American Express and their "unetichal business practices" need to be stopped. Last year my husband lost his job (like so many others). We had a balance on Amex, but not above our limit. We couldn't pay the minimum amount; however, we were still sending them a payment every month. Well, in the past year, with the late charges and interest, etc., we have are now over our limit. Guess what -- American Express is now charging us a fee for being over our limit...Didn't sound right to me either...I didn't go over my "spending" limit. I WOULD NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN AND I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU DON'T EITHER

After paying off my AMEX balance after 10 years as a cardholder, I was informed my card was cancelled and i was losing my airline miles. AMEX is systemically eliminating many of their cardholders for whatever reasons they decide.

Whoever is making decisions for AMEX has lost their minds. I will do everything within my power to spread the message that the company holds no regards for their customers and can rot in hell. They are the epitome of greed and should be ashamed to have the word "American" in their name. I will tell anyone who will listen of their idiocy; including news outlets, postings or anything else.

As stated, I had paid my balance and planned to use the card only for airline tickets. Good riddance . . .

I've held an Amex card since 1976, loved the convenience of being able to charge and pay in full each month whatever amount I needed to, use the rewards system etc. I gave each of my daughters their own card under my account so that they would have an emergency fund. I signed up with Amex Open/Blue i 2002 when I started my own business. Always paid on time, excellent credit rating. In May 2009, I started getting pressured by Amex Blue to pay off my business balance under the guise of offering me a 'promo', so that they could lower my credit limit. On my Platinum card, I've charged tens of thousands of dollars each year and today I received this email "
The balance on your account has reached a level where we must suspend your charging privileges."

The charges were $811!!! I called them and was told that my 'charging privileges' were based on my previous 6 months, that was news to me. I don't even want to think of my reaction if I were to be put in the situation where I would need to charge a purchase and getting it rejected - how embarrassing. I'll empty my rewards account asap and then will cancel, don't need that type of harassment from a financial 'partner'!

I got a letter today telling me that my American Express Blue accounts credit limit was cut in half. They allowed me a $300 cushion between what I owe and what my new limit is. Said it was based on information from Experian credit reporting agency. Well, I have recently applied for refinancing and I have not been late on any credit card accounts AND on any accounts . I have always paid more then this accounts minimum payment. I sent an email to this end requesting this decision to be recinded. Amazingly I got phone calls from American Express notifying me of this change. I asked was this in result to my email and I was told NO. Right...I was told this action was already taken and that I could wait 12 months and ask for a credit increase if I wanted to as long as my account was in good standing. I have had this card for at least 8-9 years and have had the Amex Card for over 20 years. Apparently that doesn't matter. I got a BTW while on the line with the person from Amex telling me that my sign & travel account priviliges had been suspended. The call just got better. My credit score from Experian was 738. So it appears that they just want to lose customers. I haven't charged anything on this account in at least 8 years and am pretty sure that they didn't send me a new card when the old card expired. Not a big deal since I did a balance transfer and had the rate guaranteed for the life of the amount. Seems like they are doing a bait and switch.

The final insult is when I saw that they responded to my email secure inquiry by telling me that I sent the information to the gold card customer service, not the blue card customer service and couldn't help me since they couldn't forward the rest. Another exaample of right pocket/left pocket. Funny thing is that I submitted the request to the correct entity (blue card) so obviously they are incompetent and just didn't want to answer my question.

This is probably a blessing in disguise and I will stop using the Gold card for points as I have been. I am unhappy with the way I have been treated after 22 years and will take my business elsewhere. This has got to be illegal and I am happy that the President has signed some type of credit card legislation where they are reining in companies like AMEX, who aren't doing that well either.

It's not new but American Express' new practice of lowering credit limits is very much in their favor. Since it is entirely possible that it will affect your credit score they are lowering credit limits and then turning around and using your new lower scores and debt/to credit ratios against you to hike rates and do some of the other things that they have been doing to their customers that they have had for years. I had a long conversation with a rep at AMX and the one big thing that they kept bringing up was my overall debt to available credit. They cut a $12, 200 AMX Blue limit to $3, 000. That will affect my credit rating I'm sure.
And then they turn around and use that against you.

What I came away with from my conversations with AMX is that they no longer want to be in the "credit" business. They are trying hard to get back to being a charge card company where everyone pays in full each month. Their main thing seems to be cards that have a balance for whatever reason. That want that money and they are actively asking for it. Every time I have talked with them they ask if I can make my payments "today", even if it is not due for 2 weeks. They asked me that for each card that I had with them the last time I spoke to them. They seem soooooo desparate it is pathetic.
They have absolutely no concern or consideration for their customers. Be warned.

What once was the mighty American Express is no more, and probably never will be.