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@Anonymous wrote:I think it's just a matter of mitigating their potential risk...
...So it does make sense for a lender to not put themselves into that position and not to let the borrower get into that position.
I agree with the overall point above and have always thought it's silly for Amex or any lender really to allow customers a monster limit when they're using an extremely tiny portion of their current limit. This is an Amex through though and they are by far the worst when it comes to this. I'm amazed they didn't take action earlier on and am even more surprised that they haven't nixed the 3X CLI thing all together. It really makes no sense from a risk/reward standpoint that someone can get a $3000 SL card from Amex and within 8 months have that limit to $27,000 via a pair of 3X CLIs. This could be someone spending $100/mo on their Amex card. If someone's profile supports a $3000 limit in this example, there's no way in 8 months if their SL was $3000 that their limit should grow to $27,000 in 99% of cases. I would think that in the relative near future Amex will take a look at this and act accordingly.
By cutting high 5-figure limits in half, all they're doing is trying to fix the problem that they created, which was allowing growth to those limits in the first place on accounts that weren't being used much relative to those limits in the first place. You'd figure they'd eventually confront the root cause of the issue and rather than slash big unused limits, simply not allow the growth in the first place to big limits if the current limit isn't being used heavily.
@Anonymous wrote:Interesting you are referencing food ... is the situation you mentioned yourself?
No, I've just worked in restaurants for 25 years, so I tend to come up with food-related analogies as a result quite often.
@kbell wrote:Blue Cash Everyday
11+ year history
Decrease from $25K to $12.5K in June 2019. Reason given: minimal activity in the last 12 months
Experian FICO 840
I only put 2-3 small charges a year. Experian still shows the old limit of $25K, so I do not know yet how the lower limit will impact my FICO score. I haven't decided if I want to call Amex to restore the credit line.
Experian credit alert shows FICO decreased by 28 points, 840 -> 812, as a direct result of the Amex decrease.
@kbell wrote:Experian credit alert shows FICO decreased by 28 points, 840 -> 812, as a direct result of the Amex decrease.
Was that due to the decrease causing UTI % to cross known thresholds?
@FlaDude wrote:Was that due to the decrease causing UTI % to cross known thresholds?
I would think so. I mean, the only reason I would ask a higher CL was that I can actually use the card without hurting utilization. In My Delta/Mariott cards for example, the typical usage cost is in the thousands. And since utilization is percentage based, the higher the spend, the exponentially higher the limit I would prefer. (If I spend 3K, a limit of 15K, is already 20% utilization).
@kbell wrote:
@FlaDude wrote:
@kbell wrote:Experian credit alert shows FICO decreased by 28 points, 840 -> 812, as a direct result of the Amex decrease.
Was that due to the decrease causing UTI % to cross known thresholds?
I'm still at 1% overall. Zero balance on Amex.
I'd be looking at everything else. With 1% utilization, a limit decrease shouldn't change your score at all.
This thread is making me neeeervoooous. I count on my BCE to pad my overall utl as it's my highest (unused) limit and I'm still carrying 18K on my cards after financing a yuge purchase last year.
Still, yesterday was my 181 and I went ahead with the CLI, which I got, but I do have to wonder if I'm going to be put on this new Amex diet like so many here. Luckily, it seems a phone call is restoring limits but for how long? Clearly Amex is undergoing an internal change and is regretting its lunatic-generosity of the past.
@Asilomar wrote:This thread is making me neeeervoooous. I count on my BCE to pad my overall utl as it's my highest (unused) limit and I'm still carrying 18K on my cards after financing a yuge purchase last year.
It seems that everybody who has called in has gotten their CL restored so it might not be something to put too much effort into worrying about.