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 Very Disappointed in American Express
Posted Mon May 18, 2009 12:00 pm, by Chuck S. written to American Express Credit Cards
Write a Letter to this Company | Rate this Company
On the afternoon of May 16, 2009, I received a phone call from your credit review office. Their message to me was that my American Express Blue account limit was being lowered from $26,000.00 to $4100.00. At the time of this call and the writing of this letter, I am on vacation in Sacramento, California. I typically travel off the available credit on my AMEX card. Further, why does you credit review department find it convenient to notify customers on weekend afternoons? This is a very inappropriate time to pull such an act. As a consumer and your customer, I should have an opportunity to resolve theses matters immediately; however, all offices and personnel necessary to resolve this matter are off due to the weekend.
When I was told the reasons for my reduction in credit, I was in disbelief. I then requested to speak to someone who could help me resolve this matter. I was connected to representative. She stated that she was the highest supervisor that was available and she was unable to make any decisions regarding my situation. It is very upsetting to me to know that your highest weekend supervisors are not empowered to make decisions which will help the customer. She further listed some very inaccurate and unjustifiable reasons for this credit reduction.
1.She stated that the review came from Experian. This review indicated that I was delinquent in my mortgage payments.
a. Although Experian is a nationally recognized credit reporting system, it does have flaws. It also shows all of my bank account transactions. Therefore any MINION performing a credit review could see that my mortgage payments are automatically deducted from my checking account every two weeks. This makes it IMPOSSIBLE to have a delinquent mortgage payment.
b. I have also reviewed my Experian report and have filled a dispute over the January 2008 findings.
c. And since it’s a WEEKEND, I was unable to contact GMAC Mortgage, in order to clear things up. Maybe your people should make that call too.
2. I was then told that I was late in making a payment twice, once in November, I’m assuming 2008, and one other month.
a. As a Firefighter here in Southern California, I’m am regularly on-duty, sometimes four to five days in a row. My schedule varies depending on the fire season that we typically encounter.
b. I usually make my payments on-line and I try to send more than the minimum due. Recently I made a rather large payment which reduced the total amout due, however, your MINION that did the credit review probably didn’t see that or they didn’t care.
c. There have been times where work or travel has filled my schedule and I have forgotten to make a payment on a due date, however, you have had no problem assessing me a late fee, which I have never disputed. My missed payments have never become a reported delinquency or have been submitted to collections. Further, I have received friendly reminders for payments due. It is at that time I have immediately made my payments.
3.I was given the opportunity to submit paperwork as proof of my worth in order to restore my credit line with you.
a. I am your customer and I refuse to jump through any more circus hoops to use your card. Today I submitted a $250.00 payment to the card and upon my return from my vacation; I will pay off the balance and discontinue the use of any of your services.
b. You don’t realize how much of a hardship you have placed on me due to your weak and inaccurate credit review. Your card is the only one I have with me away from home and I am now faced with having to carry cash for the rest of my trip.
c. Further, you did the same thing to me last year. That time II was entertaining friends at dinner and my card was denied for the purchase, a VERY embarrassing moment.
You also stated that I place a high risk upon my abilty to pay my credit with you. I have been with AMEX for almost 20 years. When have I not paid my bill or even the complete balance off? Due to your irresponsible actions, based on nothing valid, this will have an extreme negative impact on my credit rating. Your employees are tools. A kid making minimum wage at a burger place does a better more efficient job than the IDIOTS working for you. I can only hope that the financial dilemma affects AMEX to a point of bankruptcy.
As a member of a rather large community in the State of California and the Nation, I will share this story with my Brothers and Sisters of the firefighting community. I will also encourage them to stop using any services by American Express and maybe even share their stories of poor and inadequate customer service too.
cc:California Professional Firefighters Association
International association of Fire Fighters
Local 1578
Nothing, they send out BS email responses stating that they will not do anything by email. Further, they want the customer to continue to jump through hoops by calling their office and going through that same crap already experienced. Ive decided that Visa will get all of my hard earned money and business from now on.
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by calm Posted Tue May 19, 2009 @ 5:29 PM
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I suspect that the MINIONS, like the weekend supervisors, have rules
they are not empowered to break. For instance, if they see that a
mortgage payment is reported as being late, I suspect that they don't
really have all that much freedom to determine whether that is
probably a mistake or not. That doesn't make them IDIOTS, and it
doesn't mean they don't notice or don't care. (On the other hand, do
we know that it's actual people looking at these things, or computer
programs? If it's computer programs, then you're right: they probably
didn't notice and don't care. Computer programs are like that.)
They, like a whole lot of people in low-level jobs, including kids
working minimum wage at burger places, there are certain things
they're allowed to do and other things that they're not allowed to
do.
That doesn't mean that you don't have a valid complaint.
I don't think they ought to just change your credit limit with no
warning on a weekend, even if you have failed to pay your bill on time
on occasion. I understand that AmEx may not want to give you a chance
to go on a huge spending spree right before they cut your credit
limit. But I also think that if we're going to have a society in
which huge numbers of people pay with credit rather than cash it's
unfair to just suddenly leave them in the lurch the way AmEx did to
you.
But your beef is not with the MINIONS: it's with the people who make
the rules that the MINIONS have to follow. And I do wish customers
would not call employees IDIOTS and other similar terms for having
been denied the power to do what customers want.
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by SusanB Posted Tue May 19, 2009 @ 2:15 PM
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It's all over the internet and news that American Express (as well as
many other credit card issuers) are drastically cutting credit limits.
In your case you admit you were late with your payments more than
once so you need to accept some responsibiity for this situation.
Furthermore, it doesn't matter what your occupation is - - payments
must be made on time or customers will suffer the consequences.
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by BirmanCat Posted Tue May 19, 2009 @ 10:39 AM
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You may be disappointed, but you can hardly be surprised that American
Express has decided to no longer support your poor payment history.
By your own admission, you have paid your Amex bill late on more than
one occasion and have had your card declined. You seem to think that
it's Amex's fault that you are lackadaisical when it comes to paying
your debts.
You clearly don't keep track of your credit history or you would have
found the January 2008 situation months ago and could have had it
disputed and corrected before it became an issue with Amex.
Is your arrangement for GMAC to automatically withdraw your mortgage
payments based on the amount and date or just the date? If it's the
date, you'll need to double check how the arrangements are set at your
bank -- if your payment date is set for the 15th of the month and the
15th falls on a Saturday, the bank will not allow GMAC to pull the
payment prior to the next business day, which is Monday. That means
your mortgage payment is late.
If the withdrawal is for a specific amount and your taxes or any other
fee increases your bi-monthly payments, the bank will only allow GMAC
to withdraw the specific amount you authorized, not whatever the
current amount due is. That means that your payment isn't enough.
With your payment record, you should be grateful that Amex allowed you
to keep their card at all! Why should they continue to advance you
credit when you are so careless about paying your debts?
Lots of people have demanding work schedules. That's not a reason to
fail to pay their debts. If you had the time to use your Amex card
then it's up to you to make the time to pay Amex back for the money
they lent you.
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Your job as a firefighter is no excuse to not pay bills on time. My
cousin's husband is a firefighter in Santa Barbara and works on the
wild fires all over SoCal, and I know for a fact that he is not on
duty for four or five days straight. It isn't allowed. The standard
is to work three days on, three days off, or even two days on four
days off, depending on the location, and this includes when they are
fighting wildfires.
So plan ahead and if necessary, have a trusted family member pay your
bills or set up auto bill payments with your creditors.
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