For those who have charge cards only with Amex

[Anonymous]

Thus far I am happy with Amex--

Gold--Pay it off weekly whenever I use it...I have charged about $7000 since I joined in April of 2008...They waived for first year fee and gave me 15,000 points if I spent 1000 dollars by July...I will upgrade to Platinum when I can get them to waive the fee

Blue--I started off with a 2,000 dollar limit, however, considering I have charged over 6,000 on the card this year I will ask for a credit limit increase this week and get back to you.

They keep offering me pre-approved cards, however, I have yet to accept another invitation b/c I do not want any more accounts to ruin my already small age right now.

As soon as Amex screws me I will let you know about it!  lol

TheTaxMan

[itsjustmeibe]

I have 4 AMEX cards:

Personal Blue Cash 1400/3000. Had about 6 months

Hilton Honors Plat 7100/19000 Had for 5 years, carrying balance with 3.9% rate for life

Business Blue 2600/3000 Had for 9 months

SimplyCash Business $28k/$30k had for 18 months

The only changes I see are that balance transfers are no longer available online, and on my Nov statement, it says convenience checks nor balance transfers are available on Open/ Business Accounts anymore.

I want to pay down the balance on the Simply Cash account because I have the money, but I use the card for business expenses associated with flipping houses renovations, and I'm afraid they will reduce my limit when I pay. The interest rate is 7.99% on $18k of it & 11.99% on the rest which is purchases.

What do yall think?

[jmbfl]

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@itsjustmeibe wrote:

I have 4 AMEX cards:

Personal Blue Cash 1400/3000. Had about 6 months

Hilton Honors Plat 7100/19000 Had for 5 years, carrying balance with 3.9% rate for life

Business Blue 2600/3000 Had for 9 months

SimplyCash Business $28k/$30k had for 18 months

The only changes I see are that balance transfers are no longer available online, and on my Nov statement, it says convenience checks nor balance transfers are available on Open/ Business Accounts anymore.

I want to pay down the balance on the Simply Cash account because I have the money, but I use the card for business expenses associated with flipping houses renovations, and I'm afraid they will reduce my limit when I pay. The interest rate is 7.99% on $18k of it & 11.99% on the rest which is purchases.

What do yall think?

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DANGER, WILL ROGERS, DANGER!!

[ozgirl]

We have the AMEX Plat CHARGE card...average monthly use around $13,000 (has been as high as 30K)  always paid in full even though they allow you to pay some charges over time.  Never any problems other than their extreme anti fraud diligence when the card is used abroad.  

I think that in these times, with credit begin tight it pays to adopt the PIF mantra.  If I can't pay cash I will not buy it. Of course there are exceptions and emergencies but clearly the CC companies are sending a message to us. 

[itsjustmeibe]

Well there is an update to the story only a day later. I had been cruising along and lo & behold this morning, CLD on 2 of my accounts.

was $7,100/$19,000, now $7,100/$8,200

was 28k/30k, now 28k/29k

Way to kill my utilization. It doesn't make sense to pay $7,100 off with 3.9% rate for life. But I'll be curious to see what happens to my FICO score. 37% vs 87%.

Equifax is 747 today, we'll see, although AMEX is delayed a month in reporting!

[FretlessMayhem]

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@itsjustmeibe wrote:

Well there is an update to the story only a day later. I had been cruising along and lo & behold this morning, CLD on 2 of my accounts.

was $7,100/$19,000, now $7,100/$8,200

was 28k/30k, now 28k/29k

Way to kill my utilization. It doesn't make sense to pay $7,100 off with 3.9% rate for life. But I'll be curious to see what happens to my FICO score. 37% vs 87%.

Equifax is 747 today, we'll see, although AMEX is delayed a month in reporting!

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However bittersweet this may be, at least going from 93.3 percent util on the 28k card to 96.5 percent util shouldn't drop your score any. After 80 percent util the FICO scoring algorithm considers the account maxed out for scoring purposes. 

It may hurt overall util slightly though. 

[itsjustmeibe]

Oh, the $28k/$29k is a business card, so it does not report.

And I just app'd today for 2 more personal cards, (WAMU - instant approval for $5k, and BOA - instant approval for $7k). So I will get my overall limit back.

I only had 3 major credit cards on my profile: AMEX $7100/$8200; AMEX $1300/$3000; and CHASE VISA $20k/$44k.

The bad part is that the $7100 debt is my sisters and she pays it faithfully, but it's going to hurt my credit.

[scramblingin2007]

I've been using my greenie almost daily. I use it instead of my debit card. No probs for me

[haulingthescoreup]

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Max09 wrote:

Hi,

Since Amex is hot topic, I thought it may be helpful to all of us, if all members who hold charge cards only... with amex, update us on Amex's behavior in regards to their accnts. If you had any AA for any trouble with your accnts.  This may help us determine if having a charge acct only is the safest way to go with amex for now.

I'll start first. I have green charge card only. I use it for almost everything. so far no problems with my accnt and no FR or AA. They are softing me every month.

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Just to remind everyone: OP was trying to find out about the experiences of those who have ONLY charge cards from AmEx --green, gold, plat, and I suppose Centurion. It will really help the discussion if we remember that. thanks

[scramblingin2007]

tax, less than 24 hours after I typed my reply they got me! Just got the call from them.....I just closed account and gave them a piece of my mind.

Message Edited by scramblingin2007 on 11-15-2008 11:30 AM