American Express paying card holders to close their accounts

[Bindare_Dundat]

AmEx paying card holders to close their accounts

February 23, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Express Co (NYSE:AXP - News), battered by mounting credit card losses, is offering $300 to a limited number of U.S. card holders who pay off their balances and close their accounts, the company said on Monday.

"We sent the offer out to a select number of card members," said Molly Faust, a company spokeswoman. "We are looking at different ways that we can manage credit risk based on the costumers overall credit profile."

The company did not say how many card holders would receive the offer and did not disclose the total of their card balances.

[War-Horse]

What i love about the time we live in is that information is instantly available all over the world.   Things like this cannot be done under cover anymore.    These sneaky card companies are probaly going to profit in someway and get govt kickbacks.......I dont trust any of them........

[darksol]

The only benefit is AE will take a $300 loss rather than a $3000 loss.  Its acutally pretty smart. As people now have an incentive to pay off their credit card rather than maintaining a balance.  Its unfortunate that many americans are not incenitivsed to pay off their credit cards, just so they don't have to pay interest.

[War-Horse]

Their first problem is they assume people have some money to spend.   If a guy has a balance of 3,000 on his card....he cant just pull it out of is ass all of a sudden.    I think they know that their eventually headed for govt protection and the CEOs and upper management is hoping to get a freefall of cash to screw out of stockholders.

Best case scenerio is I would tell them that Ill put up the $2,700 and they can credit the $300 to close the account in full.

If you dont do it that way theyll put you off as long as it takes to file bankruptcy...........TRU ST NO ONE.

[24KT]

Since when can you even carry a balance on an AMEX. Don't those suckers have to be paid in full each month?

[War-Horse]

Since when can you even carry a balance on an AMEX. Don't those suckers have to be paid in full each month?

I dont have one.   But how would they make money other than a membership fee??

[24KT]

I dont have one.   But how would they make money other than a membership fee??

They make it on the merchant end. The rates they charge merchants is exhorbitantly higher than Visa or MC.

[George Whorewell]

lol NO- Wtf are you talking about? Who would use a credit card when the entire balance had to be paid in full every month. You might as well carry cash with you at all times- nobody would use it.

I have an Amex card- Another way they make money is by charging huge interest rates on your monthly balance- much higher than visa or MC.

[24KT]

lol NO- Wtf are you talking about? Who would use a credit card when the entire balance had to be paid in full every month. You might as well carry cash with you at all times- nobody would use it.

I have an Amex card- Another way they make money is by charging huge interest rates on your monthly balance- much higher than visa or MC.

Amex isn't a credit card, ...it is a "charge card", ...without any preset spending limit.
Charges are approved based on your previous history and ability to pay. If you regularly run up $10 - $15K a month,
then pay the balance in full at the end of each month, chances are your charges to the card won't be declined.
And they'll send you a nice pretty Platinum card that you can flash at nightclubs... and pull serious tail. 

If you charge $350 on the card in any given month, ...and fail to pay the balance in full on it's due date,
...you might not wanna attempt using the card when out for dinner on a date, ...unless you like embarassment

In recent years Amex has made credit cards available for those who keep monthly balances.

Member since: 1990

[George Whorewell]

Ok- maybe its just my Amex card. During my more irresponsible college days, the card was declined when I went over my spending limit. And what you said about 350$ is false,  for me at least. I keep a balance on my card of between 300-1000$ monthly depending on expenses with a spending limit of $3000+ and my card is never declined.

[Soul Crusher]

They make it on the merchant end. The rates they charge merchants is exhorbitantly higher than Visa or MC.

Most people dont realize that.  The merchant and the consumer get charged on a transaction.

In fact, merchants have longed said that there is a lot of fraud going on with the rates charged, etc.

The CC system is very dangrous if not used very carefully.

[24KT]

Ok- maybe its just my Amex card. During my more irresponsible college days, the card was declined when I went over my spending limit. And what you said about 350$ is false,  for me at least. I keep a balance on my card of between 300-1000$ monthly depending on expenses with a spending limit of $3000+ and my card is never declined.

Then you must have one of the newer "credit cards". I remember when Amex first tried to launch them.
They called them the "Amex Visa" card, ...and got sued up the wazoo by Visa for trademark infringement.

[24KT]

Most people dont realize that.  The merchant and the consumer get charged on a transaction.

Most merchants have said Amex's merchant charges per transaction are almost usurious.

If you notice many establishments will accept Visa/MC or even Discover, ...but they won't touch Amex at all.

[Soul Crusher]

Most merchants have said Amex's merchant charges per transaction are almost usurious.

If you notice many establishments will accept Visa/MC or even Discover, ...but they won't touch Amex at all.

More consumers need to educate themselves.  The CC system has become like mafia shake down operation.   

[24KT]

More consumers need to educate themselves.  The CC system has become like mafia shake down operation.   

Only if you carry a monthly balance, or have bad credit.
If you monitor your bills for accuracy, ...and pay the full balance each month, you're ok.

[RDB59]

about 2007 American Express billing statements went up 75% the 1st part of 07 if your statement said $800.00 by May of 07 the statement was $1,600.00 and by the end of the year some statements was as high as $6.000.00 a month that if you owed like 30 K ... but your balance never went down .....   That is why by the end of 2008 American Express became a bank to get some of the bank bail out .......    Keel in mind Amex is not a credit cards it is a charge card .... so many forget that too....