@Anonymous wrote:Believe me, no one was surprised more than me! I called today and totally expected a knock-down, drag-out fight but this customer rep was sympathetic, helpful and friendly! I was caught off-guard. I'll wait and see if my card's reinstated before I sing her praises too much though.....
I get the feeling that Amex screwed up some how or got some bogus info in an account review (not complete report) from Experian. The CSR knows more than she is letting on. I can't understand the reason you have to fax reports. Amex could simply pull the report. Maybe Amex pulled the wrong report or there were additional tradelines in your file that didn't belong to you. Chances are the account review (soft pull) does not have all the info that your printed copy has. The rep might be one of those rare service people who actually believe in helping the customer.
In any event the CSR is doing a lot of work for a front line rep. Usually a rep would kick you to an analyst and the analyst would have you jump through the hoops. I have no experience dealing with Amex however, and maybe all their employees get to make the customers jump through hoops, lay down, roll over, "sit up pretty" and "Beg!" 
Instead of saying "Goood boy" or "Niiice doggie" and giving you a "puppy biscuit", maybe Amex will reopen your account.
If the account gets reopened, after saying "woof" and wagging your tail; don't forget to ask for a credit limit increase, and interest rate reduction as your reward instead of a crumby "puppy treat". 
@Anonymous wrote:For the LIFE of me I cannot understand why we act like Amex is the best things since cooked food. These bums closed my Clear & Blue cards for other balances too high! I owe 3200 on 29,500 worth of available credit. I have always paid them in full and even went through their review with the IRS and passed with flying colors.
They can have their STINKING cards I will never do business with them again!
For years some people seem to have been real happy with Amex.
I recall reading rave reviews about customer service. I think the problem is that things do change. Every time there is a new post about Amex burning someone there are those of us who have an even greater resolve to have nothing to do with the company in the first place. It could still have the greatest customer service and be the most fantastic prestige credit card on the planet.. I still won't ever considering accepting one of the Amex cards because I believe the adage, "Where there is smoke there is fire".
I happen to have had very few bumps in the road with Bank of America and Chase. I therefore frequently recommend them as options for other people. It has not always been so. A few years ago I kept ridiculing Chase's stingy and arbitrary ways. I believe that Chase has gotten a lot more competitive with pro consumer efforts in recent years.
Some people have gotten burned by BoA and or Chase. When their stories make it to the forums, red flags are waved for those banks. Some people might chose for instance to never even start to deal with Bank of America as a result of much BoA bashing on the web. I can understand that. There would have to be compelling reasons to app for BoA that would outweigh the risk of the downside. I frequently mention positive reasons to deal with BoA & Chase. It is up to the forum reader to weigh the positive and negative before following my advice or that of people with the opposite point of view.
Addressing your specific comments,
I have come to the conclusion that I have not seen any compelling reason to obtain an American Express card that outweighs the risk of being treated like dirt.
There are different strokes for different folks. I have adopted an extremely conservative approach to FICO score building. I don't app for umpteen credit cards to "build my credit". From day one my goal was to reach 800 as fast as possible, not have as many credit cards as possible. I made a conscious decision to plan far ahead and investigate all options before making choices about cards. There are many diverse opinions about apping for different cards in these forums. I focus on the less is more approach. I choose to limit my risk of receiving adverse action before I even app for a particular card. I do that because I am somewhat aggressive in pushing for higher credit limits and only using my credit to make a profit, not go into debt.
Amex might even have some obscure benefit for me in my financial plans, but I have long ago chosen to ignore the possibility as the result of posts like yours.
If I had obtained multitudes of credit lines, and Amex was one of them, I could be of the mind to kick Amex to the curb and not be concerned with the negative impact to my credit scores. The OP has a credit file with few other tardelines and does not have the luxury of simply abandoning all Amex efforts especially now while anticipating a mortgage application in the near future.
The OP's primary objective is to mitigate Amex's Adverse Action,
not make the situation worse.
Once a person receives adverse action from a card issuerer, the choices of whether to deal with the company or not are not the same that I person with no prior consumer relationship would have.
Many people like yourself who have been burned, see no purpose for continuing a relationship with a psychotic lending entity.such as Amex.
If the boat I am sitting in springs a leak, I would normally work on plugging the leak to keep from having to swim, while trying to obtain another boat. Some people might just jump over the side and swim to a more solidly built boat. I prefer to plug the leak if possible and ride the old boat over to the new one. I don't get as wet that way. If I suspected (in advance) that the boat had a leak, I would have tried to avoid getting into the boat in the first place.
Just because some of us encourage the OP to keep an Amex relationship open if possible, does not mean that we all would app for Amex in the first place.
Some of us are simply encouraging the OP to stay in the Amex boat (if possible) a while longer in order to mitigate any potential greater loss. I have positioned myself to be able to stay in the boat if BoA or Chase ever springs serious leaks. I also have plan A and B to obtain better cards if that were ever to happen. Apping for an Amex card is definitely not part of my plan A, B, or C.