What's your interest rate on the card? You're definitely in a tough situation. If you pay our balance down, they're going to chase your balance. If you don't pay your balance and just make small payments, interest charges can cause you to go over the limit. I would make payments of $150-$200 a month which will pay your balance and give you a chance at keeping your CL and account open. There's a good chance that AMEX might close your account once you pay off your balance and you wouldn't want that since you have about 5 years of history on the account. If you have older accounts or accounts opened in 2004, I would pay off the balance aggressively and let them decide if they want to keep the account open or not.
