The cards have been used and paid responsibly. My FICO score has also fallen. This is the part that upsets me most. I am angry at AMEX and Experion, etc.
I send letter to my senators and FDIC for NO on bailing out banks. WHy? Because they turn back and hires India call center with our tax money. This doesn’t help us but our tax money went to somewhere else??? They need to put provision on bailing out banks.
Reduction in limit happened last month, from 19.5K to $6600, balance was $6400, so now debt ratio is max as opposed to 30% (13yr plat optima), still have 20yr gold card with flex, no change yet. Never late,make enough income, will transfer balance but damage is already done, scores will go down people, were notified via mail, made callsame story as others about experian but no change there. Have many other cards with balances at around 30-40%, funny just got invitations from chase, BofA and others all increasing credit lines, Amex just ruined your (and mine) pristine credit history for no reason, make sure you don’t use their money or services after you get out from under them, I will not, that’s a promise!!!
Ah…great…just saw the news that Am Ex has been approved to become a bank holding company, and so they ARE now eligible for federal bailout funds.
Great. That means one of several equally disturbing things:
They cut all of our credit because they really didn’t have the funds to lend out any money anymore -or-
They cut our credit lines to manufacture or worsen their crisis so they could get the federal money -or-
They are just as incompetent as they seem.
Also, I agree with above poster that Am Ez should be required to close their overseas call centers if they take this USA Federal bailout money.
Finally, SOMEONE should bring this thread to the attention of a good reporter.
Like many other stories on this post, i have had a decade long good history with American Express (they always automatically increased my limits) and received a major credit line reduction this past month that makes it appear i am about to max out on it. My anger stems from the fact that I keep getting invitations to join their platinum program–why am i pre-approved for that but get my credit line slashed for being nothing but a good customer??? I will definitely be searching for a new card to replace my use on this one–oh, by the way i keep getting 0% credit offers from all of them!!! I have worked so hard to keep a good credit score and now it will be wrecked by their own poor decision making. For all of you out there looking to switch-move to Capital One. My brother works for that company and they are in much better standing through this financial mess than AMEX. Just dont cancel your AMEX-that will bring your credit score down more.
We have been a loyal customer for over 8+ years with multiple lines of credit. I was appauled to see that our lines of credits have been slashed by over 50% now leaving me with debt-to-income ratios off the wall, lowering my credit and no spending capability. American Express used to send automatic rate increases and I’m seeing across the board with family and friends that AMerican Express has taken a BIG stand to not be there for their customers. I can see others that have high credit risk,lates, non-payment history. If anyone knows of another good CC company to go to e-mail me. I’ve had it with American Express penalizing loyal, good customers.
If they would have simply said sorry credit crunch is taking its toll on the company I would have understood, but instead they insinuated that my credit was the problem. I also have a high FICO score and have NEVER been denied credit for any reason.
After all this I believe amex has just lost another customer.
American Express…. Don’t leave home WITH IT!!!!
They are crooks… I just had my limit dropped from $19K to $9K, they insinuate my credit is bad but experian reports 725 (good)… They say I have too much real estate debt based on income… Interesting I RENT!!! Crooks, the Feds should NOT bail these clowns out.
Looks like Amex did a mass credit limit drop across the board. Dropped my from 31k to 10k and I had 9700 on it. Found out when I attempt to charge something and it got denied. My credit score is 750+ so this boggles the mind. Then they send me a letter insulting my credit worthiness.
Just send a 5k payment and will pay the remainder in January. Amex loss me a customer for ever.
Glad to see we’re not the only ones. Amex tried to freeze my account one day after the closing date unless I paid the entire amount right then, even though the due date was twenty-five days away. I don’t know what I said to convince them to do it, but I paid half that day and have scheduled a payment for the balance for next week, which will mean that I paid in full one week before the due date listed on my bill.
I’ve found that I have to keep track of this account every second. The website helps. They cut my husband’s credit limit on his card – slightly, but it would have been enough to cause charges to be declined because he’d run some large charges that cycle. Because I check the accounts frequently, I caught it before they sent out the official notification and just made an early payment. They haven’t played that game since. I also check the account status section before I use the card to make sure that I’m not going to be hit with any “surprises”.
Oh, and the trick with being unable to contact them by phone if they’ve done something to your account? That happened to me yesterday- had me on perpetual hold, when all I wanted to do was ask a question about Membership Rewards. Called in using another account number and was put through in two seconds. I must say that the account rep was a little embarrassed when I pleasantly remarked that I couldn’t understand why I was able to contact them on this account but not on my other. He did answer all my questions, though
had 2 Amex cards since 1992 and never missed a payment and paid card off every month. They slashed one card from 25k to $500 and the other from $26500, to $1400. I am thinking a pursuing a class action lawsuit against them
I have been a customer of American Express since 1992 (16 years!), and I had thing happen to me; eventhough I have never, ever been late on a payment to Amex or any other credit company.
Like most of you I had my credit line cut to just above my debt level; which means a 66 percent reduction in credit line. My credit score hasn’t been affected yet, but I think that is due to the delay the fair action by Amex and the time the info reaches the credit bureau.
After reading all of the stories in this site, and looking at my own situation, I sincerely think that Amex must be in dramatically serious problems to be prepared to loose its most valuable clients due to this unfair type of action.
I wish somebody with legal expertise could look into this issue and see if a class action lawsuit could be started against American Express. I don’t know if from a legal perspective we have ground for such action; but be it illegal or not…it goes without saying that Amex’s actions are unfair and will make a lot of people including myself think twice before giving any more business to a credit card company like Amex.
I have spent between $30k and $60k a year on my AMEX Gold for each of the 12 years I’ve had the account. They called today with the same deal – reducing my spending limit. I’m done with them. Forever.
Has anybody found an attorney taking these cases? My 30k reduction is now putting me in jeopardy with other lenders. I am ready to sue. If anyone knows of an attorney taking theses cases, please email me @ davidleeti @ gmail.com
They have cut mine. 21k line down to 9200 with a balance of 8900. So now I’m sure my score will drop.
It is currently 780. Amex’s excuses were pathetic. There isn’t a single negative commend on my credit report yet Amex lists 5 or so things in a letter they sent me.
I closed my account and will make minimum payments at the nice fixed APR of 5.99. All they did was lose the $55 annual fee from me.
I urge everyone else to close their Amex accounts and never do business with them again.
Ok, this is a new one for me. I just tried to pay my existing balance on an AMEX blue cash before the statement date…and they wouldn’t let me! Customer service said I have to wait until the statement is out. They don’t want my money??? I was trying to pay off the balance early to charge airfare…but I’ll have to switch to good old USAA.
They are doing this to everybody. Not to defend them because I think they have been run into the ground over the past few years i.e. customer service has fallen dramatically. They have just applied to the Fed to become a bank so they can access the Federal Reserve Window to borrow money. The reason they are cutting lines is because they have no way of funding them. NOBODY WILL LEND THEM MONEY.
Received a phantom email today telling me my credit line has been reduced from 25,000 down to 500. WOW! Good thing I only used the card twice a year just to keep the card active and the available credit line working in my favor.
I immediately paid the small balance off and canceled the card. They are idiots. They killed a 7 years customer relationship, never late, never over limit- and I can guarantee they will be begging for my business when the economy rights itself. Since when have the lunatics been running the asylum?
I have only been a customer for 2 years. I went to use my card today and it was declined. My account has never been late and I pay the balance in full every month. However, when I called to inquire as to why the charge was declined, I was told it was because of my average balance for the past 6 months! I have charged as much as $4000 in one month and paid off the balance on time. The customer service rep said AMEX didn’t want to see me have to sell off one of my kids to make the payment. I asked to speak to a supervisor and after telling him what I was told by the Customer Service Rep, he just laughed! How disrespectful and unprofessional! I can promise you, I will pay the outstanding balance and cut the card! Thanks for your professionalism and customer service!
I got a Blue Card and simply transferred some balances to the card to take advantage of the low 3.99% APR. They pre-approved me for the line and encouraged me to take advantage of the balance transfers. After starting to pay down the balances, AMEX has reduced my line of credit every month to my outstanding balance! NICE!
I too am a business owner and will no longer accept AMEX cards and have cancelled my business card!
Like most of the comments above I had my OPEN business line of credit cut from 19,000 to 5,000 which was just above the balance. Just got another reducing my Costco card from 25,000 to 4,900 which was also just above the balance. Same story, long time customer, never late, pay them off every month,etc. Same B.S. letter saying it’s my fault when they’re the ones in trouble. A little honesty would be so refreshing from these bastards! I’m going to write to everyone in Congress I can think of, the Fed and Dept. of Treasury and demand that Amex not be part of any bailout. If we all do the same maybe they will get the message. Frankly I don’t think any of the banks should be getting our taxpayer money but in particular Amex!!!
wow. i didn’t know so many people got cut from Amex. I encountered the same problem. I have 3 cards, and 1 business card, they cut the limit for no reason, I have always payed on time. I wish somebody with legal expertise could look into this issue and see if a class action lawsuit could be started against American Express. I don’t know if from a legal perspective we have ground for such action; but be it illegal or not…it goes without saying that Amex’s actions are unfair and will make a lot of people including myself think twice before giving any more business to a credit card company like Amex. I hope everyone understands that AMX’s actions not only effects AMX accounts but your overall FICO score as well is plain right disrespectfull to thier Customer’s.
American Express has reduced my credit line from $22,000 to $1,000( One thousand dollars) with the excuse that I have to much credit.
American express should know that I have had this much credit for the last 10 years and they never complained about it.
I have the feeling that they are trying to collect penalties for going over the new limit set “arbitrary ” by them.
I ENCOURAGE EVERY ONE TO TRY TO MINIMIZE THE USE OF THIS AMEX CARD.
NOT ONLY HAVE AMEX THE MOST EXPENSIVE FEES FOR THEIR RETAILERS, BUT THEY ALSO HAVE POOR BUSINESS PRACTICES TOWARDS THEIR LOYALE CLIENTS.
I WILL PLACE THIS CARD IN ICE AND GIVE THIS PEOPLE NONE OF MY BUSINESS.
I am in the same situation. 3 Amex cards with 20,000k limits. 2 with balances of approx. $4,000, and 1
with $178.00. Reduced my Delta Sky
to $1000 over the balance, and I am sure the rest will follow suit.
