Amex credit card rant

Pablo
Pablo Posts: 723
edited February 2009 in The Clubhouse
What the F?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I just noticed that they raised my rate 3 points last month! From 7.99 to 10.99 (had good credit, so I got the best rate on my blue card). I called them to ask what happened, and they said they sent something about it in November. I don't remember that. They said that due to tough economic times they had to raise thier rates. Tough economic times?!? What they hell do you think i'm going through! I told her "your going though tough times so you are going to screw me over?!?". What the F?!?!??! I tried not to give her a hard time (she's just a rep). But what the hell is that? I have zillion dollar balance and they bump my rate 40%?!?!? I'll have to call them back when I'm not so pissed off and see if I can get my rate back (I may even sick my wife on them).
Denon AVR-3803
RTi-70 Fronts
FXi-30 Surrounds
RTi-38 Back Surrounds
Csi-40 Center
PSW350 Sub
Panasonic PT-56WXF95 HDTVSamsung un60JS8000 SUHD
Denon DVD-2910
Xbox, Gamecube, PS2, PS3, PS4, xbox360, Wii, WiiU, n64
Post edited by Pablo on

Comments

  • Gaara
    Gaara Posts: 2,415
    edited January 2009
    BE CAREFUL. Amex has been slashing limits left and right, don't want to trigger a financial review, or worse universal default.
  • vlam
    vlam Posts: 282
    edited January 2009
    Yup.. be care with the review.. When it gets to the financial review part, just mind as well as close the card(s)
    Main Gear
    Panasonic 50" Plasma, Polk LSi15 (Front), LSiC, LSi7 (Rear), Sherwood Newcastle AVP-9080, AM-9080 bi-amp to LSi15, AM-9080 bi-amp to LSiC and LSi7.
  • TNRabbit
    TNRabbit Posts: 2,168
    edited January 2009
    Find another card that will give you a zero percent balance transfer & move it all over. You can keep switching like this indefinitely for zero percent. Tell AMEX to go F**K themselves.
    TNRabbit
    NO Polk Audio Equipment :eek:
    Sunfire TG-IV
    Ashly 1001 Active Crossover
    Rane PEQ-15 Parametric Equalizers x 2
    Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature Seven
    Carver AL-III Speakers
    Klipsch RT-12d Subwoofer
  • nadams
    nadams Posts: 5,877
    edited January 2009
    Ran into the same issue with my ProvidianWashingtonMutualChase card. I'm looking at getting a line of credit from my local credit union and transferring the balance over.
    Ludicrous gibs!
  • bobman1235
    bobman1235 Posts: 10,822
    edited January 2009
    TNRabbit wrote: »
    Find another card that will give you a zero percent balance transfer & move it all over. You can keep switching like this indefinitely for zero percent.

    If you do this too often it is NOT good for your credit rating.
    If you will it, dude, it is no dream.
  • wallstreet
    wallstreet Posts: 1,405
    edited January 2009
    Funny how the credit worthy folks get stuck paying the bill for the idiots that 1) charged up more than they could ever hope to pay back and 2) the brainless companies that even allowed them the opportunity to charge up more than they could ever hope to pay back. So we, the responsible ones, get to bail out the credit company and consumers. The answer here is simple, cash.
  • Sherardp
    Sherardp Posts: 8,038
    edited January 2009
    I fired AMEX and went to MC and Visa. AMEX is rarely accepted overseas in Japan.
    Shoot the jumper.....................BALLIN.............!!!!!

    Home Theater Pics in the Showcase :cool:

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showcase/view.php?userid=73580
  • Dennis Gardner
    Dennis Gardner Posts: 4,861
    edited January 2009
    A Zillion dollar balance sounds like you are living beyond your means......pay them off and use cash. I've never had anyone decline to accept a Franklin. If a card is required, the debit works great.....
    HT Optoma HD25 LV on 80" DIY Screen, Anthem MRX 300 Receiver, Pioneer Elite BDP 51FD Polk CS350LS, Polk SDA1C, Polk FX300, Polk RT55, Dual EBS Adire Shiva 320watt tuned to 17hz, ICs-DIY Twisted Prs, Speaker-Raymond Cable

    2 Channel Thorens TD 318 Grado ZF1, SACD/CD Marantz 8260, Soundstream/Krell DAC1, Audio Mirror PP1, Odyssey Stratos, ADS L-1290, ICs-DIY Twisted , Speaker-Raymond Cable
  • Polkitup2
    Polkitup2 Posts: 1,621
    edited February 2009
    Yea, a Zillion dollars is a lot of money. A guy at work showed me his credit card statement where they just raised his rate to 27%. Luckily he pays it off every month.
  • phuz
    phuz Posts: 2,372
    edited February 2009
    Weird. They just lowered the rate on one of my cards.

    They've also lowered the limits on both of my AMEXs. No biggie though. It's expected in times like this. AMEX is a darn good company and their customer service is top notch. Stick with 'em, and you'll be rewarded when this mess is all over.

