I have been a so-called Amex Cardmember since 1995. back in those days Amex had the best customer service. When I was in college I opened a Blue account and I was given a credit line for $9200, since my credit score was excellent. That was in 1997.

I used my card to pay for college expenses, I have not been late once and always paid more than the minimum amount.

Now every time I have more than $500 available credit American Express will reduce my credit limit to the total amount owed so that my card looks maxed out. This is affecting my credit score dramatically because it is in good part based on how much credit available you have. I tried to explain this to Customer Service and even to a manager who, in few words, told me it really wasn't any of their problem and thank you for being a loyal cardmember for 13 years (I even had a Platinum card at a time, which I closed since I had little use for it and it was wasteful to pay $400/year just to have it). I sent a letter in April 2008 explaining what they were doing to my credit score and never got a reply. Meanwhile I kept making my payment and since last March I accumulated again another $600 available credit to find out, today, that they have reduced my limit again so my card, once again, looks maxed out in my credit report (this is the 4th time they do it).

Why are there no laws in the US, unlike the European Union, to protect consumers from this kind of practices? In Italy any interest rate over 12% is considered illegal and falls under the extortion law.
As soon as my card is paid off I will close my Amex account and I don't want to hear from them again. So much for being a "great cardmember" who has always paid on-time, before the due date actually, and more than the minimum due.


Update: July 13 2008

Guess what? I just got a letter from Amex, they did it again.
In 4 months I built another $600 available credit and they cut the limit so my card now has $0 available credit.

1 | 2   Next Page >

Next American Express Review >>>