Chase also is dropping credit limits. $15,000 down to $8,000. Amex e-mailed me, then a letter 5 days later. They said they did a recent credit pull, but I belong to CreditSecure, which says Amex hasn’t pulled one since July !!!!
Liars and misrepresentation in all it’s glory. Salary $100,000 and mortgage almost paid. Credit Scores in the mid 700’s before, now 1 dropped by 70 points, another
by 21. There must be a very good lawyer somewhere reading this who could launch a class action lawsuit. I am interested in seeing what accountability Amex will have in all of this, since they recently filed an app to become a bank, so they can get some of that bailout money. Dirty or what
Amex did the same to us and we stopped using the card immediately, but since there were transactions pending, they made us go over the limit and they charged us a late fee on 2 different cards – one personal, one business. It is illegal for them to not give notice before lowering your balance and since they lowered the balance while transactions were still pending they illegally charged us late fees! Then they had the nerve to try to fight us on taking them off. Eventually they did but we are canceling the cards. Amex is obviously in trouble.
The same thing happened to me. I thought I was being singled out but now know it was a systematic approach to deal with the current economic situation. I told them that I will no longer use their cards and stop accepting them at my businesses. They earned significant fees from my usage and now they will get zip. If we all boycott them then it will really get them where it hurts. I doubt there is anything we can do about our FICO scores.
Found something interesting the other day. I had a line of credit with AmEx which I had used until I came within $2K of maxing it out, so I set it aside. I’ve been paying it off for the past five months and have made a nice dent in the amount owed. Got a notice from Amex the other day announcing that the credit line was reduced in exact proportion to the amount which I’d repaid over the past few months. It’s a Catch-22: if you use the card, they’ll cut your limit, claiming that you have debt overload. If you try to pay it off, they’ll cut your limit anyway.
I think we’re done with AmEx for the time being. My husband’s been receiving the same letters from Amex,talking about debt overload. Yet, he just got approved for a MasterCard from our bank, HSBC, with a limit that’s just right for him and a 12 month 0% APR for one year that will adjust to 7.99% next year. I’ve had a MC from HSBC for 20 years and have never had a problem with them. I’ve also recently received notices of limit INCREASES on two of my other cards. For the record, we’ve never missed a payment on anything, our mortgage is with one of the few national banks that didn’t take a hit in the recent crisis, we don’t live in an area with a high record of foreclosure,we’ve never shopped at those stores that Amex deems questionable, and our salaries are in the six figure range. It’s become pretty clear to me that we don’t have a problem – Amex does. So be it.
So where is the class action suit? I’ve reported Amex to BBB and the FTC, just out of principal. I’ve been a loyal customer for years and never paid late, always paid more than due, and my repayment for such loyalty is to ruin my FICO! FU amex! You offer me a BT 2 years ago at a great rate, and I’m the sucker who took you up on it. I’ve paid it religiously but now you are chasing my balance. As soon as I get a little ahead with the account you drop the credit line to just-barely-above what I owe you. What a scam. This should be illegal. Fine, you want to punish people who are late or who don’t paid as agreed, that’s one thing. Ruining people’s FICO’s because YOU are worried should be outlawed. I hope you crumble into a pile of rubble that nobody will do business with. You make me sick.
We paid off AMER every month, have good income, 800 credit score. But those sucker reduce our credit limit from $7000 to $1200, now suddenly my account balance is above the limit. I guess our credit score will get a hit. If not for COSTCO, we will never use this stupid card. Any class action? please let me know.
Started with an email notice then a letter, they reduced my SkyMiles credit line from 10k to $500 limit. What a joke! A $500 limit is totally useless. This, despite a 730 FICO, NO LATES EVER on any accounts, long term employment, no substantial change in my credit for years. And I was only carrying a $300 balance. What’s really galling here is that just today in the news AMEX has their hand out for $4 Billion of the TARP taxpayer bailout. Here’s the link:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/23/news/companies/american_express_tarp/index.htm?postversion=2008122318
Here’s another article today that the Senate will require banks to disclose what they are doing with the bailout money–which they are refusing to do right now.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081223/ap_on_go_co/meltdown_senate
Contact your Senators and tell them what Amex is doing and tell them to support this bill. Also copy Sens Dodd (chair Sen Banking Cmmte) Feinstein and Snowe (co-sponsors of this bill).
Also contact Comptroller of the Currency and your state Atty General.
Most important, CANCEL all your accounts with AMEX by writing a CERTIFIED letter to the CEO with your account numbers and instructions to cancel, as well and any AMEX products you have like insurance, Credit Secure etc. If the CEO’s office is forced to put through the cancellations it will make their actions more difficult and uncomfortable (don’t call some nobody in customer service to cancel, that will have no impact on the executives).
Similar hing here. Blue 18,600 with 5,400 balance going to 6,700 and Hilton Platinum with 10,000 going to 1,000 with 0 balance. Same story about Experian (which was 5 minutes old when I had it in front of me at 739) that supposedly showes something bad.
But now comes the interesting part: I want to cancel the Hilton card and I get the next day a confirmation of both my Hilton AND my Blue being canceled.
I just paid off the Blue right now, let them go ahead with it and next month I will also cancel my Rewards Gold Card. Just transferring out my points. I used this card instead of cash, always paid before I even got the statement notification. They made a good dime of me by dealer charges alone. No more. I picked them for their good customer service and their strength of confidence when you swipe the card somewhere. After reading all this none of these 2 justify the fees anymore.
Already have a house and a new car. New years resolution: clean out my credit card debt and get rid of some more cards completely. I can live with a temporary credit hit.
Every credit cardholder whose credit limits have been slashed by AMEX, Bank of America, Chase & others keeps asking, “Where is the class action lawsuit against these banks for damaging our personal credit?” Interestingly, they all seem to be counting on others to do the legal work. Why not contact class action attorneys and start one yourself?
Same story as all above- no lates, 750-800 FICO’s. $7500 line with no balance reduced to $500. Within a week Visa and M/C followed suit by reducing lines to $100. over what is owed. Scores went down a HUNDRED points! The CC comp’s are all sheep. What one does they all do. They shot my credit so I’ll just finish it. If the credit card co’s ran their business as well as all us posters run our lives you wouldn’t be asking for gov’t bailouts.
I am in the same boat like all of you. Wow I didn’t know many had the same problem with American Express. I say in large numbers in a lawsuit we can win. Please let me know how many will follow with a lawsuit stating the wrong way that Ame Ex is reducing limit on our credit without real reason just because they are scare with all the credit they gave us all years ago. Remember they got money from the government and our taxpayer money!!
I’m wondering since they are utilizing retailers to determine creditworthiness and geographical location of where you live, they can make assumptions to a person’s race and be basing thier decisions on these assumptions. If nothing else, arguing this could force them to reveal which retailers we shop at are causing them to reduce credit lines… once that happens the retailers will be forced to step in and take action either discontinuing to take AMEX or suing AMEX for harm. At minimum I think we as consumers should be entitled to know what the credit eval is being based on… Is using your AMEX at Walmart a bad thing to do? Is AMEX above allowing its members to shop at WALMART? Maybe it isn’t WALMART… MAYBE its AMAZON.COM
omg ive furious all day thinking about how amex just cut the limit on my blue card by half. i feel a little better knowing im one of millions apparently but at the same time “im on of millions” that they are pulling this stunt on. something has to be done everybody is asking if its possible to take them to court but i havent seen a def answer to that question and would love to know as im still fuming at the credit limit cut when my score keeps going up and up
Can someone tell me if there has been any lawsuits initiated against banks for this practice? I would like to join. They totally screwed up my score by doing the same. Amex and BOA.
I just received a statement from my new CHASE/WAMU/Providian account reducing my credit limits by 75%. This is unlawful. They lower your credit line, forcing you to max your card and lower your credit rating so they can inturn raise your rate. Nice sic game they are playing. Glad my tax dollars bailed them out so they can ruin me now. Thanks alot US Gov for all your help. Just who is protecting the individuals these days? SO PO.
I dont have the fuunds to start a class action suite but I would enroill today for anyone that did. Please help
I am not going to give a long story here, but would like to say ditto to all of the stories above. I had a 760+ credit score and AMEX did this to me and my score dropped almost 75 to 100 points because it made it look like all my cards were maxed out. Well fortunately I am willing to go broke to fight this as it is just not right as we are in the process of getting a house. I encourage everyone to post your review here to bring up the rankings in the search engines. I also encourage you to contact your news channel if you have one. Anything you can do that is truthful to bring bad press to AMEX for these acts. I agree reducing credit where needed, but the way they are doing it is unethical.
All I want to know is what they’re doing to ALL of us legal? Is there anyone that reads this blog either educated in the laws for this, or an actual lawyer? We also are trying to get a house (pre-approved, the whole nine yards) and they reduced my credit to LOWER than my balance was. That CAN’T look good on my report, and I hope doesnt mess the home loan up. If anyone can help (through nothing more than information, or explanation) PLEASE let me know. These practices have to be stopped somehow.
I just received two e-mail notices of credit limit reductions for both my Blue account (which I’ve only used for a balance transfer & have never paid late) and for my Coscto rebate card. Both limits were essentially reduced to my current balances. Like the rest of you here, this represents a very significant reduction in my available credit and will most certainly have a material adverse affect on my credit score. $3.9B in bailout funds and they still have to penalize even their best customers? I’m done with Amex…and my ability to hold a grudge (when warranted) is unwavering!
I just received 3 letters reducing my credit limit on my cards from $ 8000 to $800 and $500! I don’t understand. Like you all I have a great FICO score-above 700, never been past due for more than 5 days and that too only because i was traveling and missed the due date, have been a loyal customer of AMEX for over 12 years so this is really strange!
I am really angry at AMEX for taking this humiliating step. It is one thing to review risky customers and cut credit but to penalize the most loyal clients is a poor marketing strategy to say the least. Don’t know if there is another option in this economy but hoping we can do something about it…
Attorney John Ponzini in Stamford, CT may be filing an action against AMEX for credit limit manipulation. If you have been a good customer and because of an unexpected credit limit decrease suffered a lowering of your credit score he may want to hear from you.
