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Here's a followup to: American Express - Running Scared, Screws Customers
http://fico.lithium.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=125517
Just got 3 emails from Amex sent between 3-5am. They now cut off most of my excess credit limits on another 3 cards down to almost the balances. That's another $20K gone, after the previous $10K cut on one Amex card.
I checked my Experian report and they did a review early Nov but waited until Black Friday to do the cuts. Over 20 years of accounts listed, NO LATES, NO DELINQUENCIES, ALL GOOD STANDING.
Don't listen to the advice to pay off balances, they'll only cut you back more.
YOU HAVE NO GUARANTEE THAT YOUR CREDIT LIMITS WILL NOT BE CUT UPON REPAYING BALANCES. That's OLD SKOOL thought. Buy and Hold of stocks is dead and so is this BS advice.
Susie Orman said last week on her show that FICO will not make ANY changes to their formulas to account for those like me whose FICO drops because of credit limit reductions.
Gee, FICO must be in cohoots with Amex and other credit card co.'s to drum up business for their credit score products.
NO WAY I'm repaying in full the $40K balances left on my LOW LOW LOW APR Amex balance transfers. Lucky I didn't or I'd have even LESS CL! I'll use that cash to BUY w/o their worthless cards.
If I had listened to the "expert" advice here early in the month on my first post, I would have paid down the balances and then had those excess CLs cut off.
Amex LIES, they said early Nov, on phone & taped by them, the NEXT review would be in 3 months. LIARS!
Now, another bank card cut because of High Revolving Balances/CL upon review. That's because Amex reduced my CLs!
Listen all you credit newbies, don't drink the FICO Kool Aid:
GET AND USE AS MUCH CREDIT AS YOU CAN NOW, AS MANY LOW BAL XFERS AS YOU CAN, THIS SITUATION WILL ONLY GET WORSE NOT BETTER, IF YOU WAIT, THEN YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING.
BLACK FRIDAY WILL ONLY BE BLOOD RED, THANKS TO AMEX!
UPDATE - Black Friday evening....
Ok, I go to Costco with my newly CLDed AX cards, might as well take advantage of some of their Black Friday discounts. AX left around $2K on the Costco card. I bought $200 stuff and card is declined. HUH?! I'm fuming, can't use other AX cards, no CL left, so had to use debit card UGH! Plus I wanted to buy gas and AX is only credit card Costco takes. At pump, use another AX card, and it went through for $32. From car I call AX around 9pm. First CS rep, can't find anything wrong, she puts me on hold, comes back, xfers me to 2nd CS rep. Have to repeat whole story, he checks, says your Costco AX is past due. I said NO IT"S NOT! Placed on hold, comes back, xfers to CS rep #3, an AA rep... Repeat whole story.. She sounds tough, checks, says not sure why I got declined, but ALL YOUR CARDS ARE ON HOLD, YOU MUST PAY YOUR BLUE PAYMENT NOW FOR ME TO TAKE ALL HOLDS OFF. (That was BS since I just charged gas at Costco on another AX card) I said, it's Friday night, now 10pm, what bank are you clearing this with tonight that you need my next week's Blue payment, due 12/2, early on 11/28 night???? I said I'll pay it when I go home to my computer. She said, I have your bank info here, I can do it now. I said in a VERY STERN VOICE, when I'm ready ON or BEFORE the due date, I'll pay it, ONLINE, as I want to review how much to pay, not while I'm driving. She said, it has to reach us by 12/2. REALLY, since when do you now have to make a payment to REACH you on the due date vs. making it on the due date???? Onto Rep #4, a credit rep..... can't find any reason I was declined, all acct's in good standing. Maybe a "system" glitch. I said previous rep said I had to make an immediate payment, all my accts on hold. She said, no you don't have to pay TONIGHT. Wants to xfer me to Rep #5, CL reduction rep so I can find out details of WHY I was CLDed. I said, look I'm exhausted after being on the phone with 4 reps over ONE HOUR having to repeat the story each time. Give me phone number to call. Got it, when ready w/call them, sure only more lies will follow. Meanwhile, not one rep could explain why I was CLD-ed on 3 more cards on Black Friday when early Nov, the first CLD, they said they wouldn't review for another 3 months. I said, you record the conversations, play it back to verify.
AX is desperate, uncoordinated, disconnected between dept's, panicking and thus LYING and using strongarm tactics to get bills paid early.
