AMEX cancelled by AMEX?

[notmyname]

from inquiring minds

Hi Brammy,

If I may ask, what cards do you have that you choose not to do business with Chase & Amex?

You guys are scaring me as I have cards with Amex, Blue $3K CL and Optimum Platinum $2K CL.

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I thought the question was what cards you do choose to use; not a repeat of what you don't.

RP

[Anonymous]

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notmyname wrote:

from inquiring minds

Hi Brammy,

If I may ask, what cards do you have that you choose not to do business with Chase & Amex?

You guys are scaring me as I have cards with Amex, Blue $3K CL and Optimum Platinum $2K CL.

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I thought the question was what cards you do choose to use; not a repeat of what you don't.

RP

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Well that would be a pretty stupid question since in the previous post I said those were cards I chose NOT TO HAVE.  Wouldn't it?  I answered the questions based on my previous statement otherwise the question was unanswerable.

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
Hi, Brammy, can you clarify on what sets BofA off? (also looking at jenny's post)

DH has a AAA BofA that he BT'd his Discover balance to. The twelve months are up at the end of March. He has used it some for new purchases, until he wised up. If he (read: I) pays off the balance before the 0% BT period, are they going to CLD the card? That's what I thought I read, but I'm not sure about the sequence of events.They've CLI'd him to $16.6K, I think it is.

If this is what they do, how does he prevent this? Go out and buy me something really nice on March 28? (that would be my vote! )

I'm also looking at the possibility of getting one in my name to use for appliance purchases etc come remodel time. I'd like to be able to keep a balance on the fool thing throughout the 0% period without them telling me to bend over and cough! thx

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thats what bothers me there really doesn seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason.  Some peopel have great luck with them others horror stories.  I'm kinda weird, I liek a comfort zone where I knw what is expected of me.

[notmyname]

Again, bare with a " stupid question" (as you put it) ; what puts you in a comfort zone. What cards ?

RP

[Anonymous]

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notmyname wrote:

Again, bare with a " stupid question" (as you put it) ; what puts you in a comfort zone. What cards ?

RP

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Sorry didn't mean your questin was stupid...  I am willing to take a chance on just about anything, however, when the consensus is that a card will make you dance on a string or do weird things to you without forewarning orreason, that definitely takes me out of my comfort zone.

Don't get me wrong, if I know that there is a high level of activity on my files or high uti, I realize whatI may be opening myself up to.  But not having any idea what will set an issuer off really spooks me.

Call me OCD, but I like things to make sense.  I tend to stay away from banks who have been repeatedly reported as doing such things.

That being said, if I were to open an Amex, I would full well expect a financial review sometime in my future.  Do I want to take a chance that this will happen with no warning?  Or no bad behaviour that is discernable on my part? No.

[jackg]

A better option is a CLI with a current card

[Red1Blue]

I totally agree with Brammy. I would like to have a certain amount confidence that my card will not stop working when I am on the road. They are certainly welcome to write a letter or call ahead of time and ask for what ever the information they want. If they suspect fraud, they can certainly ask for validation. Other than that, randomly suspending the cards does not make me feel comfortable.  I have paid off $10k on my old card and I should be getting a $5K Oasis card. Once I get it, it is going staright to my Sock Drawer. I travel quite a bit for business, and I would trust my Citi Card than the Amex at this time.

[haulingthescoreup]

I'm a bit bumfuzzled about exactly what percentage of a CL you can actually use on a new 0% intro APR card. I would think that a CCC offering this product would realize that a card-holder would want to load it up and stretch out that 0% as long as possible.

But if we have to live in fear of the CCC randomly saying, "Whoops, we've decided to lower your CL" to the current balance or even lower, that certainly destroys the usefulness of the card.

I'm not talking about a borrower with a dozen cards, all with 95% and above util, app'ing everything in sight. I'm talking about a cardholder who has deliberately chosen to use 0% cards as a personal finance strategy to lower overall interest expense.

If my payment history on a card is clean, and it's currently clean on other cards as well, and I'm paying well over the minimum each month, I frankly don't see why a CCC would even want to pull this kind of crap, and even less do I understand how they justify it.

[Anonymous]

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haulingthescoreup wrote:
I'm a bit bumfuzzled about exactly what percentage of a CL you can actually use on a new 0% intro APR card. I would think that a CCC offering this product would realize that a card-holder would want to load it up and stretch out that 0% as long as possible.

But if we have to live in fear of the CCC randomly saying, "Whoops, we've decided to lower your CL" to the current balance or even lower, that certainly destroys the usefulness of the card.

I'm not talking about a borrower with a dozen cards, all with 95% and above util, app'ing everything in sight. I'm talking about a cardholder who has deliberately chosen to use 0% cards as a personal finance strategy to lower overall interest expense.

If my payment history on a card is clean, and it's currently clean on other cards as well, and I'm paying well over the minimum each month, I frankly don't see why a CCC would even want to pull this kind of crap, and even less do I understand how they justify it.

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[Anonymous]

AMEX and Diners is like a prestigious neighborhood, you may have the money to move in but you have to abide by their rules or kick rocks. I am almost positive that from a business stand point it is much cheaper for AMEX not to do freezes, with the paper work and having to pay the man power they would rather not. On the other hand they do it to weed out the riff raff, people lie all the time about income and all sorts of things.

Has anyone watched CNBC lately? The credit woes are real and a lot of other card companies are soon to follow suite. Don't be mad at them for watching their backs, that is what being a business owner and having a financial team behind you is supposed to do.

If AMEX wanted everyone to have their cards they would make it easy for them to get. They don't even want everyone accepting their cards, what does that tell you?

They would rather deal with consistent customers. Everybody that don't want their cards is what they want. Has anyone taken a look at their financial statements lately? They are far from hurting for business that is why they advertise with Beyonce, Ellen, Tiger Woods, Tina Fey and a host of other celebs, that is the money they want--THE BIG DOGS. Remember their only card at one point was the one you had to pay off monthly, so no they do not like balances.  

So yes they will give you a card with certain scores but in order to stomp with the big dogs you have to play like em.

If not, go to Discover or any of the other cards that is not quite AMEX.