Same BS happened to me. However I am not planning to close my account. On the contrary, I will pay it off ASAP and start spending heavily on it and pay it off every month. THIS IS THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO TO A CREDIT CARD COMPANY. THEY HATE THAT. YOU ARE USING THEIR MONEY FOR A MONTH FOR FREE. IT HURTS THEM.
Do not close your account.
This just happened to us, we have a business AMEX that we got through Costco.
We had a $10k credit limit, they just cut it to $1k. We’ve never had a late payment in the 2 years we have had the account.
Go figure we had a $770 balance, so they cut our limit to right above what we owe.
Now we are worried about our credit scores (above 700 currently) after reading all your comments..
Very angry!
Amex raised my limit over and over again to over $30k on Blue. Then slashed it to $9400.00 leaving me no available balance.probably damaging my score.
The proper way to handle that would be to send customers notice that the credit crisis has hurt them as well. Give good customers like us 30-60 days to get our balances in order.
You have to wonder how those mangers make soo much money being so clueless. (I also stopped using my card. stopped accepting the Amex card at my Co.)
This also happened to me on three AMEX accounts. My Blue card, my Costco card and my “OPEN” Business Line Of Credit. They completely closed my Business Line of Credit claiming they are eliminating it for everyone. They reduced my credit limit to my balance on my other two accounts bringing my limit form over 15k to under 1k.
I called to ask them why and they said it was from a review of my credit file. My credit score is over 750 and I have never had a late payment on any account, including 9 years with AMEX. they are obviously lying and I tild them that. They should be honest and tell us they are doing this because THEY are in trouble, not US.
Because of this I paid off all my cards and am sending them to the president of AMEX in an envelope cut-up. I am also going to close my merchant account and no longer accept AMEX cards at my business.
A previous poster here suggested to keep your AMEX cards and just keep paying the balance off in full. This WILL NOT hurt them because AMEX makes 1 1/2% – 2% on every transaction from the merchant. They charge the highest fees by far. If you pay it off every month they STILL make 1 1/2% on your purchase in just 30 days. This is an annualized return of over 18%. That is a great return for any company.
The best thing to do is just close your accounts and cut up your cards. Mail them to the president of AMEX and let him know what you think.
40,000 credit line reduced to 2,000. For no reason.
We cancelled the card. F american express.
boycott Amex.
Just got the email today. Slashed my credit limit from 12k to 4k giving me $700 before maxing out. Called them but CS was useless.They stated my Credit report review was negative. Asked when they reviewed it. Stated Jan 8th. I was looking at my credit report dated “today”. NO NEGATIVES OF ANY KIND!! Lying bastards just screwed me just like everybody else. No more charges with their card. When balance is paid off, GOODBYE AMEX!!!!!
Yep, credit limit cut from 25K to 500$. I always paid my bills in full. No more. F Amex. I won’t let them make any more money off of me (the transaction fees they charge merchants when I use my AMEX card). There are other CC companies to choose from.
Ok so I work for AMEX… In the department cardmembers call regarding a line of credit reduction and explaining the reasons behind the reduction…First offer of advice.. CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT… AMEX is very unreliable. I get numerous calls because people are traveling and cards are getting declined during traveling and people can’t use their cards. I know I would not enjoy not being able to make it home and being declined at a store or restaurant. We don’t ever give out advance warning. We can’t I guess because CM would charge as much as possible and we wouldn’t get paid. The reasons for the reduction is always due to your overall credit profile. However when cardmembers check their credit report nothing is wrong or delinquent in any way. So it definitely seems like false info The reason Customer Service is so ridiculous in my department is that we can’t do anything about it. And that makes us frustrated because speaking on my behalf alone I wish in every way possible that I could give better info and actually help cardmembers in increasing the credit line. Instead I just make them angrier. And also the fact that we talk to people all day long that are angry and upset makes us angry. All the information that we have is a summary of your credit report. We can’t even give you the specifics.And the thing is we can’t request a full copy. Someone may have a delinquency of 15$ and we can’t even see it. The reasons usually are too many inquiries within the last 12 months, balance to credit limits are high, low average payment vs overall debt and past due on acct in last 12 months. The reasons are stupid and vague. One late payment back in march is cause for a reduction now? why not back in march? And I feel like AMEX is just making the reasons up. What I have noticed however is that the credit line is reduced to about $200 about the current balance. I get calls from people that have 750 credit scores and have an annual income of 400,000$ a year and AmEX only feels “comfortable” giving them a credit line of 500$. I really recommend you not to rely on your AMEX card. Im so glad I only have this job for a couple more weeks and then I leave for Iraq. We were trained and advised to tell CM that these reductions do not impact your credit history. I know this is incorrect because if someone has a balance of 14995 with a 20000 limit and we reduce it to 15000 your debt to credit ratio increases. Also we’ve been told that if a card is cancelled but does not have a balance it is not negatively affecting your credit.. Yea sure. But amex does reserve the right as a responsible lender to take action to manage credit risks by cancelling and reducing credit lines. But by the time they’re done there won’t be any more CMs to take adverse action. I fell class action lawsuits coming in the very near future. possibly for slandering. Cancel your Account. Or atleast have a reserve card for emergencies
This is absolutely amazing to me that amex is getting away with this. I am on vacation with my family, and find out my credit has been reduced to the balance owed roughly 7,000 from 35,000. I am ok with amex making whatever decision they like, but not notifying consumers of their intent to do so is in my opinion borderline illegal. I am stranded on vacation with my family, and have to ask my family to wire me another card do I can pay at check out. perhaps if the federal government took the same position with Amex as they are with us good standing customers, Amex would have had to declare bankruptcy instead of relying on a handout from the very people who they are accuing of not being credit worthy. I have been with them 10 years and never missed a payment or even been late, and if this is the thanks I get, then screw them. I spoke with the executive office Jessica 800-297-6197 ext 65077, if nothing else pester the hell out of them.
I am starting a website and should have up later today. post.Post and Post on it to get the search engine rankings up high on it. This way it will come up when people Google or web search for similar issues. Let’s put these B***** out of business
http://www.cancelamexcard.com
I have the same issue had my American express for over 8 years and all the sudden got a call in October 08 that they reduced my limit from 100k to 10k and on my centurion from 75k -42k I had over 300k for sex month ago and that’s been reduced by 80% so thanks to Amex i m forced to close down my business with i had for 12 years… by the way was never late on any of my payments.. they can go to hell
Amex did the same to me back in Oct 08 with my Green Card,( member since 1994). I had no limits on this card or my gold business card (member since 1995). The green card went from unlimited to $10,000.00. Now today, my gold went from unlimited to $6,900, the balance I have now is $8,900.00, now I’m over my limit. When I called back in Oct, after getting denied a transaction, Amex CS said it was my credit report score. “Bull S”. My credit has not changed that dramatically to decrease the limit all of sudden. They must be in some big S… Maybe their not getting the sales with Amex at retailers as they used to make their %. We should look into this practice that they are doing. May some Senator or Congressman will have their lines cut, or maybe the President!! Then we will hear some noise!
I was so angry last week when I cam in on Monday and had an e-mail waiting for me telling me (practically overnight) that my line of credit had been reduced from 10,000 to 1,000. I was on the phone for almost 2 hrs trying to get an answer. I’m so glad I’m not the only one. Man, was I ever isulted by the remarks they made. I was given a bunch of lame excuses for the reduction. All of which I disputed.
Cut line from 7500 to 4500. Had a 3.99% fixed rate balance. No late payment history ever. Now Forced to pay down immediately to get utilization ratio down to 50% to minimize negative impact on fico score, and then make min. payments.
I think we need to state our case to companies like Costco that use Amex as their primier credit card.
My credit line was cut twice on the Costo Amex. They also reduced my credit line on the Optimun card that has no balance and no actitvity for at least 5 or more years
That card had a 1,000 credit limit and for the life of me, I can’t understand how I could be a risk on that card, it was not renewed. I’ve always paid the Amex accounts on time. I think we should push companies like Costco who may or may not be going along with this kind of business practice. Maybe Costco will see a lot less of me for now on.
I agree with this as well. I have two platinum cards with Amex, one personal and one business and yes, they literally froze my accounts from spending until I zeroed out the accounts! Total BS! They are being terminated from my list of preferred cards to carry and they can keep their so-called ‘bullshit prestige’ to themselves! Nobody needs this kind of headache, esp when they are charging you 400 bucks for a lousy-ass transaction card!
My husband and I have an AMEX card and had our card limit go from 20K (with a balance) to 16K now that we’ve paid it down some, dropped again to 8K…if we pay off it again, they’ll lower it again! Thereby showing our utilization to over 68%!! No matter what we do, they are tanking our credit scores! Something ain’t right here…
February 27, 2009
American Express
Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 981542
El Paso, TX 79998
Dear Consumer Affairs,
I have been a loyal customer and card holder of American Express for over 10 years. I am extremely disgusted by the way I have been treated by you and your company. I hold a Platinum Charge Card, a Blue Credit Card, and a Delta Sky Miles Card. After consulting your customer service department I was told not to pay off the cards and that leave a small balance on them would continue building credit with American Express. In Aug. 2008 I made a payment of $8000.00 on the Blue Card as well as a $3500.00 Payment on the Delta Sky Miles card. This is on top of the $2000.00 to $5000.00 I pay monthly on my Platinum card. My calculations are that I spend about $40,000.00 a year with you and this is how I have been treated.
After Paying down about $11,000.00 in balances on both the Blue and Delta cards which I was informed to do by YOUR company’s customer service department instead of paying them off. YOU American Express lowered my credit lines to about $100.00 over the balances left. Wow I give you eleven thousand dollars and you penalize me! How dare you. This is bad business but still I kept all my cards with you after speaking to one of your Customer Service reps who informed me that they have reevaluated everyones credit lines during these tough times.
Well times are tough and I got laid off in December and start a new job March 16th. When I knew things could get tough I stopped using my Platinum charge card and decided after 2 months that I would not be able to pay the full balance which is around $2000.00 dollars. I called to pay $500.00 and to move the remanding $1500.00 to a line of credit which I could pay over the next few months. I had done this in the past and paid it off and was told it would not be a problem to do again. After I was transferred to a specialist who could do this I was told I could not and that I needed to pay the full balance. I informed her I could not until the first week of April and that I would like to pay $500.00 and she told me that $500.00 was not acceptable. NOW you can wait on your money and as soon as I can pay the balance off I will cancel all 3 of my cards and never again will I do business with American Express again nor will I have anything good to say about American Express to anyone. Your company really disappointed me and when we come out of these hard times I hope American Express suffers for the way they have treated there trusted clients.
