Heads up to Amex Cardholders

[majorbta]

Just as a heads up to any Amex cardholders, they are freezing a lot of accounts lately (mine plus a lot of other people i know), especially this past week. They have recently applied for fed funding and are having a tough time financially. They have really tightened credit lines, especially on business customers (they even cut their business affiliate card program this week).

Make sure you have a backup card associated with your accounts on Google, Facebook, etc.

Even after you make a payment, Amex requires roughly 4 days after it posts from your bank account to clear to them (this is primarily for large payments 20k+). So if you want to be 100% safe and not have them freeze your card, you can wire the funds which should show up same day.

This is just a heads up post, don't get burned like a couple of friends have. Keep an eye on the card and try and pay some early as protection.

 

[BrandontheGreat]

Thanks. I'm a Gold Business cardholder.

 

[Sohan]

They want the bail out money?

Fucking worst thing that got passed.

Have fun with taxes.

 

[radarig]

They want the bail out money?

Fucking worst thing that got passed.

Have fun with taxes.

Especially since they are apparently very solvent.

 

[Pr0xyhub]

How much were you guys spending on it monthly before it got canned?

 

[yevlesh]

Are you talking about a real freeze, or their "Financial Review" ? If the later, they have been doing it for years, even when the economy was good.

 

[Sonny Forelli]

have you received any notification?

IE- was this out of the blue on a normal monthly spend or was it while spend that month was 3x the last?

I have longstanding history with them, just curious what to expect.

 

[Cool1g]

a lot of CC companies are doing that. 4 of my visa/mcs have had their limts dropped in the past year.

 

[TLott]

they pull my credit automatically every month and freeze/review my starwood business card for a week like clockwork. CSR says its flagged for a credit decrease.

every time there is no credit decrease and it goes back to normal 5 days later.

its a fucking pain in the ass. the only reason i use that card is for the hotel points. i pay it off every 2-3 days, my credit score is good and ive never had a late payment on any vehicle, card, mortgage i've ever had. i am a good customer. big frustration.

 

[aim]

My blue cash and starwood cards were both reduced in the last month.

Platinum is still just fine.

 

[invisible777]

Just as a heads up to any Amex cardholders, they are freezing a lot of accounts lately (mine plus a lot of other people i know), especially this past week. They have recently applied for fed funding and are having a tough time financially. They have really tightened credit lines, especially on business customers (they even cut their business affiliate card program this week).

Make sure you have a backup card associated with your accounts on Google, Facebook, etc.

Even after you make a payment, Amex requires roughly 4 days after it posts from your bank account to clear to them (this is primarily for large payments 20k+). So if you want to be 100% safe and not have them freeze your card, you can wire the funds which should show up same day.

This is just a heads up post, don't get burned like a couple of friends have. Keep an eye on the card and try and pay some early as protection.

you're most likely under a "financial review"

Amex posts my payments immediately

 

[majorbta]

Im not under financial review. They didn't request any documents. Under a financial review you have to send in financials.

 

[majorbta]

have you received any notification?

IE- was this out of the blue on a normal monthly spend or was it while spend that month was 3x the last?

I have longstanding history with them, just curious what to expect.

I've had an Amex for 4 years and never had a missed or late payment. They do not notify you when they freeze your card, your charges are simply declined.

My monthly spend wasn't that out of the ordinary either.

 

[BeerNuts]

Yeah amex is pretty suck ass, the points and rewards are great as are the high limits. But man they fuck with you so bad its hard to do business with them.

My brother had such a huge problem that he will never work with them again. I took a chance after his horror story and have been ok except them lowering my personal card and now declining me a new card for a new corp. I hope they don't go after my gold card for my other corp.

 

[gopher]

You gotta differentiate between the charge and credit card products. Charge cards should be fine, but they are obviously having a hard time selling the credit card debt these days, so they are trying to minimize that as much as possible.

 

[JoeHa]

Shit, Thanks for the heads up.

 

[kimboslice]

Got zoinked a few weeks ago on one of my AMEX cards. Credit scores in the high 700's no lates ever. Debt to income ratio really low.... I did not use the card an awful lot, I just had it as a backup.. maybe that's why... Go figure...

 

[SUP3RNOVA]

Yeah they cut my Blue cash limit, Platinum is fine but as gopher said that's because it's a charge card.

Amex points are solid though...I gotta think of something to get with them.

 

[gopher]

Here's some more info on why they are having to cut the credit card limits:

American Express relied on packaging pools of credit card debt and selling them to investors in the securitization market. As investors have shied away from purchasing all but the safest forms of debt, the market for credit card-backed securities has dwindled.

American Express shares plunge on bailout report: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

 

[smaxor]

Mine keep getting increased. Never had an issue with any freezes or decreases. Payments post in 24 hours. But when you pay that opens up the credit opens up immediately. However you can't make another payment for 24 hours. We have 3 starwood cards with 25-50k limits and a plum. No issues at all thus far. So it's definitely not happening to everyone.