topic Re: AMEX credit limit reduction in Credit Cards

AMEX credit limit reduction

FicoRiRi — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 16:11:45 GMT

Hi! I just got an alert from Amex that my BCP card limit has been reduced from $10,000 to $2,000. I have no issues. Always paid on time. I had paid in full a few months ago but had some recent expenses that I just charged 2 months ago but I am paying that over time. They want me to submit 3 months of my bank statements to revise their decision. Should I do that? I have other AMEX accounts that don't have the annual fee and those accounts are fine. No issues. I am concerned about submitting my bank statements because what is the criteria? I keep that bank account balance at $3K and use it to pay bills. I last updated my annual income about 10 months ago. Any advice?

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

Gregory1776 — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 17:05:18 GMT

What's the balance on what you're rolling? They say American Express does not like you to carry balances. I've had to do it before, I've never had anything like this. Triple the limit on my BCP up to 7.5K used

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

FicoRiRi — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 17:10:28 GMT

$1,200. I am waiting for an outstanding invoice to be paid then I can pay that off. But I always pay at least what is owed before interest charges are applied. My credit scores are in the 720 - 750 range but I am worried this drops my score when it reports.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

sjt — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:17:32 GMT

I would submit your bank statements, including any savings or investment account statements, to get your accounts restored. This also minimizes any future reductions.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

Kforce — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:41:33 GMT

@FicoRiRi wrote:
Hi! I just got an alert from Amex that my BCP card limit has been reduced from $10,000 to $2,000. I have no issues. Always paid on time. I had paid in full a few months ago but had some recent expenses that I just charged 2 months ago but I am paying that over time. They want me to submit 3 months of my bank statements to revise their decision. Should I do that? I have other AMEX accounts that don't have the annual fee and those accounts are fine. No issues. I am concerned about submitting my bank statements because what is the criteria? I keep that bank account balance at $3K and use it to pay bills. I last updated my annual income about 10 months ago. Any advice?

They want the statements from the bank account that your income is deposited, not an additional account that you pay bills from.

You could send in both but they want to see your monthly deposits.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

FicoRiRi — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 19:02:05 GMT

Thanks for the info. I had a similar request from BCP 2 years ago where I asked for a CLI and they had me submit my bank statements. But then they didn't review it in time? I followed up with them a few weeks later and then they gave me a CLI. It was really strange. And if I just pay the $1,200 now, I will still be stuck with a lower limit?

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

Kforce — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 19:21:29 GMT

@FicoRiRi wrote:
" And if I just pay the $1,200 now, I will still be stuck with a lower limit? "

I believe that if you don't follow the request instructions, you will only have the new $2000 limit.

Should not be hard or time consuming to download and send in 3 months of statements.

It would not hurt to pay it off also, as said above they like those that PIF every month the best.

The BCP is an OK rewards card, but not for floating a balance month to month.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

dfwxjer — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 19:27:30 GMT

As long as one doesn't lie about their income, providing a few months of statements takes less than 5 minutes.

agreed that Amex is best to PIF every month. All cards should be, but Amex in particular isn't the issuer to ride a balance on.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

Gregory1776 — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 04:27:31 GMT

@dfwxjer wrote:
As long as one doesn't lie about their income, providing a few months of statements takes less than 5 minutes.

agreed that Amex is best to PIF every month. All cards should be, but Amex in particular isn't the issuer to ride a balance on.

I'm curious about this, because I've done it several times when I shouldnt have, and it cost me quite a lot of money. no adverse actions from AmEx.

I have learned my lesson, and am working on establishing the savings needed for life.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

dfwxjer — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 04:56:05 GMT

@Gregory1776 wrote:
@dfwxjer wrote:
As long as one doesn't lie about their income, providing a few months of statements takes less than 5 minutes.

agreed that Amex is best to PIF every month. All cards should be, but Amex in particular isn't the issuer to ride a balance on.
I'm curious about this, because I've done it several times when I shouldnt have, and it cost me quite a lot of money. no adverse actions from AmEx.
I have learned my lesson, and am working on establishing the savings needed for life.

It's not a make or break scenario, especially with their revolvers. I could be off, as my evidence is anecdotal from reading about Amex CLDs here on the forum.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

NAVYCHOP — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 05:16:26 GMT

A few years ago my AMEX Marriott was reduced to $1k when I carried high balances on other non-AMEX cards. Interestingly, they never touched my $40k limit on the Delta Reserve Card. In any case when I asked last summer for an increase on my Marriott card, they asked for three months of bank statements and then raised the card from $1k to a $12k limit.