Sincerely yours,
Scott A. Owens
Card holder since 1998
Another person to the list of people that have received a reduction in the credit line of AMEX. Happened 2 days ago. from 18k to 500 bucks, never been late in payments, Credit Score 728 which is perfect.
Payed off $9,500 and they reduced my account to 1,000 dollar credit limit. Down from 11,000. They told me it was because I had to many creditors pulling my credit. BS. I’ve had more creditors pull my credit in the past and it was never an issue. Now after I pay of my account they reduce my line…. Somethings wrong here.
I understand how all of you feel. My credit limit was lowered from 14k to 7k and the more I pay, the more my limit is reduced to make it seems as though I am maxed out. If this continues, I will just stop from paying it all together. They are already ruining my credit, why continue to pay.
I understand how all of you feel. My line when from 14k to 7k, then when I paid down 1k, it was reduced to 6k. Let me tell you. I will not be paying them another cent. They ruin my credit making it seems as though I am maxed out. On top of that my APR went from 7.99 to 10.99 and I have never been late. To be home, they owe me, I don’t owe them.
THIS HAPPENED TO ME ON BOTH MY AMEX ACCOUNT WITHIN A 1 YEAR PERIOD OF TIME.
FIRST SCENARIO: 33k CREDIT LINE
WITH NO BALANCE REDUCED TO $800.00
SECOND SCENARIO: $28,500 CREDIT WITH 10k BALANCE REDUCED TO $10,300. BEEN A MEMBER WITH NO LATES FOR WELL OVER 8 YEARS. I HAVE A 745 CREDIT SCORE AS MY MIDDLE OF ALL 3 BUREAUS AND MY LOWEST SCORE IS A 722. I BELIEV THEY SELECT PEOPLE IN A “HIGH RISK” GROUP, AND I DONT MEAN BY LATES AND BAD CREDIT. I BELIEVE THEY ARE PROFILING THE JOBS THAT FALL INTO THESE CATEGORIES…i AM A MOTRTGAGE BROKER AND THEY KNOW THIS DUE TO MY APPLICATION. THAT EXPLAINS ME…WHAT ABOUT YOU GUYS??? MIKE DE.
American Express has cancelled many consumer accounts in this credit crunch, but did you know they do it without looking at a single credit report? It turns out Experian sends them a sentence or two describing things to avoid breaking privacy laws. The problem with this system is that it does not paint an accurate picture of the consumer.
In my case, I have a credit score over 700 and have never missed or been late on a payment in over 20 years with American Express AND the same is true with my history on all of my other creditors. Experian sent AMEX a sentence saying I had a high amount of revolving debt near my credit limits and that I was making low payments toward their balances. The result: AMEX closed my account. I did not know my account was closed until nearly two weeks after it had transpired: On a Sunday, I was turned away at Costco with my family present (Costco only honors AMEX and no other card so I was forced to abandon my purchases and was extremely embarrassed)…then the next day, the letter announcing the account closure arrived. I reviewed my credit history and Experian (and Equifax and TransUnion) all show there are 0 things negatively impacting my credit—no mention is made of anything that would result in my AMEX account being closed, yet the negative sentence shared with AMEX by Experian caused just such an event. Now I’m unsure who is more at fault: AMEX for closing a customer’s account who’s history is unblemished and whose credit score is above 700, or the credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion) for summarizing and sharing negative information that they do not share with me on my own credit report.
Any credit advisor will tell you that a good strategy for paying off debt is to tackle the higher interest rate cards first and work your way down. Unfortunately, making well-above minimum payments on one card does not wash with credit reporting agencies which do not subscribe to such logic. The fact that I pay over $1000/month over my minimums toward a single card was lost on Experian. The plot thickens…
Creditors, including AMEX, have been lowering credit limits on par with fire sales. I used to have an $8500 limit with AMEX…but when they lowered it to $2800 while I was carrying $2500 on the card, my credit score decreased and AMEX helped to create the sentences that Experian then mailed them resulting in my account closure. Could there be a conspiracy designed to see America fail? The same credit limit adjustments were made to two other cards I carry through Lowes and USAA. In each case, I was carrying balances from 20 to 50% of my limit before, but after the adjustments my balances were near 100% of the limits. The creditors themselves created the statement Experian sent out to them (but didn’t send out to me or list on my credit report). Remember, I have 0 items reflecting negative on my accounts and my credit score that was near 800 just this summer is now sitting at 710.
The economy is collapsing and creditors are as much to blame as anyone. Costco is going to lose tons of business as AMEX shuts down their customer base–good customers at that, not ones missing payments on their credit cards and mortgages. I make six figures and still had my paltry $2800 AMEX shut down. It’s ironic that they now owe me over $150 because I overpaid not knowing the account was closed (under the assumption I’d be shopping for groceries again the next month).
I have all of my credit reports for the public to look at that AMEX will not…their bottom line (according to Becky in the Adverse Action Department) is that Experian sent them information and they acted on that and they can’t look at any other information (like the history I have with their own Bank!) to reverse their decision. It’s final. They had the audacity to suggest I should apply for another AMEX card as a solution—this would be a further hit on my credit.
I have sent word of my problem to American Express, our local TV stations, and the following:
• The Austin American-Statesman, Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 670, Austin, Texas 78767
• The New York Times, Letters to the Editor, 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018
• FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Consumer Response Center, 2345 Grand Boulevard, Suite 100, Kansas City, MO 64108-2638
• Costco, P.O. Box 34331, Seattle, WA 98124
• Governor Perry, Office of the Governor, P.O. Box 12428, Austin, Texas 78711
• Congressman Doggett, 300 East 8th St., #763, Federal Building, Austin, Texas 78701-3275
• Senator Cornyn, Chase Tower, 221 West Sixth Street, Suite 1530, Austin, TX 78701
• Senator Hutchison, 961 Federal Building, 300 East 8th Street, Austin, Texas 78701
• President Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500
I tried to get a hold of Experian, but there is no way to speak with a person, and mail never seems to get answered–in fact they state they will not answer mail. I want to dispute the fact that they shared information with AMEX which resulted in my account being closed, but state that I have 0 items reflecting negatively on my report. What a sham!
Same story here. 30K credit line reduced to 1800. (54 bucks above my balance!) Assholes! I called to ask why, they said I had to many credit inquiries in recent months. I then asked to pay off my balance and cancel the card. they said they could’nt take a payment at this time. I then asked to to make sure I dont recieve ANY type of advertisment or solicitation for an AMEX card, they transfered me to customer service. I told them again to take me off any list for email, mail or phone for AMEX cards. They did so, then i asked to pay off my balance again and they said sure. WTF? so I paid off the balance, closed the card and made sure they dont send me any advertisements of any kind. U SHOULD TOOOOOO!!!! make sure they are not allowed to send any brochures, adds, ect! when they do….file a lawsuit.
I really appreciate this site and all of the information. I will pursue sending complaints as Eric did. Ditto on the story, long-term customer, paid off or at least half of balance each month. Received letter (yesterday) that the account was closed – after having received the newly printed card this same week updating the expriation date to 2013. My score was over 700 and I’ve never paid late. Would love to join any group action.
Well, after reading all of these comments, I feel better knowing that I am not the only one being completely screwed by AMEX. My limit has been reduced two or three times in the last six months even though I have high credit score, 740, and perfect payment history on all accounts and I have been agressively paying down balances. I think they are profiling everyone and watching how you spend. I had not used my card in several months and last week I forgot my debit card at home and charged something on my card. After reading all of these comments, I am surprised it was not declined. The very next day, my limit was reduced by $3000. I immediately payed the amount I had charged. I am sure they will continue to lower my credit line as I pay off my balances. Assholes. They are ruining my credit score. I hope someone starts a class action lawsuit. It is only a matter of time before everything goes to hell and we have Marshall Law in this country.
Sorry for the mistake above, I meant to say Martial Law.
Amex just lowered my credit line on my Blue for Business card today. I am so mad, and I just need to vent. I have never missed or paid a payment late on any of my American Express cards. My limit used to be $10,000. Now it is lowered to $1,000. My balance is only $800. I have been a loyal customer for 5 years. They also took away my Flexible Spending option on one of my other cards. This all really pisses me off!!!
Well, I can’t say that I was that surprised with all of the stories….I figured as much, however what is surprising is how flawless everyone’s credit history is…It seems that they profile the folks that have solid credit scores above 700 who pay on time and essentially know how to play the credit game.
There just is not a whole lot of money to be made on folks who utilize ultra low rates and then pay them down. Sure the company makes nominal revenue from the processing fees, but there is a big difference between a three percent credit line and a double digit one.
I think what they are actually doing is getting all of the folks who have “good” credit out of the loop. It seems that they actually pose the larger risk to the company because of the cash that is tied up in ultra low percentage interest.
I have a flawless fifteen plus year credit history. I opened an AXEX account last year with a 20K 1 year zero percent deal. I ran the line up to 14K never missing a payment and then got a letter saying that the line was cut to within a few hundred bucks of the cap. I then paid it down so I at least could use 2-4K for revolving business expenses…Last week I then paid down more than half of the line and as soon as the payment went through they send me an email saying that my credit line was cut again to within a few hundred bucks of the max. I am still paying zero percent on this thing. I am tempted to just let the line sit there and pay it off as slow as possible. When the interest kicks in it is only at around three percent anyways…
Just another story for you….I’m not too upset, it is just inconvenient and I will move away from using them as a resource. There are so many other options, they really aren’t necessary, plus any business owner who takes credit cards knows that they are expensive to deal with.
This is my story:
Yesterday I went to Costco to purchase some goods, and my American Express (AE) card was not accepted. I called your 888 number and was told it was due to some “external delinqency” I had. I assumed it must have had something to do with my student loans so I called the federal loan tracking number and talked to a woman (whose name I’ll leave out), who told me that none of my loans were delinquent.
So, I called American Express back again and talked to four people, one of which hung up on me. I have the names (which I’ll also leave out) of the five people I talked to including a supervisor from the Credit Operations Dept. All I was told was I was recently up for review a few days ago and that a report from Experian led them to decide to close my credit card, that is, without calling me, emailing me, or sending me a letter of any sort.