    Citi however tried to jack up my rate, I called and opted out and closed the account.
  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,771
    edited February 2009
    Pay the card off each month, and the rates don't matter. I never pay any interest on my cards.
  • Gaara
    Gaara Posts: 2,415
    edited February 2009
    bobman1235 wrote: »
    If you do this too often it is NOT good for your credit rating.

    Why? I figure it could screw up your average age, but if you close out the accounts it won't. It will temporarily effect your card utilization, and the hard pull will be on there for 6 months, but both are temporary.
    WilliamM2 wrote: »
    Pay the card off each month, and the rates don't matter. I never pay any interest on my cards.

    No clue what my rates are, never been a concern. Paid $22 in interest in my life due to my own screw up with the due date. Made over $700 in rewards, not to mention the $1000+ on B/T offers.
  • MikeC78
    MikeC78 Posts: 2,315
    edited February 2009
    Gaara wrote: »
    Why? I figure it could screw up your average age, but if you close out the accounts it won't. It will temporarily effect your card utilization, and the hard pull will be on there for 6 months, but both are temporary.

    He's not talking about just one initial time, it's if you keep doing that over and over with a large balance. You are a risk. If you are opening a bunch of new credit and closing them, you are a risk, which in result hurts your score. Hard pulls are on your score are there longer than 6 months. However, your score is temporary, correct.

    You always keep the card opened that you had the longest(even though you never use it), closing it can hurt your age of credit. Closing accounts doesn't necessarily help you, it lowers your total available credit.
  • Gaara
    Gaara Posts: 2,415
    edited February 2009
    MikeC78 wrote: »
    He's not talking about just one initial time, it's if you keep doing that over and over with a large balance. You are a risk. If you are opening a bunch of new credit and closing them, you are a risk, which in result hurts your score. Hard pulls are on your score are there longer than 6 months. However, your score is temporary, correct.

    You always keep the card opened that you had the longest(even though you never use it), closing it can hurt your age of credit. Closing accounts doesn't necessarily help you, it lowers your total available credit.

    I was under the impression that a hard pull was on a report for 2 years, but only adversely affected your score for 6 months. So if the person where to open a new card once a year to transfer balances, the ding would have dropped by the time they open the next card. You make a good point, today this could be seen as high risk and have some adverse effects.

    Yeah, I know the average age can hurt you, which is why I would think closing the new cards (after transferring the available credit) would be beneficial. If they were left open it would bring down your average age, but if they were closed it would keep it high.

    I guess the only downside I see is if you had a high utilization on that single card. Like if you transferred $9k of debt from a $20k card to a $10k card, going from 45% -> 90% on a single card, even though your overall utilization would improve.
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited February 2009
    Two months ago I did a cash transfer from AmEx to my Visa. I knew I wouldn't want to pay it off until after tax time so I called Visa and asked them for zero percent for 6 months and they said OK. I love the blue card, usually make close to $300 a year on rebates. You can pay that back pretty quickly if you pay interest though. Pay them off as soon as you can, it feels good!
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    edited February 2009
    Does AMEX still charge a yearly fee to use their card? I stopped using them in the early 80s, and stayed with Visa. Since then I have never made a CC payment, yearly or monthly. I just charge what I can afford to pay. The funny part is the upper limit kept getting increased since I never made any payments. I guess the logic is once your limit is high enough to buy a house you will charge more.
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited February 2009
    They have a "Blue" card which charges no fee and pays a decent percentage rebate once a year. You don't have to pay off every month but if not then you pay interest. Last time I checked the rate it was around 12%. They took care of two different internet sellers who didn't want to send the merchandise or refund the money. They seem pretty effective if you have a problem.
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
  • shack
    shack Posts: 11,154
    edited February 2009
    madmax wrote:
    They have a "Blue" card which charges no fee and pays a decent percentage rebate once a year. You don't have to pay off every month but if not then you pay interest. Last time I checked the rate it was around 12%. They took care of two different internet sellers who didn't want to send the merchandise or refund the money. They seem pretty effective if you have a problem.

    So far I've had no problems with my AmEx Blue card. They are pretty good about dealing with problem tranaction resolution and like Chuck said, I get a decent rebate check. No annual fee and I have no clue as to what my interest rate is since I pay the balance in full each month.
    "Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right." - Ricky Gervais

    "For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase

    "Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson
  • Peter Johns
    Peter Johns Posts: 1
    edited February 2009
    My name is Peter Johns and On December 14, 2008, an article I wrote for Helium.com was viewed and passed on - by some estimates - to over 600,000 people in 24 hours. I made $1,246.00 in 24 hours and I've never been the same since.

    It explains a "catch" I found in a credit card company's 0% offer and how I flipped it around on them. I'm sure part of the reason it went viral is because it's about a financial "David and Goliath" story of sorts during a global economic crisis.

    Again, over 600,000 people viewed it in just 24 hours. The question is, why?. We're talking about an article, not a **** pic or a severed head video, just an article. Any business program would take a gem like this and build a class around it. Business students - given the assignment to write a "viral" article - would find one like this, that's already gone viral, and study it exhaustively.
    It's at this link:

    http://www.helium.com/items/887146-credit-cards-dirty-little-secrets

    It still boggles my mind!