IF YOU HAVE 0% APR BAL XFER OFFERS, USE THEM NOW AND BUY CD'S, YOUR CL'S W/B CLD-ed IF YOU DON"T USE THEM!
soonerORlater750 wrote:
Call me crazy, BUT! It's all in the "Terms of Service" as to what they can and can't do. Seems the problem here is actually with FICO and not AmEx? Wee users such as myself ($45 total outstanding CC debt) don't get jerked around. I charge only for the points value and BIF several times a month. My FICO score is only 691, but when I need a new car financed... no problem! If I want a new store card to take advantage of a discount... no problem. FICO doesn't like me because every CC account I have is BIFed within 90 days... "short credit history", "new accounts", etc. If it ain't a house, or a car... daddy always said if I couldn't pay cash, I didn't need it. (But that was before "points".) Again, I think the problem is with FICO, not AmEx doing what they think is best for their shareholders.
@Anonymous wrote:Don't listen to the advice to pay off balances, they'll only cut you back more.
While I understand that your are angry, the fact is that having 40k of debt on a single card makes you a very big target these days. None one here would support your view on paying off debt is a bad thing. 2 of my 3 CCs have a 0 balance and no AA yet. My other CC has a $34 balance and No AA yet.
As an expert in what happens when you have too much CC debt, I can tell you that great things happen when you pay your debt down. Dont listen to the OP otherwise you may wind up in the same situation.
Dont carry CC debt!
@marty56 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Don't listen to the advice to pay off balances, they'll only cut you back more.
While I understand that your are angry, the fact is that having 40k of debt on a single card makes you a very big target these days. None one here would support your view on paying off debt is a big thing. 2 of my 3 CCs have a 0 balance and no AA yet. My other CC has a $34 balance and No AA yet.
As an expert in what happens when you have too much CC debt, I can tell you that great things happen when you pay your debt down. Dont listen to the OP otherwise you may wind up in the same situation.
Dont carry CC debt!
I agree. I don't understand how anyone who would carry large balnces would be suprised at a cld given the current market. I can see being upset when carrying a smaller balance but $40k? I think it's perfectly understandable if a ccc got a bit nervous.
@marty56 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Don't listen to the advice to pay off balances, they'll only cut you back more.
While I understand that your are angry, the fact is that having 40k of debt on a single card makes you a very big target these days. None one here would support your view on paying off debt is a big thing. 2 of my 3 CCs have a 0 balance and no AA yet. My other CC has a $34 balance and No AA yet.
As an expert in what happens when you have too much CC debt, I can tell you that great things happen when you pay your debt down. Dont listen to the OP otherwise you may wind up in the same situation.
Dont carry CC debt!
I supplied the link to my original post. If one reads the story, they will see:
The $40K debt was split among two $30K limit cards. The $40K debt was $60K debt and paid down over two years. First Amex reduced the Cl on the 1.9% bal xfer to the current debt. Then said no review for 3 months. Now LESS than one month later, they reduced the CL on the other 3.9% bal xfer to its current debt. Then reduced two more cards to almost their balances.
This to an over 20 year multi-Amex account holder who built their credit limit upto $75K with a FICO score of 750, which now will fall greatly.
What's the guarantee if I pay down more debt they won't "great"-ly reduce CL further? NONE
See FICO homepage, your 691 FICO with no credit bals costs more in APR for loans than my higher FICO.
How many reading here have 750+ FICOs and never kept a CC balance and always PIF?.
Since Amex doesn't report CHARGE cards to the agencies, what happens if you charge and don't PIF your Amex charge bill?
@Anonymous wrote:.
Don't listen to the advice to pay off balances, they'll only cut you back more.
1. PIF always puts you in the driver's seat with any issuer under any circumstances.
2. Amex can, at any time, reduce your CL beneath your balances, or even close the account. so yes things could be even worse, hard to believe but true. keeping a balance on a card DOES NOT prevent an issuer from further CLD or closure. i wish it did since i still have a balance on one of my amexes
Bummer, but no one can expect to be carrying large sums on BT's and not expect them to attract attention. Times and conditions have changed, and continue to change. Pay those balances down as fast as possible!
I'm a 28 year AMEX cardholder, $63k CL total on two AMEX credit cards, plus a Gold Charge card. Have never had a CLD or any adverse action by AMEX. Just cheked the accounts today, Black Friday, and all CL's are intact. But I don't carry balances for more than a couple of cycles. Just because you are offered BT's doesn't mean they are good for you or you should take them. In the past it didn't matter, today it does. Are you sure there isn't something else in your credit file that is making AMEX get the hinky feeling?