My question to them was, am I or have I ever been delinquent with my Amercian Express account? Any derogatory? I know the answer. I have paid on time and am on good terms, yet they decided to close my account based on secondary information that claimed I was “delinquent” when I am not.
I have requested a credit report and a list of my rights and it shall take 10 days to arrive. According to what I see I expect to follow up on any information I receive. I find it quite sad that a company of their reputation would act in such a manner, without even caring to contact me. If they had bothered to contact me I could have informed you that I just finished a Masters of Science in Nursing from a top notch private Jesuit University, and I am now working at a hospital that reputes as number one in many areas, and that I would have no problem paying any of my debts. Nevertheless, they decided to go forward without verification of any sort.
Naturally in our economy, I understand that their action was a pre-emptive decision based on fear. What type of consumer service is that?
Well at least now I don;t feel so bad. I had a Costco AmEx card with a $50k limit. Held a little over $28k earlier this year on a business account. For an upcoming trade show /convention this summer – Last mnonth decided to pay off a big chunk in anticipation of travel and purchases. Came home yesterday to find an email staing that my limit has been cut to $200 over the existing balance. Total BS. Maxed out limit = bad credit = highr interedst rate. I bet most people out there don;t even realize what a scam this is!
Has anyone found an attroney doing a class action suit? I would definitely jump on board.
I wish i could say that i feel better after reading everyone’s stories, but it just makes me more mad. I was at work today when an email came through on my Blackberry stating that my 45k credit limit had been dropped to 11,400 which is $287 dollars over my limit. So naturally I called thinking it was a mistake. But all i heard was the same pat response that all of you have listed above. I actually doubted myself and thought that buying a car back in September had really hurt my credit. I should’ve known that if BMW Financial was willing to give me a great rate, then it was Amex that was seriously screwed up. Citibank just recently did it to me too, so I was thinking that something was wrong with my credit. Now after reading everyone’s stories, I realize that it has nothing to do with me or my spending habits. I have diligently paid off this card several times and only have a balance now due to a good balance transfer rate. I was told that i also had multiple inquiries on my credit and high balances reported from Experian.
So i agree, if anyone knows of a lawyer that is starting a class action suit, it would appear that person has many willing, able, and employed people who want retribution and vinidcation.
I received a call as well today from AMEX stating they were reducing my credit limit to $3500 from $7000. I have never paid my bill late and had just made a significant payment of over $3000. The person had the nerve to tell me I had $150 available credit. F*** them! I’ll be all over the class action lawsuit if it’s submitted!
I had a $5000 limit, made a $1000 payment in November and they reduced my limit to $4000…called them up and got the same BS storey. After a supervisor advised me if I made another large payment they would not reduce my limit but guess what, they reduced my card to limit to $2400 right after. I have never been late and I have been with them for over 10 yrs. AMEX has turned into a bunch of crooks!!! I called tonight and a supervisor hung up on me for the second time in 2 weeks.
I say we all get together and file a law suite. Our credit scores that are so valuable in these tough times are being hurt therefore we are being hurt. AMEX SHOULD PAY FOR HURTING PEOPLE!
I have been an American Express card holder since the year 2000 and I have worked extremely hard to build the credit that I had. I currently have three credit card accounts with American Express.
On my BLUE credit card between 10/17/08 and 11/18/08 statements my credit line was reduced from $48,000 to $40,000 (17%, within $750 of my balance). During the same time period they imposed a $1,700 credit limit on my ONE credit card which always had been unlimited. I had charged and paid each month more than $2,000 consistently for years on that card and now I had to scramble to move automatic payments, I had several charges declined after the limit was set and was left with egg on my face.
After calling customer service several times they said this was due to a credit review and there was nothing that could be done about it. On 4/2/09 I was notified that my BLUE credit line was reduced from $40,000 to $9,600 (76%, within $200 of my balance). After calling customer service and speaking with a manager they said this was due to a high debt/credit ratio and there was nothing that could be done about it. I have never made a late payment and I typically pay much higher than the minimum payment.
At a minimum this is horrible customer service and at a maximum they have severely impacted my credit rating by increasing my debt/credit ratio. My debt/credit ratio has not changed dramatically in over a year and my credit score is over 700, what they are doing is completely arbitrary. I would not be surprised if they lower my limit again in the near future as they are now creating a self-fulfilled prophecy by manipulating my credit.
From the research I have done there are hundreds if not thousands of customers being affected in the same way and I am looking for a class action lawsuit to join if this can not be resolved immediately. I am so unhappy that I want to immediately cancel all of my credit accounts with American Express, the only reason I have not is it will hurt my credit scores even more. Please help!
Another one in the same boat. Just got an e-mail from Amex telling me that they’ve reduced my credit from $5,500 to $3,000 – which is $150 BELOW my current balance. I am FURIOUS, cause I use Amex for booking airline tickets, and was about to book tickets in about a month to go and see family in Europe. I have always paid my bills way ahead of the due date, and have never defaulted on a payment, and this is the thanks I get!?
Amex can go and F themselves. I really hope there will be some kind of lawsuit against them, or that they’ll go bankrupt.
Any suggestions on trustworthy credit card companies to turn to instead of Amex?
Have been a member for 5 years and have just had my $9500 limit reduced to $1000 without explanation.
I called today to enquire as why this occurred and was told it is to do with the fact my usual monthly balance rarely exceeds $1000 (it was well in excess of this 2 months ago)and that I could apply to have my limit increased in 6 months. I politely tell her that a $1000 limit is useless to me and would like to cancel.
The customer service rep then offered to restore the balance if I agreed to pay 50% of my outstanding balance immediately ($175) and agree to go on direct debit. I don’t agree to this based on principle and would still like to cancel. She changes tact now and says that I they will now restore my limit without condition. I’m quietly seething at this point and cancel anyway. If this is how they treat loyal customers, I won’t have any part in it.
F’ing ar$eholes.
Same story – called and left a message on my phone. Reduced my credit limit to $1000 aabove the balance. So for now I will switch to min payments. Traveling yesterday and for the first time used the Optima Card for gas. They also killed sign and travel 4 months ago. Credit score is 735 – never late. You know at this point I really don’t care -wifes car is all most paid off – My jeep is paid off and I owe 17K on an 09 Camry Hybrid. So I’m going the cash only route – done with this stupidity. I have a balance on Discover Card which if they increase the rate I will pay off. As for AMEX – make sure you redeem your points before you cancel or late pay any AMEX card. They will seize the points – this act has been on CBS in San Francisco. One guy had 7 million points so they up and canceled his card to avoid redemption. Pretty much AMEX has no money to loan – and when a bank stops loaning its not long before they fail. As for the people on the phone -they are just doing the their job – it’s the suits – the one’s educated by the finest schools in the country pulling all of this stuff. Those people have no morals.
Update – the management at AMEX are really – really stupid or they just don’t care. First I get the phone call then I see the reduction in credit line then within 8 hours I get an ad/e-mail for the great getaway deal to Hawaii from AMEX which references the exact same card # they just cut the credit line on. This company is about as stupid as some of the government fools that helped created this mess…..
Hey, Fidelity reduced my credit limits for no apparent reason. I just cancelled the cards. Let them be left with the deadbeats who don’t pay. If they want to drive away their good customers (I never missed a payment, but do pay some interest occasionally), then they’re doing their job.
Everyone should just cancel their american express cards. If AMEX wants no customers, then let them have what they want!
I have a Platinum AMEX and the Platinum AMEX Hilton Card.
First, they slashed my AMEX Hilton from $30,000 to $17,000 about 6 months ago. Now, like everyone else here, my credit is over 720, but here’s the best part…..I never carried a balance on the card!
I often purchased large items ($5k-$10k in one month) and I always paid them off every month in full! So, I really thought it was weird that they would cut me so drastically!
But wait it gets better….then they decide to eliminate the flex pay option on my Platinum card!
Well, I figured it was all over, but just last week, they chopped my $17k hilton down to $13,400!
I got fed up, so I applied (and recevied) a $14,000 Citibank Hilton card.
What would happen if we all stopped paying our AMEX’s, but kept paying our mortgages, cars, other credit cards (in full every month so a potential interest rate raise wouldn’t impact us)?
Would our credit ratings go back to normal in 7 years? I could just get a new car under my wife’s credit that way and maybe we could drive AMEX under!
I’ve had an Amex Blue for over 11 years. Started with a 5K limit but they kept increasing the limit all the way to 25K. I never once asked for a credit increase and I never once went over 7K in balance. So the other day, I get an email stating that my credit limit had been reduced to $5600. My balance at that time was $5450, leaving me with a $150. I had to scramble to get my automatic payments ( gym, newspaper, telephone bill etc) off the card. When I called, I got the same old debt/credit ratio logic. Thing is, I had a worse debt/credit ratio when they were increasing my credit limit all these years. I paid off 2 cars last year, got my 5yr old off of day care expense since he started public school. So I’m in the best financial shape that I have ever been in. My credit score is over 750. So this was quite puzzling and a bit embarrassing.
So here’s my game plan. I paid off about 3K so far. I intend to pay off the rest in about 2 months and I’m going to cancel. I called up a couple of my other credit cards and they were only too happy to increase my credit limit (Discover & Citibank). So that should offset any hit I might take from cancelling Amex. I’ll make sure that I, any member of my family or people in my sphere of influence never gives Amex another penny.
I have a delta skymiles card that I use for all my purchases like gas, groceries, basically everything that does not require me to pay cash. I’ve been spending 1500 on average each month and paying it in full everytime. I got my limit decreased from 7500 to 700 this month, and when I asked why they said “you might have some derogatory item in your report” I’m checking my credit history just in case but I was so pissed off at the way they treated me I closed the account. The sad thing is that’s probably going to affect my credit though it is not my longest held card but still it feels good to be able to do something about it.
I have been a loyal customer for more than 7 years. I have a Gold Card which was given to me with no pre-set spending limit. After I made all my payments on time and used the credit card for all my business purposes, they cut my limit to 14,000 and 3 months after, they did it again to 10,000. They are basically ruining my credit because I owe 11,700 which is an average monthly balance, which by the way is paid ever single month in full. This people are crazy, the are ruining my credit because now I’m over the limit!. What they are doing must be illegal to some extent. If you are willing to file a class action please let me know. I will provide all the necessary documentation.
