Love a good FR thread on Christmas Eve.
I'll add this to the mix. A lot of people, for whatever reason, like to fan the FR flames. There are lots of posts that will state something like, "Just got FR from Amex, only had account for 3 days, charged $50, don't know why it happened." A substantial portion (majority?) of the time, if you look at the poster's history, you'll find one of their first posts will report significant credit problems, e.g., large Amex chargeoffs, previous unresolved Amex FRs, maxing out other cards, lots of recent lates, etc. This just adds to the sense that Amex does these things for no reason when there are often obvious triggers.
That said, I admit that there are several instances when it seems like it came totally out of the blue. My opinion is that there is nothing wrong with Amex doing an FR, but they could definitely tweak the customer service angle of these things. For example, instead of completely suspending all accounts, impose a cap, honor any recurring payments, contact the customer before shutting down their accounts, etc. I suspect, however, that the reality is that FRs are conducted on such a negligible percentage of accounts that it simply does not matter to them to change the process.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
@jake619 wrote:Why? To tech AMEX a lesson? They don't need you either. I think the more responsible thing to do if an FR really agitates you to no end would be to just stop using their card(s). That way you keep the TL open and they get no merchant fees from your usage. Closing it seems a bit immature, kind of like taking your ball and going home.
I've been wondering about this ever since I started frequenting this board: why do people think Amex doesn't need them as customers? Doesn't Amex make money off customers? What makes them different from Visa, Mastercard, and Discover in this regard? What am I missing here? Perhaps you can give me some insight? I'm totally serious.
@jake619 wrote:
@mxp114 wrote:If I ever got FR, I would immediately close out. I hardly even use my AmEx and have a Bank of America AmEx anyway. AmEx doesn't offer me anything I can't get elsewhere so I wouldn't comply. I don't need them, I guess some people need/like them enough to pursue fulfilling the FR.
Why? To tech AMEX a lesson? They don't need you either. I think the more responsible thing to do if an FR really agitates you to no end would be to just stop using their card(s). That way you keep the TL open and they get no merchant fees from your usage. Closing it seems a bit immature, kind of like taking your ball and going home.
I'll also point out mxp is one of the customers that every lender wants to have. It's perfectly reasonable that he has less of a tolerance for hassle out of any creditor than I would as an example; he has near infinite options, where I was willing to beg and scrape to get my Zync even.
I've quit jobs over less invasive things frankly, and I hold that on a higher platform than any credit card. Not sure I'd do so in the current economic environment, but even now I still have options when it comes to employment and I really don't have that many (well good ones anyway) when it comes to credit.
@jake619 wrote:Why? To tech AMEX a lesson? They don't need you either. I think the more responsible thing to do if an FR really agitates you to no end would be to just stop using their card(s). That way you keep the TL open and they get no merchant fees from your usage. Closing it seems a bit immature, kind of like taking your ball and going home.
How in the world did you reach such a broad conclusion based on a simple post where all I said is I would just close out rather than comply? ?_? I don't need them simply means, as I stated I hardly use the card. Actually closing out, PIF is a very responsible thing choice. FR isn't mandatory, you are free to close out. It's not like I said, I would close and never pay. And no it's not like taking my ball and going home, it's more like being told that if I wanted to play on this court, I had to wear blue shorts and well I decided I could wear my red shorts on another court lol
@Anonymous wrote:I think mxp114 is saying that he/she would immediately close the account and not submit to FR. That seems reasonable if the time/hassle spent doing the FR outweighs the potential benefit of keeping the card (perhaps with a reduced CL if the review finds something). And, in the meantime, keep using the card, until, if ever, there is a FR.
Nothing immature there IMO.
Basically that's all I am saying. I have two cards with them, no problems however I just wouldn't want to comply with FR.
@Revelate wrote:I'll also point out mxp is one of the customers that every lender wants to have. It's perfectly reasonable that he has less of a tolerance for hassle out of any creditor than I would as an example; he has near infinite options, where I was willing to beg and scrape to get my Zync even.
Maybe that's what it is. There was a time when I was semi-prepared for FR. I really enjoyed the benefits of membership and thought if FR came up, I would comply. However as of now, I prefer other lenders and products that I would rather just close and not deal with the hassle. I will always have an AmEx branded card either way.