The Consumer Complaints Blog

As a travel & food writer, I’ve depended on my Platinum American Express card for 20 years — during which time I paid either on time or early. So you can imagine my surprise when I tried to check out of a hotel in Madrid on Monday to find that my card was declined. I assumed it was an error only to find that AmEx imposed a credit limit (I never had one) so low that I couldn’t pay for the hotel. Once I returned, I googled to find a litany of similar complains: long-time Platinum Card holders who spent ten of thousands of dollars a month (and paid on time) to find that they now had a credit limit that dwindled with each month.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/credit_cards/amex_plat.html

Something is very fishy here, especially given that American Express recently received $3.39 billion from the Treasury to now become a bank holding company.

I know the NY Times did a story in January regarding how AmEx started penalizing customers who frequented certain merchants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/your-money/credit-and-debit-cards/31money.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=american%20express%20credit%20limit&st=cse

It seems this problem is very pervasive. I am at a restaurant now where the francise owner told me AmEx lowered her credit line from $30,000 to $5,000 for no reason.

I hope this situation can be investigated.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.