American Express Lowered My Credit Limit

Hi,

they did this with me as well. Lowered my limit without notice on my
Amex Costco. The best is, they lowered below pending charges - so I
got a overlimit charge and a record in my credit history for
overlimit.
I was with AMEX since 2002 and had never problems. After this, I
changed my card but I'm still fighting against the record in the
credit history.

Amex also lowered my credit limits without notice. Luckily, I had the
cash to do some shopping this Christmas. The thing that really gets me
is that I've been in good standing with Amex for years. But, because I
fit into their criteria of what they consider a risk, I'm a victim of
their mismanagement.

I'm very concerned about how this will affect my 792 credit score.

Adriane B.

You go girl! I sent them almost the same message today. By the way,
the CEO of AMEX is:

Kenneth I. Chenault
Chairman and CEO
American Express Corporation
World Financial Center
200 Vessey Street
New York, NY 10285

I sent him a package this very am. If enoug of the good cuatomers
complain, it may help. However, it really does not matter what they
do, we will use other lenders. If the D.A.'s try to raise our rate, we
may just let that bill go unpaid for about six months.
By the way, I did get a personal phone call when I complained about
the first reduction 10 weeks ago. Not that it did any good.

My wife and I have been customers of AMEX for over 19 years and have
spent at least $680000 using their card!
They lowered our limit about 10 weeks ago and we took it! This time,
one day before Thanksgiving, they did it again via E-mail after my
wife had a purchase declined. We had just sent them $3000 to pay this
month's bill. We have never been late with AMEX or the other 82
creditors' opened/closed accounts!
Do not send them extra $. Pay down some other lender and use that line
as you have the AMEX. It is just that simple. Pay your AMEX bill on
time and eliminate that debt as soon as possible.
Next,try to avoid sellers that use AMEX and tell them why! Sellers
understand the term "boycott". Since AMEX is pulling this BS, I intend
to do what I can to contribute to their death!
"I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!"

In the past 48 hours I have had my credit buying power slashed by
$36,000.00 with this company. Ironically I have a credit score of 748
as well as a debt to credit ratio of 4%. I was able to get a hold of
pimpled faced kid in some American based sweat shop, I say American
sweat shop simply because you could hear his accent, but then again
the kid sounded dumb as a post with his reflections as well as
speaking etiquette. I started asking him basic questions. While I
actually enjoy asking financial questions, I became annoyed at the
fact I was receiving stammering answers from him. I kept advising him
that his answers were not bolstering my feelings of security in his
knowledge of the company he worked for nor his current trade which he
was participating in. I know you should give everyone a chance to do a
good job...but some people should stay in fast food if they don't have
the chops to provide good customer service with a knowledgeable
background. I think however also...American Express is not such an
exclusive card and club anymore as it used to be. When I first
received my American Express card it was one of the pinnacle business
as well as personal success points. Now however it seems to be a
little more then a floundering throw-round credit card company with
little or no value as far as prestige and meaning. I digress...As I
was asking my questions regarding the reasons my credit was lowered,
every single one was found faulty accept one.

I recently consolidated a few little outstanding bills onto one credit
card taking it to 80% total limit on the card. Now I placed $6000.00
worth of debt on this card with asset protection as well as making
$1000.00 payments to the card in order to get the debt knocked down
simply because it's a 2.99% interest rate. I HATE paying interest. I
LOVE LOVE LOVE beating the credit card companies at their own game as
far as the business they provide. I am what is considered a Dead Beat
Creditor...meaning I sit on almost 100% of my buying power available
to me...they make no money off me. No interest, no over limit fee's,
no overdraft. No balance transfers. If all else fails I will just
close down my American Express cards and accounts and move to another
company. The best part people is that credit card companies feel we
need them...we don't, they need us if you have your financial life in
the correct order. There is nothing they can do to ruin you, maybe a
hiccup here and there. Unless you are over-extended and on the point
of falling over the financial edge.

