OK, I messed up..........and Amex are going to cripple me for it

By: InShock

I've had my Amex Blue for 7 years now, never been late with a payment, always paid more than the minimum but, like all of us, I am only human. A couple of months ago I switched my checking account from Wachovia to a local bank that pays a decent interest rate on all balances. Diligently I went through all my other financial accounts adding the new checking account as the one to make payments from and, for most, deleting the details of the now closed Wachovia account.

Amex was one where I either couldn't remove the old account or just simply forgot. Last month I accessed my Amex account online to make my payment and that's when I messed up, I scheduled the payment against the closed checking account. A few days later I received a call from Amex to tell me my payment had been returned, I realized immediately what I had doneand explained this to the very pleasant lady from Amex. She asked if I wanted to make a payment over the telephone so I did - it was still before the payment due date so at least I wouldn't get charged for being late, I knew I would have to pay for the returned payment, but that was my mistake so "fair enough".

Yesterday I received a letter from Amex which started by saying how Amex "alweays wanted you to clearly understand both the benefits and the responsibilities of Cardmembership with American Express" who wrote this?...........my mother? Anyway, to get to the point of the letter, my 'punishment', Amex are going to make me pay for my mistakes. Because of this one single mistake in 7 years the APR on my 'Blue' credit card is being increased from the current 'Nominal' rate of 10.24% to "the Prime Rate + 23.99%........at the current Prime Rate that means 27.24% an increase of 17%...... thats almost 3 times what it was. Only alternative is to opt out, effectively closing the account (I wonder what effect that will have on my credit rating).

The last line from Amex is the killer "We hope you will continue your relationship with us so that we can provide you with the rich benefits and superior service that come with membership".

Can't help but wonder what those benefits are, and consider that the only think 'superior' about Amex is their attitude towards their customers.