Late last year I wrote about how American Express lowered my credit limit from $25000 to $7900, without a legitimate reason. Well yes, just last Friday I received I received an email notice of credit limit reduction, down to $6800.
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I promptly reached for the phone to call the “helpful” customer service representatives at American Express. I immediately asked to speak with a manager, and after being asked if it was with regard to my credit limit reduction, was quickly put through to a manager.
First I inquired about the “thorough review of my credit profile” mentioned in the first paragraph. The manager informed me that my account history with American Express as well as my credit reports were reviewed and were the basis for the decision.
I informed the representative that all of my credit scores are in the excellent range, that I am earning more money than I ever have, and that I am now earning quite a bit more than I was when AmEx originally granted me a card with a $25000 credit limit. I then asked what in my American Express account history and/or credit report would call for a second credit limit reduction.
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The only thing he could come up with is that I had only been paying the minimum payments and that was a concern. I explained that I was on an promotional interest rate and was intentionally paying the minimum payments while paying off other credit cards. I also said that I knew AmEx would most likely reduce my credit limit again by any amount I paid down.
I then conceded that I would not receive a meaningful answer, and proceed to ask “What could I have done in the past to keep my credit limit from being reduced? And what can I do in the future to keep it from being reduced again?”
The only advice he would give me was to say, maybe I should start making larger payments but could not guarantee what would prevent me from having my credit limit reduced again. I asked, how much larger payments should I make to prevent further reductions, but he would only say that I should make payments that I was comfortable with, make them on time, and keep negative information off of my credit report. Exactly the three things that I was already doing!
Asking for his superior, I was transferred to a voicemailbox that was completely full and thus the call was over.
In all honesty, I never expected to get a real answer from AmEx customer service. Between college semesters in the summertime I worked as a customer service representative for a large company. I actually feel a little bad for the employees that work there. It must be horrible to work in AmEx customer service when you have to try to make rational explanations to customers why they are being abused by American Express.
Executive Customer Service
As a last resort, I contacted AmEx’s executive customer service to see if there was anything they could do. The polite supervisor explained that at this time even the executive customer service department was not able to override the credit limit reductions initiated by the risk evaluations.
The only advice he could offer was that when looking at payment history alone they generally consider paying 10% or more of the outstanding balance on a card to be “an ability to pay” and paying minimum payments or anything less could seem like an inability to pay. He advised me that he could note the account and it would be reviewed in the future, but could not guarantee that my limit would not be reduced further. So I had him note my account that I would at least 10% payments to demonstrate “ability to pay” in hopes of keeping my current credit limit.
I am not very optimistic about AmEx leaving my limit where it is after I make further payments, but I will give it a try and we will find out soon, stay tuned! Has anyone else had sucess dealing with AmEx? Let us know!
Comment from Aaron Wakling
March 13, 12:15 pm
Nice site. There