I’m sure this is happening all over the place. My similar incident happened with BANK OF AMERICA! They have our bank account (with typically a balance of $10-20,0000) and 3 credit cards between my husband and myself. We have never been late on ANY payment with any company, credit scores of around 765. When I called because a charge for my business would not go through, they advised of the reduced limit to $11,000 and said it was because of late payments. I disputed this and asked for dates, they said it must be a mistake and would rerun the credit report. They came back and advised that the limit is now even lower at $7,000, but they would bump it up to $8,500 since there were a couple of pending charges. I had made another $5,000 payment since their last limit reduction a week prio. I told them they will not continue receiving my business!!!!!
Yesterday morning, I received an email from amex that they will lower my credit line from 25K to 1K when the card balance was about 756 dollars. Was not using this card much because I mainly used the platinum card. I cancelled the blue card because all the reasons they said did not make sense. I told them that they should really think about sending out these letters to the custimers ahead of time so that we as customer know what needs to be done to keep or improve our line of credit before they shut us down for unclear reasons. After I had a long conversation with a Rep on Blue, I figured out that Amex really don’t want me to keep the credit cushion anymore. Alright, so be it.
Then I thought about my platinum card… What if they put a ceiling on my unknown preset spending limit or decline any of my future charges? What if I am on a business trip for a multi million dollar contract? Just to think about it.. it scares me… So I called in to ask whether the same thing would happen to my platinum and so-called “Responsible Lending Division” representative “named Stacy” started to argue with me that it is just the way it is. My platinum has not gone under review yet so it is currently in good standing and so forth.
My main question was if your system spit out a decision to lower my credit line on the card that I had only 756 dollars of balance from 25K to 1K, how can I be assured that the same thing won’t happen to my platinum. She just could not answer my question.
Then She literally threatened me by saying
“Do you want me to put a $1000 credit line on your platinum card as well?”
Stay away from this rep. because she will get fired when I visit their CS center in Fort Lauderdale FL in 2 weeks.
I already decided to pay off the balance of all my american express cards and move to BOA platinum I have and I just applied Citi platinum and use them as my main card.
**BTW if any class action lawsuit is underway for AMEX for their malicious act and poor customer service let me know. Amex needs to learn a lesson from their loyal customers.**
First they told me I had derogatory remarks that were JUST reported from Experian (wrong…downloaded my credit report and nothing new),
then they said I had too big a debt increase (wrong again…with income tax, we closed out 3 credit cards),
finally after speaking to a supervisors supervisor (who really knows; it could be the janitor), she blurted out that American Express “reserves the right to decrease credit limits”!
“Ahhhhh! The truth finally comes out”, I said. She was pretty exasperated with me, but I was never rude.
They want me to fax my whole credit report to a new fax number (the first fax number was bogus 1-519-750-6088); the new number is below in an email they just sent me. All of a sudden, they’re willing to ‘review’ my credit report!:
Response (Lincoln Henderson) 04/14/2009 01:13 PM
Dear Jane,
I contacted our Account Services department and inquired what was needed in order to have your Line of Credit reviewed.
I was advised that a copy of your revised credit bureau report, including the FICO score or Vantage Score would need to be faxed to:
1-519-750-5943
Attn: AA/Clerical
American Express
RLA 3RD Floor
7701 Airport Center Drive
Greensboro, NC 27409
Please include your Name and complete Card Account Number on the fax. Should you require additional assistance with this matter, please contact our Account Services department directly at: 1-800-842-5303 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).
Sincerely,
Lincoln Henderson
Email Servicing Team
American Express Online Services
It’s happend to me today with AMEX. I was in frustration. I ve never in my life had problems with my credit cards. in some point I’m happy that I’m not alone and all of you had the same problem.:) I’ll pay it of tommorow and after that they can do what ever they want. so upset that it looks like I spent all money. they cut almoust half…
FILE A COMPLAINT!!!
T Mase comment on March 17, 2008 WAS RIGHT ON!!!
E-MAIL THEM DIRECTLY: Customer.Assistance@occ.treas.gov
WEBSITE for The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency :
http://www.occ.treas.gov/
Toll Free: 1-800-613-6743
TDD Number 713-658-0340
FAX: 713-336-4301
Hours: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., Eastern, Monday-Friday
Mail: Customer Assistance Group,
1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3450
Houston, TX 77010
I FOUND THE ONLINE COMPLAINT FORM ON THE SITE http://WWW.OCC.TREAS.GOV/!
IT WAS EASY; this is their reply.
Customer Name: Jane xxxxx
You have successfully submitted your online complaint form! This is an automatically generated message. Please do not reply to this email. We are unable to respond to messages sent to this address.
Please keep a copy of this email for your records!
Once your complaint is processed, you will receive a separate e-mail within 48 hours providing your assigned case number. Please keep your case number for future contact with our office.
Your Confirmation Reference Number is: . Please note this is not your assigned case number. This number confirms we have received your online complaint submission.
If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledging receipt of your complaint submission or the separate e-mail with your assigned case number within 48 hours, please e-mail us at helpwithmybank.faq@occ.treas.gov and provide your Confirmation Reference Number for further assistance.
A letter that I sent Amex that was re-written to be posted on a Consumer Advocacy website.
“This is indeed ludicrous and criminal, I’ve been a customer far too long to deserve this treatment.”
Janice has been a long-time customer of 20 years with American Express and currently holds three credit cards with them – Jet Blue, Delta Sky Miles, and Blue. Her credit history is flawless as she has never been late on a payment, and she has only recently been carrying a significant balance on her card.
On April 10th, Janice signed into her online account to pay a bill and noticed that her credit limits had been drastically reduced. Her $34,000 credit line was now $5,100 – slightly above her current balance, making it seem like she was using 95% of her available credit. Her other credit lines went from $2000 to $850, and from $15,000 to $1,000 even though one of these cards had never been used. Janice’s only outstanding debt was the $5000 on the card which originally had a $34,000 limit, most of which had been very recently put toward her mother’s funeral expenses in March.
Janice immediately spoke to an account manager at Amex, who first told her that her income could not support her credit obligations and then that her mortgages were too high. Janice explained to the rep, “the mortgages in question have been in existence for over five years and they’re paid on time all of the time.” The representative refused to disclose the income amount recorded in Janice’s file, but as Janice describes, “she did say that the amount on file was less than half of the amount that I quoted… [Amex] has an incorrect income figure on my file.” After explaining that she could pay the account in full by the next billing cycle, Janice was still unable to recover her original credit lines and sent a complaint letter to the company.
Four days later, Janice received three letters in the mail notifying her of credit limit reductions on all three of her cards. She noticed that all of the letters were backdated to the 2nd of April. Janice picks up her mail regularly and cannot believe that it took 13 days for these notices to arrive. Janice is most concerned about her FICO scores being severely and negatively impacted by the lowered credit limits – she explained, “This is indeed ludicrous and criminal, I’ve been a customer far too long to deserve this treatment.”
*Janice has agreed to publication/web and media.
Fellow Amex Sufferers,
Someone posted a comment that named an attorney in CT that’s willing to take this on as a class action lawsuit. I contacted him this week and while he hadn’t agreed to take on the suit and didn’t have a conversation with anyone with regards to this situation, he’s now very interested in taking on a small group of us as clients and filing a lawsuit against the evil Amex to “test the waters” so to speak. If he has any success, he feels that it may pave the way for a larger class action movement. His retainer is $10K and can be split amongst the plaintiffs of this initial suit. Please email me @ jsmith7500@aol.com if there’s any interest in participating.
This is such a relief to find this blog – what an absolute pain AMEX has been to in the past 8 months. They have lowered my credit limit a total of 3 months – each time I pay off a chunk of it (and I stopped using the card about a year and a 1/2 ago) – they drop my limit to within $150 of my balance. Pure insanity! I pay on time, have never been late and keep track of my credit score – so I knew it was not me. Two months ago I read in the Wall Street Journal where factors that had nothing to do with traditional qualifiers for credit were being used – such as the state you live in. I live in Ohio – very high foreclosure rate – so they consider me at risk – unbelievable! I have talked to the customer service reps and supervisor and they have proved to not know why these actions are being performed. One arugment lasted an hour – it was crazy – I told him that their qualifiers no longer make sense – his retort – they do not have to make sense. Exact quote. Seems as if I asked him some questions that were not on the script and he got flustered and admitted the truth. The last thing I said to him was AMEX needs to realize that they this recession will end and people will be looking for sound credit card companies – keep this in mind as you try to survive by sticking it to people like me. I also reminded him that unlike AMEX – I didn’t have a bailout option – I pay my bills on time – regardless of the economy and my present financial condition!
This happened a few month’s ago with my Costco American Express card they lowered the balance from $25,000 to $10,00 then we paid the balance down and they then lowered it to $5,000 no warning. Then last night my husband gets a call from AMX saying we owe them $2000.00 on the gold card. He doesn’t pay the bills so he had not idea. However, on Monday April 20th I paid our gold card early he was sitting with me when I did this- it was due on the 24th but since my husband was going out of town I paid it before he left just in case they decided to suspend the card like they done in the past for a payment 2 days late which never happened before. I called them back because I thought they never recieved the online payment but I checked with my bank and it was debited from my account. So I asked them about the $2000.00 they wanted – her response to me was they want to payment early becasue our spending was out of control. I have a green AMX with 1300.00 on it and my husbands gold with 2000.00. I asked her if I have ever missed a payment which I haven’t and she would not answer me. I told her look back in your computer we’ve had month’s where our bill was over $5000.00 and we never not paid! The nerve of her to tell me I am out of control with my spending. My credit score is 725 I subscribe to on credit services so my score is sent to me monthly it hasn’t changed in months.How do they do this to customers who pay and have been loyal customers for over 10 years!
That happened to me too. Now i don’t care about scores and all the money that bureaus get from give you that information. I’m glad that they cut my limits, from now on only use my debit card or pay in cash.
