@Anonymous wrote:I know you were mislead by the 0% APR offer offered to you (so Amex is in the wrong) but you need to "know your audience" or in this case "know your lenders" since they have all the power. There have been a few articles that came out over the last couple of years (the one I remember most being FORBES)--that perhaps you can do a quick search to find--but it essentailly interviewed AMEX, Citi, Chase and Discover on who their target audiences were.
AMEX and Chase both were quoted saying their target demographic are transactors who use their cards for everything and pay in full at the end of the month. Discover and Citi were quoted saying their target demographic are people who carry balances. Hearing this from the horses mouth, I have followed that ever since and have never had any problems.
Nonetheless, I don't think strangers on a message board can give you the reason why you are being balanced chased since we don't have the full picture of your credit profile; and hence don't have all of the context. As someone else recommended, you should call AMEX directly. Also, don't forget that a lender can balance chase you based off of your behavior of other lenders' cards. So if you have high utilization on non-AMEX cards and then you go from consistently paying $100 to half that amount happens, a logical lender would think you are in trouble, hence why you couldn't afford to pay the $50.
Good luck!
Im not a stranger, my name is Average Joe P. Credit the 1st
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I know you were mislead by the 0% APR offer offered to you (so Amex is in the wrong) but you need to "know your audience" or in this case "know your lenders" since they have all the power. There have been a few articles that came out over the last couple of years (the one I remember most being FORBES)--that perhaps you can do a quick search to find--but it essentailly interviewed AMEX, Citi, Chase and Discover on who their target audiences were.
AMEX and Chase both were quoted saying their target demographic are transactors who use their cards for everything and pay in full at the end of the month. Discover and Citi were quoted saying their target demographic are people who carry balances. Hearing this from the horses mouth, I have followed that ever since and have never had any problems.
Nonetheless, I don't think strangers on a message board can give you the reason why you are being balanced chased since we don't have the full picture of your credit profile; and hence don't have all of the context. As someone else recommended, you should call AMEX directly. Also, don't forget that a lender can balance chase you based off of your behavior of other lenders' cards. So if you have high utilization on non-AMEX cards and then you go from consistently paying $100 to half that amount happens, a logical lender would think you are in trouble, hence why you couldn't afford to pay the $50.
Good luck!
Im not a stranger, my name is Average Joe P. Credit the 1st
OH! But of course enchanté 
