AMEX really does hate me

[joeyoeyb]

That doesn't re-start the clock does it?

[Gmood1]

Check the date of the newest derog and see if the dates have updated from what they were before.

[Anonymous]

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@joeyoeyb wrote:

My utilization across all cards is 22% (not great, but I didn't think it was terrible).  I've not had a late or missed payment on any account from any company in over 5 years.

There is one thing that concerned me though.  I have an old collection for $3489 that's over 5 years old & should fall off next year.  AMEX knew about this when I opened both accounts.  I assumed it was old enough they didn't put much weight in it.  Recently I contacted this company to see about possibly paying some or all of it off to have it removed.  They agreed to remove it but for way more than I was willing to pay so I say no.  A few days later I get an "alert" from Transunion telling me there was a new "major derogitory" on my Experian credit.  I panicked and logged in, but it was the same account with the same info so I didn't worry.  Did they "renew" this or something?  From what I can tell it's all the same info.  Did AMEX maybe see this as a "new" derogitory account & it freaked them out??

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Unfortunately, it appears that by contacting the collection agency the clock on your collection was "reset", thus appearing to Amex as a new and pretty substantial derog account. So, to minimize Amex's own exposure they cut down their potential risk by lowering your CLs. Your 22% UTI had nothing to do with their decision IMO.

They just saw the derog and freaked out, which would be the normal course of action for any lender. They definitely don't hate you. They just don't want to have huge CLs open for folks who appear to be in financial trouble as they are more likely to be unable to pay money back. 

My understanding of old collections is that if they are closer to falling off then not, you should ride it out until it goes away. If the time frame is too far away, pay the thing off and negotiate with the collector agency to get it done. Always go for a PIF w/removal if possible. But still negotiate obviously. 

[TRC_WA]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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 They didn't just drop your CL without some cause so you need to figure out what this was/is.

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Yep... I haven't used my Delta AmEx in about 4 months... and still have the same $5k limit.

They don't CLD without red flags going off.  After reading the rest of the thread I would say it is most definitely that collection that caused the CLD.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@joeyoeyb wrote:

So, last October after getting  my scores where I thought I "might" be able to qualify for an AMEX, I tried the Golf Delta & was shocked to get it.....with a $3500 limit.  Not long after that I tried the BCEP & got approved for $2000.  I was most happy about this used this as my primary card & mostly held onto the Gold for an emergency or something.  Like clockwork I've tried getting a CLI on this card every 3 months & every 3 months they say no.  I've never been late with any of them & usually pay more than the minimim, sometimes pay if off.  

So, I woke up this morning to an email from AMEX that says "Your New Credit Limit".  At first I was thrilled....I thought they finally gave me an auto CLI.  NOPE....they dropped the limit on my gold delta from $3500 to $1000.

In all honesty I was probably going to close this card in October anyway but I was hoping to get my limit up on the other card by then but they see, completely uninterested in that.  Do they ever reconsider these decicions?  What can I expect this to do to my score?

I woke up in a good mood....now I'm just in the dumps.  

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They're not likely to change the limit decrease for now.  In time, if you can identify what caused this and the CLI denials you may be able to recover some or all of that limit.  Something in your credit file is spooking them.  What is your balance on the Dekta card and what is your overall utilization across your cards?  Any recent lates?  They didn't just drop your CL without some cause so you need to figure out what this was/is.

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love that you have an ED with the backdate of 89. That is TOO cool!

[ddemari]

OP- that is unfortunate! I'm sorry, maybe AMEX will reconsider after a few months? 

[Anonymous]

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@joeyoeyb wrote:

The balance on the Delta card was $525 (the limist was $3500).  I've hardly used this card for a year but within the past 2 months I've started using it some for business related expenses.  As far as I can remember, the $525 is the hightest the balance has ever been.  

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Not using it for almost a year is most likely your answer.  They like to see usage every month.  I baby mine.  Charge big almost every month and pif.

[Anonymous]

The collections is the problem, sorry op.

[joeyoeyb]

Well, I didn't say I didn't use it for almost a year, I said I hardly used it for most of thr past year (compared to my other cards).  I use my Blue Cash card almost daily, I use the Delta maybe once every 6 weeks.

@Anonymous wrote:

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@joeyoeyb wrote:

The balance on the Delta card was $525 (the limist was $3500).  I've hardly used this card for a year but within the past 2 months I've started using it some for business related expenses.  As far as I can remember, the $525 is the hightest the balance has ever been.  

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Not using it for almost a year is most likely your answer.  They like to see usage every month.  I baby mine.  Charge big almost every month and pif.

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[Anonymous]

It's definitely the collection. Amex uses EX almost exclusively. Just as you received that alert, so did Amex, and they quickly took action to limit their exposure. I'm certain I'd you get this collection removed, keep your UTI low, below 20%, 10% even better, Amex will raise your CL again w/o waiting years or anything like that. That alert definitely raised flags. I'll bet you had it been TU or EQ, instead of EX, you might not have seen anything happen. Amex is in tight with EX. Get this taken care of and you'll recover quickly.