Wow.. I am really surprised to stumble upon all of this. I am in the same boat as everyone else; excellent credit and a long relationship with AMEX, with recent unexplainable (and insulting) credit reductions. The sheer volume of these stories makes me wonder if AMEX is headed for an ENRON-type implosion? Maybe they knew an aggressive credit-tightening policy would alienate good customers, but maybe they had no other choice? Maybe cutting off the cash flowing out while pressuring customers for huge repayments is the only thing that’s keeping the doors open… for now.
I’m really curious what is going to happen. They are obviously not trying to hold on to good customers, which is a total reversal from the AMEX I always knew. At least I know now that this isn’t about me. I wonder if AMEX will be open long enough for any lawsuits to even be filed?
10 year amex customer. Always on time with every bill. 745+ credit score. I foolishly payed off a 30k balance on my blue and was cancelled – reason being – the American express balance was too high. Yes the card had a 0 blance for 2 months. Card was reinstated at $1000. Needless to say it is no longer in use. Customer service seems to be run by a bunch of assclowns. They are rude, they have no explanation for their actions. They blame you for thier illogical actions and will out right lie to you. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Dear all,
Just by reading I understand the gravity of the situation, I also have been affected by by the bad unfair practices of American Express and Bank of America.
Their actions have affected my business and my personal financial situation since the decrease my spending limit to more than half of what I used to have, this affected my credit score, before they reduce my spending limits I was bellow half of my credit limit by reducing the credit puts us at the credit limit, this is interpreted by the scoring software as a potential risk for the creditors this issue affects dramatically our credit score.
Please let me know if I can join a group of folks trying to follow legal action against these very unethical financial institutions.
Same story here – AMEX. Last night i got an email that my credit limit decreased from $1,500 to $1,100 which is approx $200 over my balance. The card is used primarily for business travel and I never pay late. I’m in a business that is thriving in this recession and it just seemed like a dumb move on their part.
AMEX, AMex, amex…..My story is no different than all the stories above but I must tell it to insure that anyone who is thinking of applying for an American Express card will think twice.
My partner and I have been in business over five years now and decided about a year and half ago we should get an Amex business card. The binnies are good and hell, who doesn’t want to be the owner of an “American Express Platinum Business Card”. So when the Um-teenth application came in the mail (unsolicited) I filled it out and sent it back. Low and behold they accepted it. They gave us a 3K limit right away. We make large purchases on a regular basis so I requested a line increase to 20K and they gave that to us also.
This was just what we needed to help push our company to the next level. A line of credit to help manage cash flow. The card has gone from $0 to 19+K and back again many times sense then and has been used in a professional manner. All payments have been on time and more than the minimum. Some payments were in full and the last one I made was just that.
This is where the problem occurred. I paid down the full balance of the card with intent to use the available funds for a large purchase. There was a three day lag between the pay down and the new charge. This gave Amex the chance it was waiting for.
Half (2 of 3 individual invoices)of the $19,500 purchase went through. At that time Amex dropped the available funds to $9800 ($200 above its new limit) and sent the now famous “We are Sorry for being A**holes letter”. This in effect crippled our cash flow immeadetly and seriously endangered our company financially. I have had to personally loan my company all of my savings just to continue operations.
I know we will make it but that is no thanks to Amex. I have always considered Amex to be the premier card to have in your wallet…..until now. Please pass this web site address to all business persons you know. Maybe we can save one from these underhanded business tactics.
OK, I wish I’d found this thread and others the first time this happened to me. Instead I paid down another $4k when I got a bonus, then limit was reduced. Here’s what you need to do if this has happened to you:
1) call AMEX and negotiate a single digit rate (yes, you can still get one)
2) Pay minium until you pay down the account
3) Pay down any other accoutns first. You may even get a rate lower than your car loan, so pay that first.
4) never use AMEX again
Hi, I started a cause on Facebook called “Boycott American Express”. Feel free to join and spread the word:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/289806
Wow! I just had this happen on my AmEx blue card. I tried to make a purchase online with my blue card, which I have always made purchases online and have never had any trouble, and it was declined. I figured it was because the company was in Europe. I gave the company another credit card (not AmEX) and it went through. Well, today I received notice from AmEx stating that they have lowered my credit limit from $13,000 to $8,100! Stupid jerks! Before this had even happened, I had tried to use my card at a place where I have always used it before and they told me they do not accept AmEx anymore. Now I know why!!! I am going to pay off this account and get rid of it before it ruins me! I have had other banks cancel cards I had because I rarely ever used them. I have been trying to charge little balances on different ones to keep them, but I am sure that is going to stop working eventually.
I am a late 30-s business consulting professional with a 6-figure salary and bonus (house in LA, 2 cars and VERY GOOD CREDIT). I had an Amex Costco card with a credit limit of 42K since 1996 or so. Because I use the card for all of my personal and professional expenses and I travel to client locations all the time, Amex has been on the hook for annual cash-back reward due to me at about 1.8K each for each of the last 4-5 years. A day after I paid off the balance to 0 from an investment which just matured I found that my card was declined for a 10$ dinner check. After I called Amex they said the account was cancelled due to my declining credit score! If anyone is looking for witnesses for a class-action suit please keep me posted. I will join one as a matter of principal just to let some sleazy but annoying litigation attorney drop some flies into Amex’s ointment for being such unprofessional and sneaky lowlifes.
Hi All, I guess misery loves company. I was glad to know that it wasn’t just me. How can it not feel personal when your finances crumple? I don’t make a lot of money but I had a very good credit score, over 750. Then last week I went to make a tranfer from my card to my account, which I’ve done in the past. I was told they could not do it because my credit score had dropped almost a 100 points. I spent over two hours on the phone to Trilent, who are suppose to be monitering my credit. I have payed them $13. a month for the last two years.They said they did not have access to my credit report and could not tell me why my score had dropped. I finally got a letter in the mail yesterday saying it was because I didn’t have enough money in the bank. Like all of you, I’ve never been late on a payment. I know it’s likely with my score drop,my limits will go down too. I know the c.c. companies are scared but where is justice?
when you get that call about your loc being reduced, dont take it out on us, the caller, because we are simply the messenger, we dont make the decision to lower your line of credit, the bigwigs do.
Amex also did this to me despite my being a ‘top 3%’ customer pumping $30000 to $50000 per month through them!
Boycott AMEX. Screw them! I just moved my transactions to Bank of America. You can’t count on American Express at all. I’ve been loyal to them over 10 years, always paid on time. This is the thanks I get. They don’t deserve my business or yours! Bury them.
I just received an email from AMEX
today 6/17/09 that my credit line is reduced from $19,400 to $3,800. exactly what I owe. I have been a customer since 1985, never missed a
payment, called few minutes ago but they will not increase my line of credit. I am upset, very upset for my credit is affected by this.
I do not even use the card for the last 3 years just paying off my balance at the rate of 5.9% but it hurts when I had to write a big check to close it. I feel sad…VERY UPSET, all emotions going thru me…
so many questions in my mind….
I thought being honest, working hard, do the right thing is the way to go.. but AMEX is trying to ruin my good credit standing! I am glad to find this blog. I don’t feel Alone. We are so many out there…I just want to say
THANK YOU!
You are welcome. I hope it all works out for all of us. Cheers!
The same thing happened to me. Over the weekend when about to pay for my grocery shopping of $46,I found out that my card was cancelled without any notification. I have been their loyal customer almost a decade and always used Amex cards whenever & wherever is accepted. I was always on time, never missed on any single payments and had never carried any balance.
What a dissapointment!
Reduced credit from $20K to $5000K (balance of card). Thanks AMEX for wrecking my FICO score. Always paid on time. Never used your trash card though thankgod only for 4.99% balance transfer.
Will pay off and cancel. First, Chase raised my APR to 13.99% – cancelled that one, now AMEX cuts credit.
I hope all these banks go under for good.
i work for amex and have even worse news for you than just the line of credit reductions…if your line of credit has been reduced since oct. 2008 then we are going to CANCEL you eventually. no matter what your fico score or what your amex payment history is!
I am pissed too, Amex did the same to me. I started off with a card of $20k, then all of a sudden they whip out my available balance to 10k, but here is the kicker. I pay like $250 more each month and quarterly I pay 4 times more,l, well each quarter they are going in and reducing my limit. So last night, after paying the card off. They reduce me again to $2000. Please keep in mind, I pay my bills on-time each month. They advised me that I signed a contract and they can periodically review my credit. I said fine, since you wanna play this game, I can play it too. So I contacteed my bank and had had the $5000k reversed and send $500.00 dollars. Yes, it may hurt my credit, but they are already hurting my credit, everytime it gets reduce.
This is ridiculous~! I just checked my WellsFargo credit card info. and they lowered my credit limit from 7800 to 700…WTF?…never been late on a payment, have a higher than average credit score, and have always paid more than the minimum payment…
I called them to ask what was going on and they passed me around to three different departments, and finally told me the department I actually need to contact is not open and I will have to call them back on a weekday…seriously, WTF?…this is so frustrating…they basically reduced my credit by 90%….uumm, are they serious?….anyways, while I’m sorry that this is happening to so many people, it’s reassuring to know that I am not alone…
I’m sure when I finally talk to someone, they will give me some BS answer about why they lowered the limit…eerrggg
I have been reading these comments with interest because Am Ex just did the same thing to me. Cut the credit limit by more than half to the balance, cited derogatory comments from Experian, no derogatory comments at all when I pulled my report. I have spoken with a law firm here that is going to try to help me with this situation. If anyone else is interested, they can contact attorney Tom Winslow at twinslow@edbelllaw.com. Feel free to circulate this information if you know of other blogs, websites, etc.
I have a Costco Amex Card and have not experienced any reduction in credit limits. Like many of the people commenting, I have an excellent credit score and pay the full balance off every month. But after hearing several months ago about the credit limit cuts, I called Amex to try to understand why this was happening and if it could happen to me.
What I understood is that Amex was looking not only at credit scores and payment history, but also total debt/credit isuues INCLUDING MORTGAGES AND HELOCS. Because my mortgage was more than 70% paid off, and my HELOC balance was less than 10% of the credit line, I was told I should have no problems with credit line cuts assuming my payment history continued as before. So far, so good.
As harsh as it may seem if you’re on the receiving end of it, this does make sense. If you took out or refinanced a mortgage one, three or even five years ago, it probably has not been paid down much, and the value of the house securing it may have dropped considerably. If you’re underwater on your home, even if your income and credit history is otherwise fine, there is a much higher chance of default, and it would be foolish of Amex or any other credit card company to extend further credit.
