Does Amex really decrease limits for changes in credit reports?

[Anonymous]

I was planning on going on a spree this month for new credit accounts so I can get rid of some bad cards I have.

I wanted to start getting into Amex but I heard Amex chop's limits in half if you have balances with your outside credit accounts??? How true is that?

[Shooting-For-800]

Every file is different, but there is no way Amex drop limits just because you have managable debt with other cards and no other issues.

[kdm31091]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was planning on going on a spree this month for new credit accounts so I can get rid of some bad cards I have.

I wanted to start getting into Amex but I heard Amex chop's limits in half if you have balances with your outside credit accounts??? How true is that?

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It is not true that Amex is going to automatically chop limits just because you have balances. That is not an absolute rule or truth at all. Yes, if something does dramatically change on your report and any lender (including Amex) doesn't like it, they could and do sometimes take action such as lowering credit limits. This could include escalating balances, numerous inquiries, new accounts etc. But there is no hard and fast "do this and Amex will do that" rule. Merely having balances on outside accounts is not enough to cause adverse action in most cases. Escalating large balances, perhaps.

[K-in-Boston]

If you applied for a bunch of cards and suddenly had huge balances all around, it's possible.  We got hit really hard with balance chasing and APR jacking about 12 years back when the markets crashed, and had tons of cards that suddenly had 80-95% utilization and they stayed there for years.  Amex is actually one of the very few lenders that never tightened the purse strings on us.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Once they establish a history and pattern for you, they could care less.

[wasCB14]

Keep in mind that a lot of people here constantly push the envelope with their credit in one way or another. When someone reports getting adverse action "just because of X", there may be some behavior Y or risk factor Z that played a role. Y and Z may be common here but less common in the general population.

Think about it...Amex's limited acceptance means most customers have at least one non-Amex card. Most customers let balances report.

Amex wouldn't stay in business for long if they constantly irritated and inconvenienced their customers for such normal behavior.