Kicked to the Curb by American Express

By: Heated in HI

I'm another one of the many that has been carelessly mistreated by American Express. I have had my card since 6/2004, have always paid more than the minimum due (which THEY determined) and never late. In 10/08, a few months after I applied for an American Express Costco card, which they also approved, they reduced my credit limit from $16,600 to $6,000 citing several FALSE excuses.

Only one of their excuses was true - other credit card balances. They also increased my interest rate by 3% at the same time. Shortly after that, they sent me a notice regarding my AMEX Costco card - the credit limit was reduced and the interest also increased. Ironically, I have always promoted AMEX to all my friends & family raving about how they had the Lowest interest rate, not anymore! I have never been so insulted by a credit card company before AMEX. I used to have a credit score of 830, not anymore, thanks to their unfair credit practices. They screwed my credit score but good! (It's comforting to know that I'm not alone.) I continued to pay more than my minimum payment due each month. Six months later, I received another notice that they had once again reduced my credit limit, to $4,800 this time - less than $200 more than my balance. In these bad economic times you'd think they would appreciate consistent paying customers like us but I guess they're just so full of themselves.

I just read today on the reuters.com website that the CEO, Kenneth Chenault stated, in response to the new credit card laws, "will reduce the flow of credit...we will be hurt less than our competitors because 80 percent of our revenues are generated from fees". That explains their callous, arrogant, unacceptable credit practices. It seems they have to screw every cardholder they can before the new law becomes effective.

Well America, let's learn from our appalling experience and stop using our American Express credit card so we can pay it off!

Let's remember this when the economy is once again flourishing and we'll see how many customers they'll have then! I'm sticking with the other credit card companies who appreciated me and have been increasing my credit limit while AMEX is THE ONLY ONE decreasing it! Wouldn't it be great if there was a class action lawsuit against their despicable practices?