I also wonder how much geography has to do with the people who have experienced this problem. It may be limited to high unemployment or high foreclosure areas, like Michigan, Nevada and the like.
Finally, I notice a lot of commenters have more than one Amex card – sometimes as many as four, and also mention having other credit cards. I don’t pretend to understand credit scoring, but intuitively, I would guess numerous active credit cards and charge accounts would be a danger signal. I feel like I’m skirting the edge of high-risk behavior with three personal and one business card and no charge accounts, but I know quite a few people who have over a dozen, and every one of them is what I would consider overstretched on credit (car loans, high mortgage balances, etc.).
I think we are in a very different market now than previously. Before Amex can worry about whether it is going to lose people as future customers, it has to worry about whether it will be around to have customers at all.
You guys are not alone. I work for American Express and they did the same to me. So I transfered what little balance I had to a competitor’s card and will cancel the Card. I’ve been a Cardmember for over 20 years.
Hey everyone,
Amex just did this to me recently, reduced my credit limit from $3000 to $2100 and lowered my cash advance limit! I have always paid my bill on time and have been an AMEX cardholder for several years. I immediately closed the account! Screw them! I called them to ask them why they lowered the limit, and among other bogus reasons, they said I had too many credit inquiries on my credit report recently! That’s news to me! I havn’t applied for any credit recently! I checked my Experian credit report and the last inquiry on it was back in April 2009! I have an excellent credit score of over 730!
Please report these type of actions by AMEX to the FDIC! Go to fdic.gov and fill out their online form here: https://www2.fdic.gov/starsmail/index.asp
Hopefully we can bring them down!!!
Sears (Chase)did this to me today from a 5900 limit to 800. “Because of recent economic times it is advisable that my credit limit be reduced because of the debt I am carrying.” Never been late on a payment always paid in excess of minimum. FOR MOST OF THIS YEAR HAD A CREDIT BALANCE ON THIS CARD!!!!! They say I can ask for an increase in 6 months, they say it won’t reflect on my credit rating, they say I am a valuable customer…….I SAY BITE ME!!! I am still a bit miffed this happened today.
same shit done to me. been perfect customer for over 10 years to all my creditors. enjoyed being rewarded with higher limits that have now been dropped down to my current balances. Ones w/o a balance(Citi)were canceled. Chase closed my account but i still have a balance. AMEXP fucked me the worst. Lowered my limit to below my fucking balance! WTF! found this out when tried to redeem reward points accumalated over past 10 years and the redemption was DENIED for being over the credit limit! F that you motherfrs……………F!!!!!!!!!
Same drill here, 14k line with a 5k balance, reduced to 5200 despite good credit.
Luckily I happened to log in and check my account before I tried to use the card, as their notification was days late.
Avoiding this type of underhanded behavior was the reason I chose AMEX for credit card needs; needless to say I’ll be going with VISA in the future (and abandoning Costco).
same thing happened to me…my credit limit went from 10,000.00 to 1700.00 and I owe 1800.00…now I am over my limit and that will reduce my credit score…seems illegal to do!!! I have never missed a paymen
t and have excellent credit…or I used to anyway…
Same thing…. I’ve had my AMEX Blue card for about 8 years. I’ve NEVER been late on a payment. In the past three months, I’ve made payments of approximately $25,000 and currently have a $2,000 balance. They dropped my credit limit to $2,300 while I was on vacation. Currently, I would like to be involved in any lawsuit as I no longer feel any loyalty towards them now that they dicked me.
Please email me at mstrike@new.rr.com and let me know if there is any class action lawsuit.
Hello – I have been with Amex blue card for 10 years. My limit was 25K I used the card, paid it off and used it again, always paying on time. Last year I got a letter stating they will be lowering my credit limit because of economic times. They ruined my credit score and dropped my limit down to 8K. I had a balance that I transfered on the card prior to them dropping the limit at a FIXED rate of 3.99 for lifetime payoff, and have been paying ontime for about a year now. Dont even use the card anymore. This month I got a letter saying they are raising my rate to 15%. I have all documentation of the transfer of fixed rate of 3.99 and have been faxing this documentation to them for 2wks now.. They keep telling me story about how its not a lifetime rate and it was promotional. I am so fed up with Amex I am at loss..I am still fighting them I have the documenation of the transfer.. Im going to try and get my rate lowered. Im just furious with this entire situation.
OMG, I am so glad I’m not the only person who feels this way! Three times they have lowered my spending limit. Every time I pay the balance to more than $1K below the new limit, they lower it again. I can’t wait to get completely pay it off. I will never do business with AmEx again as long as I live.
Does anyone know if class action litigation against AMEX over the credit line reduction/cancellation matter has been filed, and, if so where, name of lawyer, etc.?
Better yet, does anyone know the name(s)of a former AMEX employee who feels what was done was wrong and is willing to talk about it?
Guy (561) 659 – 1810
Well I just found this blog and Im a bit relieved im not the only one. Let me explain my situation….
Amex card holder since 1981 and currently have a platinum and gold card. Today Amex cuts my platinum to a $6700 limit and the Gold card to a $30,000 limit. Our business pays the bill every month and we rely on these to order widgets as our vendors do not accpet other methods of payment. They stated to me that my debt was high. Which is a lie as I have two homes paid for,and more with little debt. Then she stated that I owed a certain amount to Amex and I said of course but it will be paid when due then I owe you nothing. She couldnt explain to me why this si doen other than debt. So I asked her if credit history was a factor and she said NO. Very strange as I dont really think AMEX knows what the heck they are doing.
AMEX needs to be sued in a class action suit. Im in if anyone else wants to join.
check this out
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against American Express Regarding Improper Increases in Customer Credit Card Interest Rates
Lawsuit claims that the decision of American Express to stop tying credit card interest rates to the Prime Rate breached the company’s credit card agreements and violated the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) September 17, 2010
Atlanta law firm Webb, Klase & Lemond, LLC has filed a class action lawsuit against American Express alleging that the company unilaterally increased consumer interest rates in violation of the applicable credit card agreements. The complaint asserts that these increases were contrary to American Express’ long-standing practice of tying its rates on many credit card accounts to the Prime Rate, the interest rate charged by banks to their most creditworthy customers. This commitment was established in the company’s form contracts and through years of consistent dealings with customers according to the suit. The complaint states that American Express raised rates even for consumers who have always maintained their good standing by satisfying all account requirements, such as making required payments and not exceeding credit limits. Furthermore, the plaintiff claims American Express has taken such action even against those whose credit scores and general creditworthiness have not declined. The suit requests that customers be refunded all excessive interest charges in addition to several other forms of relief. The case, styled Meeks v. American Express Centurion Bank, Inc., is pending in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia and has been assigned Case Number 2010CV190851.
According to the suit, for several years Mr. Meeks was charged a “fixed-variable” interest rate equal to the Prime Rate plus a “marginal rate” of 2.99 percent. In this manner, the plaintiff claims the company’s interest rates tracked the Prime Rate, moving up when the Prime Rate climbed and down when the Prime Rate fell. The complaint asserts that the company unilaterally ended this practice in late 2008 and throughout 2009 by periodically increasing customers’ marginal rates such that – even as the Prime Rate fell to historic lows – customers suffered higher and higher interest charges. For example, Mr. Meeks’ marginal rate went from 2.99 percent to 11.99 percent and thus, even with the Prime Rate at 3.25 percent, American Express charged him interest of over 15 percent, according to the lawsuit. Mr. Meeks claims the improper and excessive rate hikes have cost him hundreds of dollars and more than doubled his monthly payments.
The lawsuit asserts that American Express imposed these higher rates even on existing customer balances. In addition, the suit alleges that American Express’s offer that customers could reject this interest rate increase by freezing or closing their credit card accounts is inadequate because, as the company is well aware, most consumers rely on their credit card accounts and closing any credit line has a negative impact on a consumer’s credit score. As a result, the complaint contends that customers have been forced to accept American Express’ unilateral rate increases.
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this press release, please contact Webb, Klase & Lemond by e-mail at contact(at)webbllc(dot)com or by calling (770) 444-9325.
I have had AMEX reduce my credit limits several times. I have been aggressively paying of my credit card balances trying to improve my FICO score as much as possible. It works, and fast, but it seems like as soon as I paydown a significant chunk of my balances, AMEX reduces my limits to just above my balance. This makes it hard to keep the debt ratio under 50%.
It seems to me after the credit crunch w limited money to lend, AMEX may be limiting the amount of money lent to “good” borrowers, and shifting to riskier borrowers from whom they may earn higher returns in late fees and interest.
Also, it seems like credit card companies may also be reducing limits to try and keep p[eoples scores lower so they may in turn charge higher interest.
At any rate, as other posters have mentioned, shift your balances to more reasonable credit providers, and also maybe open new cards and maintain a zero balance tpo try and increase your overall limit to improve your DR.
I recently (6 weeks ago) applied for an AMEX at Cosco. I was accepted and received a $12,400.00 AMEX credit line. I am in the middle of renovations on my house and use my card to help with appliances. I made my first payment which last week (ahead of schedule). I scheduled automatic WEEKLY accelerated payments that would have the balanced paid off within 10 months. Today I get an e-mail cancelling my account based on an Experian credit rating according to the rep.. When i discussed this with AMEX employees they kept blaming Experian. Where was Experian 8 weeks ago when AMEX checked my credit and offered me their card and $12,400 in credit. Nothing in my life has changed financially in these 8 weeks except that I used their card to make purchases. They can’t have it both ways. If purchases on thier card lowered my credit rating then they used that lower rating to cancel my account how does that make any legal sense?? I am seeking anyone who knows of an attorney who can help
Just happened to me on my Gold Card. Terrible.
Hey Tony,
I feel for you. It always happens when you least expect it and has many unknown consequences that will affect the rest of your credit report and credit score. Good luck and thanks for stopping by.
Cheers!
Stop using American Express. This bank is not there to help you it is there to ruin you with no justification. I have two american express cards, blue and Costco, and there were both reduced over one year. I went from over 20k to balanced owned (4100-6700). All I get with this is bad credit score. Never late and always pay way more minimum payment requested by them. If I could I will suit them.
Hi FH,
I agree with you and have experienced the same thing.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing
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