Posted on 03/09/2009 4:50:01 AM PDT by christx30
If you have an American Express card, beware: your card could be put on hold at any moment, even if you think you've made all your payments on time. That means, you won't be able to charge anything on your Amex card.
That's exactly what happened to Cathy Jones, a businesswoman with three Amex charge cards. She got a call from Amex last week saying her cards were now on hold, while the company did a financial investigation to make sure she could pay her bills.
Jones was baffled. She's been an Amex cardholder since 1989 and can't remember being late on a payment. So, to get some answers, Jones and I got on the phone, and called the customer service number on the back of her card.
An Amex representative in New Delhi, India, said because of the bad economic times, American Express is now doing financial investigations of thousands of cardholders. The rep said Amex is insisting these customers fill out an IRS form 4506-T, authorizing the company to get their tax returns for the last three years. The rep told us if Jones didn't fill out the IRS form, they'd cancel her charge cards for good, within five days. And here's the part that concerned Cathy Jones: The rep said these "investigations" were being done, not in the US, but in India.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I can’t speak about AMEX, but many of the major credit cards are unilaterally raising rates and applying it to the balance. It’s bad news.
Of course, this “hold” may apply to the charge card of Amex, which naturally is different than their credit cards.
“Our credit cards come with a FREE extra benefit!... An intrusive and thorough investigation into every aspect of your personal finances, complete with an in-house audit of your tax returns!!”
This is a company that deserves to go out of business.
LLS
I hope I will be able to rip them up soon—but I have a lot to pay off first! :)
No official notice. I did cut and paste this article in an e-mail and sent it to hubby this AM (he’s on the road.)
No, he really has no choice. The company pays the bills directly, and all we see is an itemized statement. Amex is the only company that the company holds a contract with to do this, ergo.....
A few months later they started calling. I paid it off within like 4 or 5 months but then they started lowering my credit limit after every payment. Like a year ago I made another fairly big charge and paid if off over another 3 months. After I paid it off they canceled my account.
No great loss for me. I didn't use it all that often. But they took 19 years of good payments and good use and threw it away over less than a year of problems. Kind of shortsighted if you ask me.
Is this the comment you stand by?
“3 AMEX cards...no reason for that”
I cited the reasons, you did NOT refute them!
If the company gets the cards in the company's name or say the name of the CFO or such, and then issues it to him for use on the company behalf, that's a different story. Then he is not on the hook should something happen to the company or should they choose to deny an expenditure. I have heard that AmEx has a policy that requires whoever the authorized user of the card is to fill out an application in their name, even though it is technically a "company card". That is their way of trying to collect on debt if a company suddenly goes under.
I know where you are... been there... cut them up and pay them off asap... even if it takes a while. That interest should be illegal... mostly 21% and up! Good luck!
LLS
FrogDad and I have 3 AmEx’s.
Our regular Gold card, an actual AmEx credit card, my corporate AmEx card.
Credit score very high. No balance on any of them, had the Gold card for at least 15 yrs. There is a msg on my phone machine to call our AmEx rep for important acct change info.
Will see what that’s about...
I am very wary of using personal cards for business anymore. I got stuck with ten grand of travel expenses from my last job when they changed the travel policy, but didn’t tell us Americans.
After that, I only used to company credit card, or didn’t go. Part of the reason I am now at a different company.
I have two cards through my employer and the only thing I’ve received is a rate increase letter on late-payments. I don’t make the payments so I didn’t care.
Interest like that used to be illegal. We used to have usury laws in this country that made high interest from banks illegal. But that was pretty much wiped out by deregulation of banks in 1980. I’m usually in favor of deregulation, but credit card companies really screw customers a great deal of the time.
Yes... high rates are theft.
LLS
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