Don't Trust AMEX. They are screwing thousands of their customers daily!

They took away 70k of our available credit with no warning. No lates, 700+ score. What they are doing should be against the law. I wrote a blog with some things I did to fight back:

http://amexcreditreduction.blogspot.com/

The funny part is they are also asking for BILLIONS from the bailout bill. The same bill that was passed by congress to INCREASE lending!

Once again, they little people get the shaft, while corporate america gets a bailout. Shameful. Shameful Shameful.

My husband has been a member with American Express since 1993. In the last two years we have spent $3, 000 a month on the card and before for that more like $800.00 to $1, 000.00. Of course we would pay it off each month. In May 2008 my husband was laid off. We were still making the payments. When August came and he'd still had no luck getting a job so we'd called up American express and spoke with them about how we'd reached hard times right now. They set us up in their CARE Program and the agreement was to pay $410.00 each month for a year till it was paid off and our account would be reinstated. That was August 14th. We than paid the bill each month after - Sept. 11th, Oct. 10th and Nov. 10th.

Come November 15th we'd received a letter from AMEX stating that we hadn't paid our bill and if we didn't it would be sent to collections. We called American Express and the rep stated that it was a system error but that we would have to make another $410 payment. The rep also stated that the payment would drop when he re-enrolled us in it again it would be about $200. We would still have paid the $410 though. We told the rep we did not have the money to make another $410 payment since we'd just made one. Rep stated that it was OK to make the payment come December. November 18th comes and we get a call from a collections agency stating that our acct had been sent to them.

My husband called AMEX and they cold transfered him right over to collections. On 12/03/08 he called again and they stated that they were unable to assist him because his acct was in collections that they would transfer him to collections. My husband refused to be transfered and the rep was unwilling to help so my husband hung up the phone. So I immediately called AMEX. I spoke with rep id# 85970 in Manila and immediately asked to speak with a supervisor. Rep stated that I would have to tell her whats going on, so I told her the story. The Rep then proceeded to tell me that her supervisor refused to speak with me. I also heard her floor supervisor speaking to her in Filipino which I know is NOT OK. She than tried to warm transfer me to Account Services but she got back on the line stating that Account Services refused to speak to us as well. Finally after over an hour of being on the phone she transfered me to a Supervisor (I'm assuming). Supervisor became very agitated when I asked for her name and rep id; trying to ignore the question. Her rep id# NOVB815 which I have reason to think that is not even her id#. Oh and she is also in Manila. She placed me on hold for 15 minutes right after she'd received my call than came back on acted like she couldn't hear me than stated "oh, just a sec, just a sec" and placed me back on hold. Then came back on and quickly mumbled something. I asked her to slow down and she stopped and asked to speak to my husband. I put him on the line and she told him that they saw where we had been making our payments and that some one will give us a call back later that day (Dec 3rd, 2008). I told my husband to ask for a case# or a commitment date and she said there was no such thing. No one ever called us back!

We've wrongfully been sent to collections!! We spoke with a gentleman from the 3rd party Collections Agency and he'd stated we're not the only ones this has happened to. He said that it was showing our account was flagged to be able to get another credit card with them after we paid this one off. Does that even make sense? That they would want to give us another card if we weren't paying our bill and "had" to be sent to collections??? THERE IS NO WAY I'M GETTING ANOTHER CARD WITH THEM!! They will either fix this and allow us to keep THIS account OR nothing at all. Our credit is immaculate and there is no way I'm OK with wrongfully being sent to a COLLECTIONS AGENCY!!!

I'm at a complete loss... I don't know what to do. Maybe I will take it up with the media. They talk about things that aren't even news and this to me is more news than many stories I've seen lately.

I TOO HAVE HAD MY CREDIT LINE REDUCED BY AMEX WITHOUT ANY WARNING. I ALSO HAD AN OUTSTANDING CHECK WHICH THEY REFUSED TO HONOR. ALL I GOT WAS SORRY. A REPESENATIVE FROM AMEX SAID LETTERS WERE SENT OUT INFORMING ME OF THIS DECISION. WELL, I NEVER RECEIVED THE LETTER, THEY SEND OUT EMAIL S FOR ALL THEIR SALES PITCHES, WHY DIDN"T AMEX SEND OUT EMAILS THAT WERE SURE TO ARRIVE.
I HAVE AN ANSWER TO THEM, I WILL STOP ACCEPTING THEIR CARD AS OF NOW, JUST AS AMEX DID TO ME. IF ALL THE SMALL BUSINESSES DID THIS, MAYBE AMEX WILL LOOK UP AND SEE WE ARE A FORCE TO BE HEARD.
I WILL ALSO STOP USING MY AMEX CARD PERSONALLY. AGAIN IF WE ALL DID THIS WE WOULD BE HEARD.

I have had an american express card for years and used the flex account to repair a rental property. Last month the anual account fee was due, this month they enclosed a notice "We are making several changes to our card products in response to the Challenging environment and the increasing cost of doing business". An increase on the APR to 17.99%. I called them, told them I do not agree with the upcoming change and wanted to close my account. they told me that even if i close the account the intrest on my balance would still be changed to 17.99%. The only way I could avoid the increase was to pay off the entire balance before December 2nd, 2008. Isnt there a law or something that protects my rights, I dont think this is legal for them to make me pay a new higher rate even though i dont agree with it. I have closed two Visa cards under the same circumstances and I am still paying the old lower intrest rate.

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 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.