topic Re: Amex tried ripping me off! in Credit Cards

Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:24:45 GMT

I got my new Amex Blue Cash card today - whoop,whoop!

However, I was disappointed to see a 18.24 % APR! Can you believe that? I was pissed. So, I called, did some "recon," and refused to activate the card until I got a lower APR, because: (1) I have a solid experian score (728), (2) I've had a gold card with them for three years, and (3) I've have no other cards with that high of an APR.

The first rep tried convincing me to activate and inquire about the APR decrease later. I said "no" and "transfer me." Within seconds the next rep dropped my APR to 14.24 % (5.99 % plus the prime). Still high, but not bad - and in six months, when my into 0% APR is over I'm going for the 13.24 %. Has anyone with the amex blue cash card gotten lower then that with their APR? Should I set higher expectations in the years to come?

Moral of the sotry - recon works and never hurts to ask!

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:28:38 GMT

thanks for posting this. I too just receive my Blue card and was dismayed to see the high APR. It does have the lifetime 4.99% for balance transfers which is nice, BUT I don't have any balance to transfer.

I did activate because the "new me" is to PIF each month, but it certainly can't hurt to call and see if I can get the standard APR lowered to the next tier - I'm also in the 700s

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:52:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thanks for posting this. I too just receive my Blue card and was dismayed to see the high APR. It does have the lifetime 4.99% for balance transfers which is nice, BUT I don't have any balance to transfer.
I did activate because the "new me" is to PIF each month, but it certainly can't hurt to call and see if I can get the standard APR lowered to the next tier - I'm also in the 700s

I would definitely call - they will need to transfer you to the dept that handles APR and just tell them you a good customer with a great score and have lower APRs everywhere else.

I share your sentiments re: the balance transfer offer...its great, but no balances. I wish I would have had this card a year ago, lol! But, then I probably wouldn't have gotten approved.

If you don't mind me asking what was your initial APR for your blue (or is it a blue cash)?

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:19:22 GMT

I have to say that it really is aggravating that they try to stick people with higher interest rates then what they qualify for - no company should do that to a loyal customer (now I'm really dreading the f/r process...if it hits - time to keep my head low , my CLI asks at nil, and utilization under 9%)

-thanks all for the continued advice and knowledge!

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:33:39 GMT

What does the APR matter on this card? If you pay any interest, you're defeating the cash rewards benefit. Who cares if it's 18% if you PIF...

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:25:37 GMT

Good point - I guess I caught up in the "principle of it all" - thanks sasronin

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:27:07 GMT

You may play " I won't activate the card" game all you want with an AMEX. You still will see it on your report, because applying for it stipulates acceptance of conditions. If you don't activate your card within 90 days, they will attempt to contact you and give you another 30 days extention. if you don't by then you will have a nice note on your credit report " closed by lender" or " terminated by lender". It's not worth it. It's a nice card to have and many people on these forums can type that they would be happy to have it no matter what the APR is.

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:14:50 GMT

montana - the card was activated once they lowered my APR yesterday. I'm already using it!

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

fused — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:37:27 GMT

pjriverap wrote:

montana - the card was activated once they lowered my APR yesterday. I'm already using it!

I opened my Blue card in 12/06 and about a month ago Amex lowered my APR to 9.99%. I say wait about six months and USE the card a lot and you might get what you want. Remember Amex does reviews of your credit files and if you're a good customer and your util is low on all of your CCs, Amex will know this and kindly reward you.

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:59:40 GMT

fused wrote:

pjriverap wrote:
montana - the card was activated once they lowered my APR yesterday. I'm already using it!

I opened my Blue card in 12/06 and about a month ago Amex lowered my APR to 9.99%. I say wait about six months and USE the card a lot and you might get what you want. Remember Amex does reviews of your credit files and if you're a good customer and your util is low on all of your CCs, Amex will know this and kindly reward you.

I def. agree. If you use them alot and make lots of good payments they reward you. I have 0 for a year on one- started w/ 8.95 on another for six mos- it is up to 16 something but I PIF and they were the first one to give me a CLI to almost 10000 so I am waiting to negotiate apr in another six mos. The one w/ 16 perc. has excellent reward points- btw.

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:43:08 GMT

fyi.. Amex popped me with their top APR prime + 10.99% - currently 19.24% according to the disclosure pamphlet. Understand though, I went very app crazy two Saturdays ago. It started with Amex and the feeding didn't end until I ended up with 9 new cards and $53k in CL (Amex being the lowest there too).

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:47:58 GMT

Cooneyca wrote:

fyi.. Amex popped me with their top APR prime + 10.99% - currently 19.24% according to the disclosure pamphlet. Understand though, I went very app crazy two Saturdays ago. It started with Amex and the feeding didn't end until I ended up with 9 new cards and $53k in CL (Amex being the lowest there too).

