Mixed messages from AMEX

[MattH]

In the last few weeks I have received from AMEX:

1. A notification that my APR has increased
2. Yet another attempt at persuading me to switch from Gold to Platinum
3. [In today's mail] a mailing suggesting I take advantage of my credit line to defer paying for my holiday purchases

If they really wanted me to consider either carrying a balance or switching to Platinum, they should not have raised my APR.  I've had an account with AMEX since 1982, so by now they should know I pay what I owe.

[Creditaddict]

I find it so odd that amex still overs BT and pay later options on charge cards, knowing fair well that if anyone uses any of those features, they will find next month the CL is gone!

[oracles]

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@Creditaddict wrote:
I find it so odd that amex still overs BT and pay later options on charge cards, knowing fair well that if anyone uses any of those features, they will find next month the CL is gone!

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+1 very true

[Anonymous]

Im very happy i dont carry a balance with amex, last month card went from 5.24% to 28.99% !

[CHARGE_IT]

Strange.........I've used Amex for years and treat them like all the accounts I use. I have some kind of balance running with them all the time , both on charge and credit.

What do you suppose I am doing so right that I can do this. It doesn't fit in with what has been said above.

I certainly want to keep things the way they are so could anyone please let me know what you think it is.

In the past six months I have had apr reductions , and unrequested cli.

This is a real problem for me because if I don't know why I have no AA , then I won't know how to keep things the way they are.

I would think it is because of the age of my Amex accounts but I read people here with similar ages that seem to have problems all the time. I hope someone can help me figure this out.

Thanks,

Charge_it

[Anonymous]

I haven't had any changes to my card since getting it. Out of all of the people I know that has AMEX the only 1's that's having a problem r the 1's with a Mortgage. I have been using mine the last couple of Months because I want to get a certain amount of points so I can use them in case they do close my card. I left a $500+ balance last Month and have asked and been turned down for cli's. My coworker(no mortgage) has had a big balance on his account since before X-MAS and he has not had a problem.

[Anonymous]

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@CHARGE_IT wrote:

What do you suppose I am doing so right that I can do this. It doesn't fit in with what has been said above.

I certainly want to keep things the way they are so could anyone please let me know what you think it is.

This is a real problem for me because if I don't know why I have no AA , then I won't know how to keep things the way they are.

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In your case, if it's worked for you until now, I wouldn't change anything.  Of course, there is no guarantee AMEX will continue to treat you as they have until the present, but with how irrational AMEX has been of late, your best bet is probably to continue to use their credit as you have in past years and hope you continue to fly under the AA radar. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Im very happy i dont carry a balance with amex, last month card went from 5.24% to 28.99% !

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Holy sh.....!  Thats some increase.

[Anonymous]

My wife and I had a similar thing happen to us. We have an AMEX Blue which was at 5.24% rate and we've had for several years, we used it just around October and took it near it's max 8K. In December the statement jumped to 24.99% so I paid down 4K immediately. AMEX repsponse, they dropped the max to $3990. What's important here is it was $10 below the current balance and they hit me for an over limit fee. Not to mention that the card moved from 50% usage to 99% which impacted my score by 20 points.

We have since stopped using the card and are just paying it down, but AMEX has lost us as a long serving customer.