This also is their limited attempts as generating income as well as
limiting their liability. So long story longer, they are just doing it
to A. generate Over the limit income, because god knows they aren't
going to give you the time to move or pay if you go over the limit
because they lowered your limit. You will be slammed and punished for
over the limit fee's (instant income for them). Also it potentially
ruins your credit if you have good credit because now your credit to
debt ration has changed and reports go out to all other credit card
companies warning them of you. Therefore compounding the problem.

Sorry I will get off my diatribe of life here. Just go with the flow
and use Visa and MasterCard...wait...they hate me too! Discover
anyone?

They also lowered my credit limit with e-mail. But I do not check my
e-mail everyday. I sure was embarrassed to not be able to make a food
purchase at Chuck E Cheese. I work for Costco. I work as a cashier on
the weekend and have seen people declined when they use their Amex. It
really is an embarrassment. I feel so sorry for honest people who may
be having a rough time and needed the credit right now. The holidays
are approaching and many people don't even know this is happening. I
have been with American Express since I was 18. 22 years now. Never
late always paid off. And I've never needed the credit until now. Boy
they really stuck it to me when I needed it most. I've gone through
some BIG life changes and needed to rely on my credit for another 2
months. I will never use Amex again. NEVER! Costco will lose money if
this is the only credit card they will take. Because I'm sure there
are many more out there who will be put in this situation. Susan

Amex lowered our too...both on the Gold Card and AMex Blue. We've
never been late either. Now that paid them off, they're knocking on
our door step and wanting to business again.

In the famous words of Lee Iaocca "screw em"! We'll stick with Visa

I recently reserved a vehicle while on a business trip. The rental
company placed a reservation for the total vehicle rental amount on my
American Express card. During this time American Express lowered the
limit on my credit card with absolutely no reason and no prior notice.
They completely disregarded the amount of the reservation that the
rental car company had placed on my account.

I tried for over 24 hours to reach American Express regarding this.
When I was finally able to contact someone I was told to just pay off
the card and then I could use the card to pay for the rental car.
After explaining just how ridiculous this statement was and "talking"
to this representative a little longer she agreed to give me a
temporary credit line increase. However, this increase would have put
me over my limit and I would have been charged with over limit fees. I
am quite sure that my 0% interest rate would have disappeared also.
Not to mention the impact that would have had on my credit score.

I have NEVER been late on a payment on ANY of my credit cards nor have
I ever been over any of my credit limits. Not that it is anyone's
business but the balances on my credit cards come from financing a
business start up and not frivolous purchases. If it were not for
that I would not be carrying balances. Additionally I always make
more than the minimum payment on all of my credit cards.

In short American Express was of absolutely no help to me with this
problem that they had caused through unethical business practices. I
know that American Express is experiencing financial difficulty and
that is the reason that they did this, however, I am an accountant
that specializes in helping small businesses get through rough times.
I can tell you that one thing that you do not do is turn your good
clients away. After researching this on the internet I found that
American Express is doing this to a multitude of their account holders
with over credit scores over 700. These are good clients.

When I first started noticing the problems with the economy I did some
financial planning for my own business. Not knowing how bad things
were going to get, I made of list of the creditors that I would stay
current and in good standing with if the economical situation became
so bad that I could not pay everyone. American Express was at the top
of this list. Needless to say, they are not there anymore.
Additionally, I have consistently paid $100.00 to $250.00 per month
more than my minimum payment and I still have a few months left with a
0% interest rate. I really hope that my $15.00 monthly minimum
payment helps their cash flow situation. It makes a lot more sense to
give this amount to a creditor that is still treating their good
customers with respect. I will also reduce the balances on other
cards faster, which is necessary, as now my credit report will show
that I am using over 50% of my allowable credit with American Express
which will cause my credit score to decrease.