You may have gotten an old disclosure booklet. Their highest APR at 10.99 plus prime is now 18.24. Call a CSR to verify though.

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:33:37 GMT

Not to be an a*s - but I think 10.99 + APR is 19.24.

My initial APR with Amex was 9.99 + APR, which was 18.24.

So in short, someone could get stuck with a 19.24 rate - which is their highest variable APR.

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:34:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
fyi.. Amex popped me with their top APR prime + 10.99% - currently 19.24% according to the disclosure pamphlet. Understand though, I went very app crazy two Saturdays ago. It started with Amex and the feeding didn't end until I ended up with 9 new cards and $53k in CL (Amex being the lowest there too).

I would call and see if you qualify for a lower one - you probably do - its worth a try.

Good luck!

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:57:38 GMT

pjriverap wrote:
Not to be an a*s - but I think 10.99 + APR is 19.24.

My initial APR with Amex was 9.99 + APR, which was 18.24.

So in short, someone could get stuck with a 19.24 rate - which is their highest variable APR.

It WAS 10.99 + Prime.... Prime WAS 8.25, prime has since been reduced to 7.25 so the current rate is 18.24... make sense now? It is a variable rate card, fluctuates with the prime rate. Since Prime was just recently reduced, I'm sure they haven't had time for a reprint nor would they bother since the rate is based on prime. The disclosures should also give you an effective date, maybe even a 'no lower than rate'.

The highest interest rate on the card as of 09/30 is 18.24

From Amex

** The Prime Rate for each billing period is the Prime Rate published in The Wall Street Journal on the first day of that billing period or two days prior to the closing date of that billing period, whichever is higher. For either of those days that is not a customary publication day for The Wall Street Journal we will substitute the closest preceding customary publication day.

If the CSR says the rate is 19.24 I would ask why since in the online T&Cs it shows the highest rate on this card as 18.24

Message Edited by Brammy on 10-16-2007 09:57 PM

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:04:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
It WAS 10.99 + Prime.... Prime WAS 8.25, prime has since been reduced to 7.25 so the current rate is 18.24... make sense now? It is a variable rate card, fluctuates with the prime rate. Since Prime was just recently reduced, I'm sure they haven't had time for a reprint nor would they bother since the rate is based on prime. The disclosures should also give you an effective date, maybe even a 'no lower than rate'.

Yes, that's how my HELOC works--it's WSJ prime less 0.95%. When I got it, prime was 8.25%, and my rate was 7.3%. One week later, they dropped the rate, so now my rate is 6.8%.

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:19:01 GMT

Interesting - thanks for the clarification - well the Rep lastnight, over the phone, said my rate was determined with a prime of 8.25% (my rate is 5.99 + prime (8.25) = 14.24%)- maybe Amex hasn't fully implemented/infused the prime rate into their APR calcuations (which I think lenders, sometimes, get a little time to do so depending on their member agreement terms).

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:23:00 GMT

pjriverap wrote:
Interesting - thanks for the clarification - well the Rep lastnight, over the phone, said my rate was determined with a prime of 8.25% (my rate is 5.99 + prime (8.25) = 14.24%)- maybe Amex hasn't fully implemented/infused the prime rate into their APR calcuations (which I think lenders, sometimes, get a little time to do so depending on their member agreement terms).

Usually the prime rate is adjusted on the next billing statemnet. But if they are charging a 19.24 on the previous poster, I would want to know why.

Some banks have a caveat that the rate will never be lower than 'X', in those cases, the banks are the only ones who profit from a reduction in prime.

Message Edited by Brammy on 10-16-2007 10:23 PM

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:25:47 GMT

@pjriverap wrote:
Interesting - thanks for the clarification - well the Rep lastnight, over the phone, said my rate was determined with a prime of 8.25% (my rate is 5.99 + prime (8.25) = 14.24%)- maybe Amex hasn't fully implemented/infused the prime rate into their APR calcuations (which I think lenders, sometimes, get a little time to do so depending on their member agreement terms).

That is VERY surprising, coming from Amex, after all the commentary about how thorough and professional they are! The USAA rep told me about the upcoming rate change the week before it happened. I was still trying to figure out how all this would work, and she said that the Fed (I think it's the Fed) would be meeting, and that the expectation was that the rate would be lowered, and that once it happened, my HELOC rate would too. This has been, what, 3 1/2 weeks now? They ought to know, IMO.

Re: Amex tried ripping me off!

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:32:04 GMT

good points and I agree. But I also remember reading somewhere that banks have an option (per their member agreement) to sometimes take upto 90 days to adjust their APRs per the prime. Hoepfully, this will not be case!!

However, last night I heard from Amex they are still calculating the APR with a 8.25 prime rate-

hauling - lucky for you, USAA changed their calculations starting yesterday. So I think you should be set to go with your USAA credit lines/cards (this includes the USAA Amex and MC).

Message Edited by pjriverap on 10-16-2007 07:32 PM