Amex drastically cut my limit - my fault

[bradlin]

Hello all. 

During the last few months I was dealing with a rough divorce and I had to be abroad while dealing with it. 

So I made a late payment on one of my student loans which reports as 4 30-day late payments on 4 notes. I missed the 30 day grace period by a few days. The account is now current. 

It was reported yesterday and Amex immediately sent me an email saying my limit was reduced by 80%!

I have 7 years of perfect history with Amex. No late payments on any account until yesterday. 

My plan of action is to contact the student loan company with a goodwill letter as I have always been on time with them. As I was overseas and my mind was distracted with my life situation, I did not receive any calls about my late payment. I hope I can get those late payments deleted with a goodwill letter. 

It was a mistake but I corrected it within days of of the 30 day grace period. 

Do you have any advice with how I should approach AmEx for reconsideration? 

I recognize the reason why they CLD'd me. I have some balances on other cards but I have had much higher balances which I paid down to zero. My total utilization is around 30% after the CLD. My AmEx utilization is about 90% as they reduced my limit to within a few hundred dollars of my utilization. 

I am willing to immediately bring my AmEx balance to zero. 

Who should I contact? 

As a side note while I was abroad I did not receive a letter from Barclaycard which stated that due to non use they will cancel my card if I don't use it within 30 days. I did not see the letter until after 60 days (they gave me 30 days grace). So they closed that account. 

This has severely changed my total utilization % numbers as my total credit limit has dropped drastically. Almost 1/3 of my total credit line is gone. I'm worried about further action from other issuers as the double whammy hit my credit score hard. 

[GApeachy]

At least the card wasn't closed but......was the Barclay card closed and reported on your cr's plus the 30 day late reported before Amex reduced your cl?  I doubt anyone will have their ears on as to why you were beyond 30 days but if your utl. on other tl's are high I'd try to concentrate on bringing those down (particularly Amex now) just to try to offset a snowball effect.   Sorry this happened to you!  Good Luck on the GW.

[bradlin]

Barclaycard closed it for unrelated reasons before these lates hit my credit report. But yes both happened within a space of days. Their algorithm must have freaked out basically thinking i'm drowning in quicksand. I just want to explain to a person that I am not. The divorce will not affect my US finances either. 

My util on other lines is between 30-90%. 

The 90% is the take advantage of a 0% apr. 

The rest are around 30%. I can pay AmEx down to $0. 

Should I do that first and then GW? 

Also should I call the number on the back of the card? 

or

Call Amex executive CS?

or 

e-mail executive CS/CEO?

or

mail a physical letter? 

it seems it keeps changing which is the best path. 

[GApeachy]

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@bradlin wrote:

Barclaycard closed it for unrelated reasons before these lates hit my credit report. But yes both happened within a space of days. Their algorithm must have freaked out basically thinking i'm drowning in quicksand. I just want to explain to a person that I am not. The divorce will not affect my US finances either. 

My util on other lines is between 30-90%. 

The 90% is the take advantage of a 0% apr. 

The rest are around 30%. I can pay AmEx down to $0. 

Should I do that first and then GW? 

Also should I call the number on the back of the card? 

or

Call Amex executive CS?

or 

e-mail executive CS/CEO?

or

mail a physical letter? 

it seems it keeps changing which is the best path. 

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IDK about GW letters, never done that but paging @FireMedic1 who can enlighten..... both with the GW and these high utl. cards and the order in which to knock them down.  I just know that any ^ utl. percentages can and possibly will continue to add fuel to the fire.  As they say around here though, "Finances over Fico" so do what you gotta do, do what you can do and ride the wave.  GL!

[Yasselife]

@bradlin 

My advice on Amex is to keep making your payments as before (under 30%), I wouldn't risk making phone calls. I was balance chase by Amex for clicking the limit increase button while having high utilization, I was denied with a 5-7 letter response, this caught their attention and decreased my limit. I was +70% overall on my cards, good news is that once my credit got more stable I asked on the app(no person) again for an increase on the limit amount that was reduced and got approved while still having +30-40 overall uti.

   You will get your limit back, try to stabilize your credit first with your student loans.

[bradlin]

I think you're right. Too risky right now. My overall utilization is still under 30%. It's just the one 0% apr card is maxed out. None other are. Except now due to the whopping 80% CLD (I was under 15%) it is now at 90%. I made a payment today to drop it to 60%. I could just as well pay it off even and then call. 

I just wonder how much it matters that one card is maxed out when overall your utilization is under 30%. It seems they look at that poorly. It's perfect rational to max out a 0% card. Anyway i'm chopping down the balances as quickly as I can. 

That Amex was 1/3 of my entire credit limit of all cards. So it hit me hard. I think I can get total utilization under 20% soon and the Amex to 0%. Maybe put some space on the other cards too. 

[Anonymous]

I am sorry this happened to you. Lenders now pay to be notified of any negative info on your credit reports instantly (if they sign up for that service). They watch like a hawk and one negative item can set off AA such as what happened to you. From what I have read on this site a GW letter does create some good results but they are few and far between. As others said, just pay this down to 28.9% of your new CL so your utilization does not kill your scores.

Thanks

Mark

[FireMedic1]

I wish there was a magic trick to fix all this. But what you still have protect it. Get AMEX done and paid. AMEX sees the 90% card. But they dont know its a 0% APR thing. APR's aren't listed on reports. Then add Barclays closed by creditor account. So they are protecting themselves by the CLD. Get all the revolvers under control and below 8% overall util. Fix whats broken first.

I'll ping @calyx on how to deal with SL Lates. Wont be easy. In the end. No matter whats going on with life. Most creditors dont care. They just want to be paid on time and protect their $. It will all calm down eventually. But for now. Get out of debt. Then work on the SL late. Please dont take this the wrong way. It only takes a few minutes to check on your accounts once a week. Cant turn your back on that. Comes up on here all the time. Most of all. Savings Account. Ya got to put money into savings for moments like this. If everyone had a min of 1 month of bills saved. The GW threads would be a whole lot less.

Your doing the right thing now. Dont stop till its all paid. Then contact AMEX and explain what went down. I never was a barclays fan. No great loss in my eyes. Keep us updated and Good Luck!

[disdreamin]

Not so much advice as a question - does AmEx balance chase? I see people suggesting paying the card down under a certain percentage, but is there a chance AmEx will again lower the CL once that is done?

OP, good luck and hope you are able to goodwill the SL late.

[bradlin]

Thank you Mark3038 I will pay them down. 

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@Anonymous wrote:

I am sorry this happened to you. Lenders now pay to be notified of any negative info on your credit reports instantly (if they sign up for that service). They watch like a hawk and one negative item can set off AA such as what happened to you. From what I have read on this site a GW letter does create some good results but they are few and far between. As others said, just pay this down to 28.9% of your new CL so your utilization does not kill your scores.

Thanks

Mark

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