American Express really must be bucking to go out of business or perhaps they are just trying to ruin themselves in order to qualify for a government bailout.

Here's our story: we have been with Amex for three years with the terms of the original agreement being no pre-set spending limit and a 30-day credit protection although we always paid our bill in full every month. Although we got the "One" card we used it for our business travels and expenses that averaged between $15K-$20K EVERY month. Again, we always paid this in full. During the last nine months or so we:
1. Received a letter suddenly saying that we had a credit limit of $15K which if reviewed by a creditor at the wrong time of the month could have put us at 100% of credit used thereby seriously damaging our credit scoes.
and,

2. Received another letter saying we no longer qualified for the 30 day interest protection on balances

Here's where it gets really bad: right before Christmas Dec 2008 we were in South Beach Florida for a two day stay before heading to Buenos Aires for two weeks. We had just arrived at our first restaurant and when we tried to pay the bill our Amex was declined. Keep in mind I had paid it down substantially for this trip. When we called Amex they informed us that they had placed a $1500 credit limit on our account. WHAT????? They stated (as I have seen in numerous other posts) that their reason was because of an Equifax report during a "routine account review" and they found a judgment against my husband. We did what any other people would do and not only pulled Equifax report but paid $100 for all three to make certain that there was nothing.

WELL...after talking to several different reps including three "supervisors" we were told that this was in fact all standard procedure and that the only way to get our account re-reviewed was to fax it in to them. We did this with the assurance that we would hear from someone no later than 48 hours after receipt of the fax. That was December 19 and, guess what, still haven't heard back from them! Customer service simply does not exist!!

After this experience we vowed to cancel the card for good which we did upon our return to the States. NEVER AGAIN AMEX!!!

Thank goodness we have both a Visa and a Discover with credit limits we can work with for our business but I can't even begin to imagine how many others don't. It's a horrible situation and one that I think AMEX should be accountable for. It's like a mortgage crisis of credit cards - how many people are going to be crippled by the sudden and unexplained MAJOR reductions of their credit lines and how it is going to effect not only personal spending but business related expenses as well. Shame on you American Express - you should take the "American" right out of your name!!!