AMEX EDC strange CLI long story

[Anonymous]

This is a long strange trip so I will attempt to stay as coherent as possible.  OK so on the 19th of February I went on a little app spree.  I did not have a relationship with AMEX so I decided to give them another try.  I had been turned down in the past but my credit has vastly improved in the last 4 years.  I was instantly approved and according to the web page it was for 20k.  I create an account and the limit says 10k no big deal.  I got the 15 month 0% so  I put some plane tickets that I was purchasing for a vacation this summer to South Africa.  The tickets cost me approximately 7k on Amex Travel double points plus 25k point bonus.  After I purchased them I realized I had had made a mistake on the the return date (Stupid Time Difference) and had to call Amex Travel to fix the mistake.  This is where the fun starts.

First thing that happens is the tickets purchased had to be refunded and thanks to Amex travel there was no cost for that because i was within the 24 hour period.  The problem is when i went to repurchase the tickets I was denied because I was only showing a 10k limit and the second would put me in the 14k area.  Talked to customer service nothing they can do I will have to wait until the card is refunded to make the purchase again.  I am not worried about waiting but my wife is freaking out because she said I had waited to long to get the tickets.  Granted we are not leaving until June 22nd.  I told her if the credit was not in by Monday March 6th I would just put it on another card.

Sunday the 5th I look and I still have a 10k Limit and all of the tickets had been returned so we were able to purchase said tickets again.  Wife happy and like they say Happy Wife Happy Life!  The next morning I get a strange email from Amex stating that they had removed points from my account (I knew that was going to happen)  but the email also stated "We recently noticed point accrual or redemption activity on your Membership Rewards program account that indicates an effort to obtain or use points in a manner that is not appropriate."  I called them and explained the situation and they agreed nothing inappropriate had happened.  They stated I will get the 25k bonus for the new purchase but it may take up to 8 weeks.  

Then I wake up this morning and I have an email welcoming to me to my Amexrican Express Everyday Card and explaining my benefits.  The last line of the email says and remember you have a 20k limit on your card we hope this provides you greater flexibility to make purchases.  I log into my account and sure enough I now have a 20k limit like it said on the day I was approved.  So long story short I got a 10k CLI without asking but I really didn't.  Either way I cant wait to eat some Biltong in Cape Town.  Now if I could just get Chase to give me more than a $500 limit on any card.      

[simplynoir]

If I'm understanding the story right you didn't get a 10k CLI on your card, you were just able to fully utlilize the SL they gave you when the card was approved which was 20k. When you're first approved you're allowed to only use some of that limit of your account for security purposes til you receive and activate your new card. Once you do that you have full access to the entire CL you were approved for. Still a crazy story though and happy to see AMEX was helpful to you.

[Anonymous]

That is what I was thinking too but I did receive an email from Amex on the 19th of Feb with a 10k Limit on it as well.  It does not matter in the long run if it was a SL I was just happy to be finally in the door with AMEX.  I ran 62k through credit cards last year so it does help me to have slightly larger limits because I can sometimes reach the 10k a month threshold.  

[simplynoir]

It's to be expected from my reading around here for the "temporary" limit though admittedly weird they would send an email with the lower limit to you. And forgot to say congrats on finally getting in with AMEX. You put that kind of spend with them and they will gladly open the doors further for you IMO.

[HeavenOhio]

I suppose you could call and ask for a post-mortem just so you have an understanding of what happened. The most important thing, however, is that all is well.

This is something that you'll definitely want to look at if you pull your full credit reports from annualcreditreport.com as these reports should show your credit limit history for the past two years or so. If you're thinking of pulling those reports in the near future, hang on until you know that your AMEX card is included.