AMEX Preset Spending Limit assigned - do you ever get out of the dungeon?

[smcj]

Over 18 months ago, AMEX put a preset spending limit of $1000 on my green card, and dropped the limit on two zero-balance credit cards to $1,000, all in under 24 hours.  There was no specific negative history with AMEX -- no missed or late payments, ever.  Presumably this was risk management kicking in, most likely in response to high utilization on the CR in general.  No specific timing trigger other than the statement cycle date and whatever processes accompanied it.

Fast forward to 15 months later.  High utilization -- across the board, not just with AMEX -- 100% gone and reporting to and reporting as such on all 3 major credit reports.  No collections.  No lates.  No judgments.  No negative anythings on any of the CRs, and the only loan balances reporting are mortgage, auto loan, and 2 credit cards with utilization at 48% and 25%, with all other cards at $0 balance and overall utilization (meaning across all cards put together) at 8%.  Lowest of the 3 FICO scores:  784.  With all that:  denied for CLI on the two CCs due to the spending limit on the AMEX green, and the spending limit on the AMEX green is not changeable because... it's there.

Tried a couple of rounds of talking with AMEX by phone, including on what was at least hypothetically a reconsideration phone # I stumbled into, and got told two things consistently:  (1) due to the spend limit imposed on the AMEX Green, nothing was movable until it was lifted.  (2) There was/is no way to request any sort of review of the situation based on the full financial circumstances being different (and provably so).  In fact, the CRs -- who took a lot of time trying to figure out who to talk to in-house -- were stymied by the fact that they couldn't even find someone to talk to in-house.  The best they could come up with was that at "some point in the future" it *might* hit some automated review, and until then, don't submit any CLI or spending limit change requests (to avoid messing up whatever hypothetical clock).

It is now coming up on 18 months later.

My question is simple:  Has anyone out there ever emerged from this?  How did it work?  Was it a random-automated "hey, you're out of the dungeon?"  How long before the whatever-happened actually happened?

I have a few reasons for wanting to get this square, but biggest of all is that I use one of the cards exclusively for hotel bookings, and you can't do much hotel booking on a card with a $1000 limit (at least not without pushing payments through mid-cycle pretty quick while traveling).

Thanks for any data points.

[sjt]

I would speak with someone in the Account Services Department. You can get the direct line to call by requesting it on the online chat.

[NoMoreE46]

Are you meaning the Pay Over Time feature?

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@smcj wrote:

Over 18 months ago, AMEX put a preset spending limit of $1000 on my green card, and dropped the limit on two zero-balance credit cards to $1,000, all in under 24 hours.  There was no specific negative history with AMEX -- no missed or late payments, ever.  Presumably this was risk management kicking in, most likely in response to high utilization on the CR in general.  No specific timing trigger other than the statement cycle date and whatever processes accompanied it.

Fast forward to 15 months later.  High utilization -- across the board, not just with AMEX -- 100% gone and reporting to and reporting as such on all 3 major credit reports.  No collections.  No lates.  No judgments.  No negative anythings on any of the CRs, and the only loan balances reporting are mortgage, auto loan, and 2 credit cards with utilization at 48% and 25%, with all other cards at $0 balance and overall utilization (meaning across all cards put together) at 8%.  Lowest of the 3 FICO scores:  784.  With all that:  denied for CLI on the two CCs due to the spending limit on the AMEX green, and the spending limit on the AMEX green is not changeable because... it's there.

Tried a couple of rounds of talking with AMEX by phone, including on what was at least hypothetically a reconsideration phone # I stumbled into, and got told two things consistently:  (1) due to the spend limit imposed on the AMEX Green, nothing was movable until it was lifted.  (2) There was/is no way to request any sort of review of the situation based on the full financial circumstances being different (and provably so).  In fact, the CRs -- who took a lot of time trying to figure out who to talk to in-house -- were stymied by the fact that they couldn't even find someone to talk to in-house.  The best they could come up with was that at "some point in the future" it *might* hit some automated review, and until then, don't submit any CLI or spending limit change requests (to avoid messing up whatever hypothetical clock).

It is now coming up on 18 months later.

My question is simple:  Has anyone out there ever emerged from this?  How did it work?  Was it a random-automated "hey, you're out of the dungeon?"  How long before the whatever-happened actually happened?

I have a few reasons for wanting to get this square, but biggest of all is that I use one of the cards exclusively for hotel bookings, and you can't do much hotel booking on a card with a $1000 limit (at least not without pushing payments through mid-cycle pretty quick while traveling).

Thanks for any data points.

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[GZG]

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@NoMoreE46 wrote:

Are you meaning the Pay Over Time feature?

no the preset spending limit is a form of Amex AA when they get spooked, they add hard limits to your charge cards and they can slash cc limits too

it's pretty black box tbh and while there are DPs of some working their way out, there's some just seemingly lost and they never get restored

[smcj]

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@NoMoreE46 wrote:

Are you meaning the Pay Over Time feature?

No.  Not Pay Over Time (I am familiar with that feature, so I do know what you're referencing).  In fact, I made a point of making sure to turn off that feature of the card (not interested in using it, never have used it, also see threads/discussions about AMEX being twitchy about its use anyway).

Hard $1k limit imposed on the amount one could have on the card at any time, meaning if your balance was $0 and you wanted to charge $1000.01, that charge would not be authorized.

Here's the exact language from the communication where they advised of the limit:

"We're reaching out because we wanted to let you know as quickly as possible that after a recent review, we have assigned a Preset Spending Limit of $1000 to your account."

If one of these is imposed on your account, it will also show up in the main display of that account's information in the online banking portal (meaning web browser) and mobile app.  In the online banking portal the unused portion of it sits just below the Total Balance and shows as "Available to spend".  In the mobile app it shows, interestingly, as "Available Credit".   So if you have a $0 balance, it shows $1000.

Before imposition of the spending limit, no such figure was displayed at all, if I recall correctly.  Functionally, it acts just like a credit limit, without changing the fact that the entire balance is due each cycle.

[NoMoreE46]

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@GZG wrote:

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@NoMoreE46 wrote:

Are you meaning the Pay Over Time feature?

no the preset spending limit is a form of Amex AA when they get spooked, they add hard limits to your charge cards and they can slash cc limits too

it's pretty black box tbh and while there are DPs of some working their way out, there's some just seemingly lost and they never get restored

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Thanks @GZG, I was unaware of this. 

Welcome to the forums @smcj.  Any DPs to refute AMEX's  handcuffing?

[smcj]

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@GZG wrote:

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@NoMoreE46 wrote:

Are you meaning the Pay Over Time feature?

no the preset spending limit is a form of Amex AA when they get spooked, they add hard limits to your charge cards and they can slash cc limits too

it's pretty black box tbh and while there are DPs of some working their way out, there's some just seemingly lost and they never get restored

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Yep, @GZG's  description is, end to end, an exact fit.  Spooked, hard limit on charge card, cc limits slashed within 24 hours of the charge card limit imposition, and 18 months later, wicked black-boxy.

[Anonymous]

Obviously a little dangerous but have people said they want to close their cards in this status?  On a good day, passing to retentions might clear things up.   But, probably more likely, as they are marked as damaged goods, there may be a "do not retain" flag...

[sjt]

What is your FICO score that is listed on the Amex website?

[FicoMike0]

What limits do you have on other cards? Much higher?

Maybe close the green card, that would get rid of the spending limit. Would save $150 to.