Question:
Dear Steve,
There isn’t much background— I had an Amex Platinum and Gold card since the beginning of this year and was on track for spending about $30k annually on the platinum card.
Today the UPS guy dropped off a letter saying Amex canceled my card for “abusive language towards their representatives.” I have gone through my correspondence with their CSR- which have all been online- and really can’t find anything remotely offensive other than maybe using the word “crappy.”
Given this info and that my credit had never drifted below what it was when Amex granted me membership, is this just an excuse to cancel my card because I’m not spending $50k+? Am I just part of a wave of shutdowns? It seems highly suspect to me.
James
Answer:
Dear James,
There are two logical explanations.
They made a mistake and you can plead your case for reconsideration. They may charge you a fee for reopening your card and you may have lost any points or benefits on the cards when closed.
Or, you fit a profile that triggered by a filter in the computer system for customers they wanted to weed out for whatever reason. Who knows what they consider to be abusive and if it is a fact or an excuse. For all we know, a certain number of complaints or concerns could trigger the action.
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At the end of the day, it is their card, and the cardholder agreement states they can cancel the card at any time for any reason.
They took their ball and went home.
It sucks when this happens, and you are not alone. Others have written to me with a similar experience. Look at these posts.
Judging by the reader questions I get, American Express seems to be aggressively closing cards. We will never know exactly why.
However, American Express is not the only game in town and this might be the time to evaluate all possible credit cards and see which provide your business with the most rewards and benefits you can take advantage of.
If you travel for your business there are exceptional free nights at hotel cards, free airport travel lounges, or discount airfare cards. If you purchase a lot of supplies there are discount cards and rebate cards out there. Others have metal and color cards as well.
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Question asked about Amex.