Last year they let me charge $53k in one month on the Platinum charge card which I paid off after the statement generated so they may have simply wanted to see bank statements before they increased my overall credit card limits to what is now about $60k among various AMEX cards. In any case, providing them with bank statements paid off for me.

I was surprised AMEX sent me a letter last fall that they were increasing the APR on the Marriott card stating they were bringing my APR in line with others who had a similar credit history. With all the bureau FICO scores over 800, I was surprised that they increased my APR on that card but I never carry balances so the APR does not matter to me. I called in to ask for more details on the APR increase but they opaqely told me they could not provide me with any additional information other than what was in the letter.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

sjt — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 18:04:15 GMT

@NAVYCHOP

What was your APR before and after?

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

NAVYCHOP — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 21:26:36 GMT

It went from 22.99 to 24.99 percent. I know 22.99 was not the lowest interest rate to begin with so not sure if this is a lag from the two year period 2020-2022 when I was carrying some very high credit utilizations. When I made massive pay offs in Jan 2023, my FICO scores went from about 690 to 795 overnight. Within six months by June 2023, they jumped to about 810 where it has remained with FICO8. If I look at the more generous FICO9 score from Experian, it shows 838. This is all academic as I don't expect to ever carry balances again in the future. I'll never apply for another mortgage or need to take out a car loan at my stage in life, so following my FICO scores is more a hobby than a necessity.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

UncleB — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 03:12:29 GMT

@NAVYCHOP wrote:
It went from 22.99 to 24.99 percent. I know 22.99 was not the lowest interest rate to begin with so not sure if this is a lag from the two year period 2020-2022 when I was carrying some very high credit utilizations. When I made massive pay offs in Jan 2023, my FICO scores went from about 690 to 795 overnight. Within six months by June 2023, they jumped to about 810 where it has remained with FICO8. If I look at the more generous FICO9 score from Experian, it shows 838. This is all academic as I don't expect to ever carry balances again in the future. I'll never apply for another mortgage or need to take out a car loan at my stage in life, so following my FICO scores is more a hobby than a necessity.

You're not alone, @NAVYCHOP, a few years ago they did the same thing to me with my Everyday card. I got the same letter as you, with the same wording. In my case, my scores had dipped down into the 740s due to new accounts so I guess this put me into a new APR bucket.

My rate increased ~2%, and is currently 20.24 so still not too bad (well, considering the rates these days, I guess). Like you I'd never carry a balance with Amex anyway so it has no real impact at all, but I admit I was slightly annoyed at first (this eventually became more of a 'meh' attitude, ha). This remains the only "adverse action" I've had since I got my credit life together 10 or so years ago.

Side note: Not too long after the APR increase I took out an Amex installment loan at their (then) lowest rate (5.98%) so apparently they didn't hold a grudge (and neither did I). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

12njoy — Sat, 18 Jan 2025 01:47:30 GMT

Wow I must have been living in a cave. This is the first time I've heard of Amex CLD. I've heard of them closing accounts out right. Amex has been pretty good to me although they won't let me indulge in their sub's anymore because of churning but it's ok. I have always paid in full with Amex since my first Amex back in 2013 because I've always read here that it's best to do so with Amex. While I did that with Amex there were other creditors that I carried balances. I used to be in about $60,000 in credit card debt over the years while I had Amex cards and they never hit me with a CLD. I'm credit card debt free now thankfully and will never run up debt like that again. It took 2.5 years to pay that off through blood sweat and tears. I have Delta Reserve 20k, BCP 20k, Hilton 10.5k, Charles Schwab Investor Card 5k and Marriott at 1,100 just waiting to transfer points to Virgin and then will be closing. Interesting enough that I recently got the Amex Green card for TSA Precheck credit. They only gave me a 10k pay over time limit (not that I carry a balance). I checked the spending power on this card and it was approved up to 90k. Doesn't really matter as anything over 10k has to be paid off immediately. Now let me go knock on some wood before I get an adverse letter from Amex. Good luck with your situation.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

Desertdweller1965 — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 03:20:57 GMT

They did the same to me, perfect payment record with them and everyone else, mid 700 fico. I called them and cancelled all my accounts with them. That is the best way to handle that situation. Don't do business with a company that treats their customers in that manner.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

smcj — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 20:11:46 GMT

AMEX algorithms (and that's what drives this stuff, their algorithms) definitely do not like high utilization patterns, whether on their cards or other cards they see on your CR as they do soft pulls for account review on the regular.

