AMEX internal limit/charging limit question.

[Cred90]

Hey everyone,

I have a PRG Amex charge and I have been only charging up to about what my income per year divided by 12 is per month.

Is this likely what my internal amex limit is, or would they be ok with me charging more than that every once and awhile? I've had this card for two years and want to avoid an FR. Also just receved a letter stating that they would be adding pay over time to my account. Yay!?

Thanks.

[takeshi74]

If the formula was that simple we would have reverse engineered it long ago.  It is not simply based on income.  We have no idea what the full agorithm is but it considers many more factors than just income.  You can use the tool on their site to see if a charge will go through.

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@Cred90 wrote:

I've had this card for two years and want to avoid an FR.

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Don't be so fearful of FR's.  Hitting your spend limit will not trigger an FR on its own.

[Cred90]

Appreciate it. Just always hear the horror stories. 😊 Is having American Express add the pay over time option without me asking a good sign?

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Cred90 wrote:

Hey everyone,

I have a PRG Amex charge and I have been only charging up to about what my income per year divided by 12 is per month.

Is this likely what my internal amex limit is, or would they be ok with me charging more than that every once and awhile? I've had this card for two years and want to avoid an FR. Also just receved a letter stating that they would be adding pay over time to my account. Yay!?

Thanks.

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I stumbled across a feature on the AMEX web site where you can put in a charge amount and AMEX gives an instant response back on whether the charge will be approved. I haven't used the card much in the last 10 years and was surprised how much they would let me put on my NPSL green card as a one time charge. 

AMEX does not know my income (if they have one for me it's from 1984) but I had no problem with a one time charge of $15k (car downpayment) even though the high limit shown on my credit report is under $2k. I did not test to see where they would draw a line - prefer to keep it a mystery.

I suspect you could charge 1/6 your yearly income without an issue. When I travelled heavily back in the late 80s, I routinely had monthly charges 3x my yearly income. Its all about payment history and AMEX realizes these cards are often associated with company travel so personal income is only part of the picture.

[Berk]

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@Cred90 wrote:
Appreciate it. Just always hear the horror stories. 😊 Is having American Express add the pay over time option without me asking a good sign?

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All pay over time means is that Amex will now let you pay your charge as if it were extended credit at a very high interest rate. I have been repeatedly offered it and never use it. I don't want to pay 16.99% interest. I have never seen it offered for lower than that. It would have to be in the 6% range for me to even consider it.