You are all over-worried about this! 
If you read some of the past threads about this, you wilo learn that not everyone is made this offer and it is an "upgrade if you will" to your account.
When I carried my Zync and Green cards, this was offered and I used it on both cards. Never had any issues at all.
Amex would not offer this to try and "trick" you nor would they close your account for using this unless you abused it.
JMO - but this is worry for nothing.
@Dishpro wrote:
I received my AMEX green card in the mail today. While activating the card it gave me the option of opting for a pay over time feature for purchases over $100. Does anyone know how this affects my account. I am worried that they might set a hard limit based on the use of this feature.
So whatever happened as a result of this? Did you run in to any issues? I'm surprised by the responses you received as I had this feature on my Platinum and had ZERO issues and at times would have 10k or more, I would then pay it off.. Then, a couple of days ago, I received my GPR card and like you, I was offered this UPGRADE when I was activating my card and all is well.. I'm interested in hearing how it went for you.. I've had zero issues in the past..
$30,500
$18,500
NPSL
$15,000
$10,000
$25,000
$32,000
@Creditaddict wrote:
@Dishpro wrote:
I received my AMEX green card in the mail today. While activating the card it gave me the option of opting for a pay over time feature for purchases over $100. Does anyone know how this affects my account. I am worried that they might set a hard limit based on the use of this feature.Your charging ability will be frozen instantly.
When you do pay off the Pay over time you will be lucky if you have a hard set limit... I bet it would be CLOSED!
We have talked about this in the past... its almost like a test... who will take it... If you have a charge card and you need or want to carry some balance to amex is you are having money problems!
I mean not sure if you saw everything happening in like 2009-2010... Amex came out with several BT offers for life of balance... then the economy crashed and Amex couldn't close, slash, and take faster then you could cut up your card!!
I'd have to agree...even though it seems "childish" to test you like that. I gather to AmEx, if you apply for a charge card, that is what you want. If you want to carry balances, then you should apply for a revolver. Yes, it is convoluted logic on their part to offer you something that they rather you not use, but that is one of AmEx's quirks.
@MustangSaluki wrote:I recently had a chance to convert both Platinum and PRG to pay over time feature for 10K MR points. Both of these were opened in January this year. Application decision is based on the last soft pull, just like CLIs.
I received details on the conversion in separate mails each for Plat and PRG. Both came with 18% APR and interestingly both showed a credit limit of $35,000 each. I think this is a painful way of knowing your "spending ability" for charge cards. I also have the Amex Hilton Honors with CL $24,900. It totally makes sense now why Amex asked for 4506T for the BCP CLI from $4,000 too $12,000 earlier in January. With almost $100k exposed in CL from Amex, my internal score must have been on the risky side. These limits will report to the CRAs in July when the feature goes into effect, but now I am having buyer's remorse from all this. I really don't want to scare other lenders by exposing limits of a previously reporting charge card.
I will find out if reneging the conversion is a possibility. They can keep the points if it helps.
Helllo MustangSaluki!
No worries for you. 
They don't report the CLs for Charge Cards to the CRAs. It's still business as usual and the card is still reported as NPSL.
Starting Score: 642
@Creditaddict wrote:
@Dishpro wrote:
I received my AMEX green card in the mail today. While activating the card it gave me the option of opting for a pay over time feature for purchases over $100. Does anyone know how this affects my account. I am worried that they might set a hard limit based on the use of this feature.Your charging ability will be frozen instantly.
When you do pay off the Pay over time you will be lucky if you have a hard set limit... I bet it would be CLOSED!
We have talked about this in the past... its almost like a test... who will take it... If you have a charge card and you need or want to carry some balance to amex is you are having money problems!
I mean not sure if you saw everything happening in like 2009-2010... Amex came out with several BT offers for life of balance... then the economy crashed and Amex couldn't close, slash, and take faster then you could cut up your card!!
I find this hard to believe. Is there any evidence of this recently??
It goes into effect 6/7 AFAIK.
@RockinRay wrote:You are all over-worried about this!
If you read some of the past threads about this, you wilo learn that not everyone is made this offer and it is an "upgrade if you will" to your account.
When I carried my Zync and Green cards, this was offered and I used it on both cards. Never had any issues at all.
Amex would not offer this to try and "trick" you nor would they close your account for using this unless you abused it.
JMO - but this is worry for nothing.
That's exactly what I thought. No worries.
I have it, I used it, no problems. Why should there be any, they earn money ...
The POT "CL" of 35k is the same for everyone that is given, and accepts, the option for Green, Gold, Plat, and Cent. It actually doesn't mean you can spend 35k then put it on POT. Charges over $100 may be eligible for POT but it is up to Amex on each such charge to offer it or not. It also doesn't imply your internal SL is 35k or more.
The reason for the 35k limit on all cards is that Amex securitizes these debts and sells them as high income interest bearing instruments to eligible institutions or individuals. Details of this can be seen in their SEC filings which specify the 35k limit for any individual debt in the portfolio.
Obviously Amex wants people to use this feature otherwise they would have nothing to securitize, They do this for liquidity. It provides more cash for expanding their regular charge card and credit card business.
The only downside is that they will weigh their internal estimates of your financial status differently and more towards income than assets. This is no big deal since that's the standard assumption of the entire credit card industry. Also, since the interest rates are high and accrue at the time of purchase, they can get a good estimate of your income based on payoff speed.
One caution. If you indicated significant savings, say >500k, in an application and then used the POT feature Amex might have some concerns about the reality of the stated savings. They didn't ask this in an app 3 years ago but when I apped for the Plat two years ago they did ask me to check on of various ranges. Something like 0 to 5k, 5k to 25k, and so on up to 500k+