Thing is, they don't twitch instantaneously/immediately upon seeing "one high balance." Or even several. And how long it takes/what the thresholds are -- well, nobody knows that. So it ends up looking random. In fact, anecdotally, I'd say that running high balances and then paying them down but not off/way down (or not zeroing them all out in a wave) sometimes is followed by this sort of adverse action. That bit, though, could be as simple as the algorithm tweaking over balances that are simply time-lagged (CRs being far from real-time -- you've paid stuff down, but the CRs don't show it just yet, and the algorithms tweak on whatever CR they've got).

Anyway, blah blah blah. AMEX is AMEX and they're gonna AMEX. Keep them happy and give them what they want and you're fine. Fail to do that and you will wind up deeper in their algorithmic stew -- and it can take a good while to get out of that (hence my "keep them happy" comment).

FWIW, and, again, just my anecdotal observation.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

bs1234 — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 20:17:33 GMT

@Desertdweller1965 wrote:
They did the same to me, perfect payment record with them and everyone else, mid 700 fico. I called them and cancelled all my accounts with them. That is the best way to handle that situation. Don't do business with a company that treats their customers in that manner.

There is no one "best way to handle that situation". If the cards are useful, and CLDs are not a common occurrence, cancelling them all can deprive you of a useful tool. If you feel personally offended by the cuts, you probably shouldn't (as the mantra here goes, it's business not personal) but that's really the only "good" reason to cancel, to end the relationship with someone who you feel has treated you badly.

Also note that unless you are a really big spender, a company like Amex really doesn't care at all when you cancel their cards.

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

NoMoreE46 — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 19:06:35 GMT

@12njoy wrote:
Wow I must have been living in a cave. This is the first time I've heard of Amex CLD. I've heard of them closing accounts out right. Amex has been pretty good to me although they won't let me indulge in their sub's anymore because of churning but it's ok. I have always paid in full with Amex since my first Amex back in 2013 because I've always read here that it's best to do so with Amex. While I did that with Amex there were other creditors that I carried balances. I used to be in about $60,000 in credit card debt over the years while I had Amex cards and they never hit me with a CLD. I'm credit card debt free now thankfully and will never run up debt like that again. It took 2.5 years to pay that off through blood sweat and tears. I have Delta Reserve 20k, BCP 20k, Hilton 10.5k, Charles Schwab Investor Card 5k and Marriott at 1,100 just waiting to transfer points to Virgin and then will be closing. Interesting enough that I recently got the Amex Green card for TSA Precheck credit. They only gave me a 10k pay over time limit (not that I carry a balance). I checked the spending power on this card and it was approved up to 90k. Doesn't really matter as anything over 10k has to be paid off immediately. Now let me go knock on some wood before I get an adverse letter from Amex. Good luck with your situation.

I agree.

Amex CLD postings here do seem to be quite rare...

Re: AMEX credit limit reduction

Janneman — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 06:03:20 GMT

If one pays Amex in installments, regardless of 0% APR offer or Pay Over Time, then Amex will certainly reduce CL substantially a few months later on ALL Amex accounts which would never be increased or restored back unless bank statements or tax retruns are not provided.

My father has 5 Amex cards, 4 personal and one business for the last 9 years. 3 years he opened his first business Amex cards wherein 0% apr for 12 months. He charged the account for couple thousands to meet the SUB and was paying slowly because of 0% apr offer on that card. 2-3 months later Amex all of sudden lowered the CL on all Amex cards from $28k to $1k on all those cards....Yes, from $28k to $1k....and wrote a letter that if my dad wants to get increase then he must provide bank statements which my father couldn't have provided because he had no bank account and no income by that time. Its been more than 3 and half years and until now CL has not increased on any of those cards even though my dad has repeatedly requested for CLI. It's seemed as if they have placed some restrictions on all those accounts that until bank statements are not provided then no credit limit increase whatsoever no matter what. Wish we would have known that one should never carry a balance with Amex at any circumstances unless you have bank statements to prove your income/deposits. Lesson learned but too late already...