American Express or American Depress?

By: LessIsMore

To whom it may concern at American Express,

I am writing to express my disappointment and frustration with the American Express company and its poor business practices for small businesses that work diligently to follow the rules and pay on time only to be disregarded as insignificant to American Express.

Below is my story which I am sure will not matter even to the reader of this letter yet I believe change never takes place until people make their voices heard.

Our small business opened an account with American Express in September 2007. We also opened a merchant account for accepting American Express in January of 2008. Excited to be able to take Advantage of no limit, no interest and additional rewards for our small business purchases from our vendors we began using the card. The card was a no limit card (Gold and balance must be paid in full each month) or so we were told but quickly found out that there is in fact a type of limit. Understanding that in a struggling economy it is important for lenders to be cautious we worked within the limits of American Express and policies. We had spent over $10,000 in a single month and paid each bill in full and on time to establish our creditworthiness with American Express like we do with every lender. Our name is important to our business and we work diligently to keep a good name.

April 2009 we tried to use our card with a vendor with whom we do a lot of business and had always used American Express to pay this vendor (which of course costs our vendor more due to the higher merchant fees charged by American Express). The amount was about $9,000 and we had no reason to believe this would be issue since we had spent as much as $10,000 in a single month less than a year ago and had always paid our balance in full and on time.

The card was declined. We contacted American Express to find out why it was declined. Long story short and a few phone calls later we were told that due to the last six months spending pattern they would not approve the charge. We explained that our business was at its peak in the summer and is when the larger charges would be made but were told too bad. We were told to increase our spending in order to increase our spending pattern. The following day our vendor ran the card again (we had not contacted them to tell them to wait for a different credit card from us) and oddly the charge was approved. This restored our confidence in American Express and its willingness to work with small businesses. This of course was temporary due to the rest of the story that follows.

June 2009 another invoice from the same vendor was due in the amount of approximately $8,400. Since we had paid our balances again on time we had no reason to believe this would be issue. Once again and with much embarrasssment the card was declined. Primary card member (name with held for privacy) then got online and made a $4,000 early payment in good faith to American Express and then placed a call to have the charge approved from our vendor. We were told that American Express had placed a limit on the account that day for $3,400 though the balance on the card at the time was $8,000 of which a $4,000 early payment had been made. The representative explained that due to other account balances and negative statements which appeared on our Experian credit report they determined to place a limit on the card that day. We check our credit reports daily and there were no negative comments or delinquencies. HOWEVER $20,000 of debt had been paid off in the past 30-40 days (because we value our good name and credit) due to the increase in our business not to mention no delinquencies reported in many years on any credit report. American Express did not care to review or work with our small business in a timely fashion. They claimed that there was nothing that could be done.

We removed American Express as a payment option for our customers the minute your company made it clear that our business did not matter. Not only will you lose the high merchant fees paid to you by our vendors when we used your card you will no longer receive merchant fees from our sales as we are no longer willing to accept your card.

These are the reasons I am writing to express my deep disappointment and extreme frustration with a credit card company that claims to be on the side of small business yet I find the practices of American Express to speak quite the contrary.

We accepted American Express as merchants from our customers though you charge the highest merchant fees and take the longest to pay the merchants. Visa, MasterCard and Discover all pay the following business day. American Express as long a week may pass before the money is released into the small business person’s account. For small business this creates real frustration and is truly a hindrance financially to accept this card. This is not beneficial to small business in any way. Higher merchant fees and slow pay to the business does not give small business many reasons to accept your card from customers.

Now add to that the lousy treatment of the small business cardholder that is told no limit but this is in fact a lie even for those small businesses that pay balances in full and on time every time. Punished on both sides by American Express has left a bad taste in the mouth of this small business. Realizing of course that as a small business we are not even a blip on your radar or bait in this large ocean of business we have made the decision to no longer do business with American Express.

Apparently spending over $100,000 in a little over a year and half though always paid on time and accepting your outrageous merchant fees and slow pay practices and being charged $170 to even have a card counts for nothing. This makes the taste of doing business with American Express bitter and it will no longer be tolerated by our small business. Punishing the people and businesses that do the right thing and pay on time is not smart business practice in this fragile economy.

We are a very small business aware of how little our business matters to American Express however I wonder how much of American Express’ business is made up of small business and how much will be lost due to these pathetic practices. I always wondered why so many small business owners did not want to accept American Express but the picture is becoming quite clear to me.

The company does not care about the Little Joes that make up a sizable amount of the economy and rather than work with small business or loyal members they prefer to disregard them. A terrible mistake because as our small business grows and it is growing, American Express will not be benefiting from our growth. If you don’t treat us well while we are small then you won’t have our business when we are big.

Trust me that these events are likely to keep us from ever accepting your card as a merchant or using your card as a cardholder. I hope other small businesses do the same once I share my story with them since I am sure you will never share this story on any of your expensive commercials that we as merchants and cardholders pay to view.

After my experiences I did a bit of research online (check www.my3cents.com) for American Express reviews and found that my story is very similar to the stories of multiple disgruntled card members and merchants. It is pathetic the way American Express has treated loyal customers with histories much longer than our own history with your company.

If American Express is planning to ask for bailout money as so many other irresponsible companies are doing then I assure you the voices of current and former digruntled customers and merchants will be heard screaming "DO NOT BAIL OUT AMERICAN EXPRESS"! Why would taxpayers want to bailout a company that treats customers that pay on time as poorly as you have treated us and many other people?

You may wish to consider changing the name of your company from American Express to American Depress which is what you are doing to every small business owner and loyal card member out there by charging higher merchant fees; delaying payment, changing credit limits without notification and restricting cardholders which pay on time. America is a country of freedom and choice and you have chosen to mistreat and disregard our business and other small business owners and loyal members and the same courtesy will be extended to you.

Another disappointed cardholder & merchant,
(Names have been removed for privacy)