This letter was addressed and submitted to American Express but is in
a third party format as I intend to post it on every web site that
will allow me to do so. American Express may not feel that it is
important to notify their customers prior to taking an action that
could place them in a horrible and embarrassing situation and have a
negative effect on their interest rates, credit scores, etc. but my
business is taking care of small businesses and individuals with
financial problems and I do think that it is important.

Georgia Evans,
Professional Management Systems, Inc.

I was upset with American Express because they had lowered my limit by
75% over the past 3 months and had flat out lied to me trying to
justify their actions. As a small business I have used American
Express as my working capital over the past 10 years, so their
reduction in my working capital was a real slap in the face and really
hurt. At first I took it real personal and thought they were picking
on me but have since learned that they are doing this to most of their
customers. In September alone they lowered the credit limits of 20% of
their card holders and day by day they are doing it to more and more.
If you have some extra time and want to be stunned, Google "American
Express credit limit" and you too can read horror story after horror
story.



Just last night my sister went to use her AMX card at CostCo and it
was denied. She got home and called American Express (1/2 hour on
hold) to find out that her cards limit was dropped to $600 (just above
her balance) from $16,200. This girl has impeccable credit and they
did this to her. The customer service rep told her that it was lowered
because of a "Public Record" input on her credit report. She
immediately pulled her credit reports and found no such entry on any
of the credit reports. Funny thing is that an American Express
customer service rep tried that line on me too yesterday morning and I
too immediately pulled my credit reports. Not finding this "Public
Record" entry on any of my credit reports, I called American Express
back and ask them what they were talking about and of course the
representative tells me he has no idea why the last representative
told me this as he sees nothing in my file like that.



So be prepared to have your credit limited dropped drastically for no
reason or to have it chase down your balance with no warning. When
you do call them to find out why, be prepared for a long hold time and
have your credit reports in hand so that you can call them on their
mistruths. It is a very sad day when the employees of an icon like
American Express have to tell you flat out mistruths to try to justify
their higher-ups actions. But they are only trying to get you off the
phone so that they can answer the next call in the very long queue of
callers wanting to know why their limits were reduced too.



Sorry for the very long rant but maybe this will save you some
embarrassment while trying to use your card. It is no wonder that
American Express announced yesterday that they will be laying off
7,000 employees (10% of their workforce) as they don't want us using
our cards.

American Express lowered mine too. no warning just an email. i've
never had a late payment and actually pay of my balance monthly. i'm
pissed. i'm wondering if this has anything to do with our current
financial crisis? i'm sure it does, although when i asked the customer
service person, they said that it didn't. yeah right! shareholders
beware

I just recently heard someone on the radio speaking about this issue.
He said that about 95% of all credit card holders will see a decrease
in their credit limit
if they carry a balance on that card. If not then no decrease.
And the biggest problem is that someone may have had a $3000 limit
with a balance of $2300 and the credit card company will drop the
limit down to $2000 which now makes the customer over their limit.
Its being done on all major credit cards. These companies want to make
sure they get their more of their money ASAP and they believe that
this will force most of their customers to pay more on their balances
to keep them from paying the over the limit fees for the next months.

They sent me a letter telling me so...But this is why I receive paper
statements still, because I saw the decrease even before the letter
arrived.

So I stopped using it, my balance was close to my limit anyways. If
anything, it will get me to pay it down more.

"Hopefully, the company will go the way of Washington Mutual or some
other financial corporation that has raped honest customers for years.
Of course, I'm sure the CEOs and others at the tope there will still
sail away unscathed in their yachts"

In other words, the OP hopes that hard-working low-to-mid-level
employees with families will be put out of their jobs in a tottering
economy...all because her credit limit was lowered.

-how do you book a hotel room?
-how do you book a flight?
-you never shop online i assume?
i really don't understand how you can get by without a credit card.
please explain it to me!

for anything that you mentioned. Most bank cards have a visa emblem on
them which allows the card to be processed/used the same as a credit
card. I use my bank card for everything and my credit card for
emergencies and unexpected expenses.