Amex won't reduce the APR on my ED card. Advice?

[Anonymous]

I need to add ED and Delta Gold APR too which was reduced. Not much but it is something.

ED 0% to 18.74% after Intro ended. I think my Blue Cash also had intro before turned into 19.95. I has been long time so I couldn't remember.

Just like before, the only PDF billing I could see is from 2019 September.

Amex ED (Initial 0%)

Feb 2021 16.99%

Mar 2020 16.99%

Jan 2020 18.49%

Sep 2019 18.74%

Amex Delta Gold (Initial 24.24%)

Jan 2021 22.74%

Apr 2020 22.74%

Feb 2020 24.24%

Amex BC to BCP (Initial 0% intro to 19.95%)

Feb 2021 12.99%

Apr 2020 12.99%

Mar 2020 13.99%

Feb 2020 14.49%

Sep 2019 14.49%

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@LionLaw wrote:

Hi all.  In my never-ending quest to improve my CC portfolio, I call all of my providers once or twice a year to see if they can reduce the permanent purchase APR on my cards.  It's been a long process, but I now have all of my cards at or below thier best advertised rates.  Well, all of them, except one: my Amex Everyday card, which has never given me a single APR reduction, despite many requests over the years.  So, while all my other cards have great rates, my Amex ED is stuck at 19.99%.

Has anyone else had this problem?  Is there anything I could do to make them move?

Here's a little more background on me:

FICOs are all 800+.  DTI is around 30% (mortgage and student loans; currently no auto loan).

I started my rebuild in early 2012 (right here on the myFico forums).  When I started out, my only surviving card had been jacked to a 29.99% APR, and the early cards I got approved for all had relatively high rates.

Over the following years, I seldom carried a balance on anything, and when I did, I made sure I had a temporary 0% offer that I could take advantage of, so I wasn't impacted by the high rates on my cards.  But, as a credit junky (like everyone else here!), I wanted the best terms possible on all my cards, so I kept chipping away at those rates, requesting a reduction once or twice a year.  I could usually get a reduction of 1% or 2% with each request, but Amex has never budged.

My current portfolio:

I have an Amex Gold (opened in 2012; backdated to 2006) that gets most of my monthly spend.

I have an Amex Platinum (opened in 2013; backdated to 2006) that gets a few hundred a month in monthly spend.

My Amex ED (opened 2014; backdated to 2006) has a $35k limit and a 19.99% APR (currently, their advertised rates are 12.99% to 23.99%).  I don't run much through this card (a few thousand a year max).

I also have a Discover (2001, $20k limit), a CSP (2018, $32k limit) a BOA (2013, $17k limit), a Citi Double Cash (2012, $17k limit), and a Citi Rewards+ (2014, $20k limit).  On all of these, I have either the lowest APR they advertise, or in a couple cases, a few points below their lowest advertised.  My spending on all these is pretty minimal, and most months they all report $0 balances.

---

My Amex Blue Cash started at 19.95 and I upgraded to Blue Cash Preferred which was also 19.95.Along the way BCP dropped to 14.49% APR and I am not sure which month since I couldn't access pdf billing statement before that. I never requested any APR reduction from Amex except Discover. It could be temporary but I am not sure.

Feb 2021 12.99%

Apr 2020 12.99%

Mar 2020 13.99%

Feb 2020 14.49%

Sep 2019 14.49%

---

[LionLaw]

@AnonymousThanks for the additional data points!  It looks like your reductions have just been variable rate reductions based on the prime rate, which has gone down a little more than 2 points since its recent high in 2018 and 2019.  I have seen that across all my variable rate cards as well.

[Anonymous]

Oh ok. I guess it is normal during that period of time.

[cws-21]

I attempted to have my AMEX BCP APR reduced, but I was told that I was at the lowest APR available (12.99%). I tried to do the same thing for my Citi DC, which is over 20%, and I was told that it wasn't possible for "my account" at this time.

[J0hnD0nuts]

Just wanted to add that I had my apr from Amex permanently reduced in July of 2020 from 21.99 to 18.99. I had requested via chat and was denied so I called them and they offered to reduce it. I haven't had any more luck since then though but like another user said YMMV is very true.
I would like to know more about this backdating your cards that you mentioned. This is the first time I've ever heard of it here.

[Anonymous]

---

@J0hnD0nuts wrote:

I would like to know more about this backdating your cards that you mentioned. This is the first time I've ever heard of it here.

---

Backdating was a (strange!) benefit that Amex stopped a few years ago.   Basically, if you got a new Amex card and you had ever had a previous Amex (even if it had been closed long ago), your new card inherited the year of issue of the original card as its open date (reported to the credit bureaus).  So in my case I had opened an Amex in say Sep 1987, and had closed it by 1990.   I opened a new Amex in say March of 2012.   This card has an open date of Mar 1987 (actual month, backdated year) so it actually appears to be the older card.  I also have two others backdated to 1987, giving a good AAoA that has little reality!

But, it used to be even stranger.   If you got added (as an AU) to someone else's card, you inherited the open date of their card.  When parents added their children, this could lead to an open date before the child was born.    This was stopped several years ago.

But, backdating has stopped.  Amex will have a "Member Since" of the front of the card reflecting any older open date, but this doesn't impact the credit bureaus.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand:  If you seldom carry a balance, why care what the APR is? If you have the AX everyday, as I do, you're already getting a bump on points after 30 transactions per month. What more do you want?

I also don't see how lowering your APR improves your "portfolio". You're paying off in full, on time. It doesn't get any better than that.