American express, be afraid, be very afraid

[ibm650]

I was moving, a large cross country move and the mover would only accept credit cards.  So I called Amex and said I wanted to use my Amex and wife (both Starwood), they said no problem, you are a great customer.  So the mover arrived, used one of the cards and the other declined, got an immediate email that they lowered my wife's card to 100 over the current balance( these were 20K limit cards)  .  Said it was a coincidence, luckily I had other cards, so I would not depend on Amex.  Got the card fixed for my wife by calling and paying balance. 

[creditnocash]

Weird 

did they restore her original limit? 

what was the balance? 

Maybe it was coincidence. Like when you play with the spend button. 

Congrats on the move though!

[StriderM99]

American Express is notorius for doing this.

A contractor I used to do work for had an Amex Card for his business and was constantly being harrassed and cut off in attempt to get him to pay way ahead of his due dates. At one point, we were in the middle of Home Depot, and his card was declined. He's had the card for years and never has any late payments, yet, when he called to get an explanation, the customer service rep couldn't explain why he was cut off, but recommended he pay his current balance so it unlocks the account. He laughed and told her to look at the due date. It was just paid about a week before, and wasn't due for another 3 weeks. Again, with no real reason, she resorted back to suggesting he maybe pay "part" of his balance. After telling her off and explaining how dispicable they (Amex) have become over recent years, he hung up, and hasn't used the card since. That was about a year ago.

[cashnocredit]

I recently did a SL check, was approved, and then paid a 60k tax bill. I did get a "card not present" email. It was about 3 x the most I've ever charged on Amex.  When they are good they are very good.

[ztnjpv]

These stories are always perplexing to me. I have to wonder what details are being left out that would help these stories make a little sense.

[cashnocredit]

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@ztnjpv wrote:

These stories are always perplexing to me. I have to wonder what details are being left out that would help these stories make a little sense.

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Amex does have a huge database from which it can cull spending pattern stats and establish risk. Since the charge cards are really a different animal where Amex only makes money based on how much you spend, they want you to spend.  A lot.  The huge database lets them extend far more short term credit than regular CCs to many maybe most people but at the price of more scrutiny if you trigger their risk flags. Hat's off to them though. While I have a couple other NPSL CCs I doubt any of them would have approved my charge. At least without an underwriter chat.

[adavis425]

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@ztnjpv wrote:

These stories are always perplexing to me. I have to wonder what details are being left out that would help these stories make a little sense.

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+1.

[jake619]

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@adavis425 wrote:

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@ztnjpv wrote:

These stories are always perplexing to me. I have to wonder what details are being left out that would help these stories make a little sense.

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+1.

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+1.5

[Epcot]

Sorry to hear this happened to you.

[nada9188]

Let us know about all the reasons in the letter they will be sending her about why the limit was cut.