Did I just get shafted by American Express for no reason????

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response.  This is useful and I thank you for the professionalism you used.  Many have a lot to learn from you.  Once again thank you.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Calm down. What negg said wasn't unreasonable based on what you put in your original post.

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I don't blame the OP for getting upset. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Financial institutes always have the right to know your financial information. Now if you pay all your bills on time, and keep your balance down they could care less what kind of money you make. It's all about getting the money back that you owe them. This was probably one of your first big purchases, and you kept that balance up for a while saying that you only pay 2 or 3 times the minimum payment amount. I would get the balance down as fast as you can.

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The OP's complaint, and a valid one that I agree with, is that someone should be able to use the entire credit line issued without worry of adverse action. 

After all, what is the point of having a credit line if you can't use all of it? I'd have to fault AMEX here, even though it's their right to extend as much credit as they want. Don't give out a limit if you don't want the card member to max out their card at said limit. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Calm down. What negg said wasn't unreasonable based on what you put in your original post.

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I don't blame the OP for getting upset. 

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One time Amex had an issue with payment because I mailed a money order and was applied to another account so I mailed another well long story.. but my account finally got credited if you notice my plan was to have more cash on hand just incase that happen this was before I had a checking account of course.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The OP's complaint, and a valid one that I agree with, is that someone should be able to use the entire credit line issued without worry of adverse action. 

After all, what is the point of having a credit line if you can't use all of it? I'd have to fault AMEX here, even though it's their right to extend as much credit as they want. Don't give out a limit if you don't want the card member to max out their card at said limit. 

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I disagree.  A creditor gives you a credit limit based on a snapshot of your credit the day they assign that limit.

But creditors are GIVING YOU THEIR MONEY and trusting you to pay it back.

If they approve you for a $10,000 limit on a day where you have 0% in revolving debt and only 20% left to pay on your mortgage, but 2 years later you have maxed out your cards and taken a huge home equity loan, now it's their responsibility to their investors to protect assets.  

I bet the OP probably has started to run balances across more than Amex and it freaked them out.  OP needs to post his credit card balances and limits across the board so we can see what freaked Amex.

Your credit limit is only yours to use if you are a good risk for the bank.  The minute the bank sees your risk go up, they should pull AA to protect their capital and investors.

I'm invested in banks, and I prefer they be conservative to careless.

[bourgogne]

9500x3=28500 so you did not 3x, right?  what is your ex fico off their site right now?  this is the sole card you own?  is this balance the most you have carried with them?  I would #1 for sure, you dont want to open a bag of worms imo.  any lender can do this anytime which is a good reason to have a few other cards

[Anonymous]

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@negg wrote:

I'm confused on this. Sounds like Amex did nothing wrong. I have no idea what the min payment is on a 8200 balance but paying 3 X's the min is prolly the reason Amex took action. If your paying $500 month it's going to take 2 years roughly to pay that off and your still charging with a 50% balance. What I don't get is, you go on vacation and use the hurricane as an excuse on why you have or need a large CL.  

  Good luck. 

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OP said they went to a family wedding in June. Irma hit in August.

So I guess if we are following your line of thought, those of us who live on the coast can never vacation or even go to family events out of town again, for fear that we may need our LOCs for a potential natural disaster later.  

[DeeBee78]

I understand your frustrations, and can sympathize with you. Amex treats me like crap all the time, so be happy you at least got some decent limits with them for a little while, lol. 

Something in your profile spooked them. Excessive utilization on one card usually won't do it, so maybe there's something else? Have you taken any cash advances on their card, or had a utilization spike on your other cards recently? 

I've been fighting an uphill battle with Amex since I joined in February. They won't give me any more revolving credit and have shut off my charging privileges on my PRG until I've made a payment. That put a sour enough taste in my mouth to make me realize they really don't want anything to do with me.

[Anonymous]

Good point, DeeDee78, on the cash advance question!

Also, OP, you should definitely mention if you're running higher balances on other cards, if you've done any cash advances recently, or if you've used Plastiq or another credit-to-check service online recently.  I've seen some people get AA from Amex for using Plastic while other people can run charges through with no problems.

AA happened but we definitely need a response to see what may have triggered it!

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Good point, DeeDee78, on the cash advance question!

Also, OP, you should definitely mention if you're running higher balances on other cards, if you've done any cash advances recently, or if you've used Plastiq or another credit-to-check service online recently.  I've seen some people get AA from Amex for using Plastic while other people can run charges through with no problems.

AA happened but we definitely need a response to see what may have triggered it!

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For OP, here's a few things that can cause AA with Amex:

PayPal to friends, family, or someone associated with your address or name.

Bill pay services like Plastiq.

Peer-to-peer services like Venmo, Dwolla, and Google Payments.

Cash advances on their cards

Balance transfers that go over a cautionary (for Amex) percentage of your credit limit (I've seen people get AA'd by using as little as 50% of their limit) 

These are just some things that can get you AA'd with just their cards, not even counting your credit profile with other lenders.