Consumer complaint received 2016-11-17
Product: Credit card — 
Issue: Credit line increase/decrease — 
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (NY)

American Express offered me an unsolicited line of credit of {$35000.00} in the spring of XX/XX/XXXX XXXX their " Pay Over Time '' or " POT '' program XXXX. In addition, in XX/XX/XXXX, Amex sent a letter saying my interest rate for the first XXXX months would be 0 %. I used approximately {$20000.00} of the credit during the summer. 

In early XX/XX/XXXX, several days before the due date for my upcoming payment, and having encouraged me to increase spending by using their interest-free credit, Amex complained that spending and balance were too high, demanded immediate payment, and said they were cutting off use of the remaining {$15000.00} of the POT, pushing me into a XX/XX/XXXX default. In addition, contrary to their letter and my online statements, they 've charged me interest every month and refused to stop or refund that money. 

The complaint that my spending and balance were too high was made even though no payment was overdue, they have no pre-set limits on spending power, and my spending and balances in XX/XX/XXXX were only about 25 % of what they were in XX/XX/XXXX, when I never missed a payment. 

I had managed to avoid a default on XX/XX/XXXX after XXXX days of arguing with Amex over the phone, and could have paid the balance due XX/XX/XXXX if they had simply kept the card and POT line open. But for absolutely no legitimate reason, Amex closed the POT and pushed me into default on my payment due XX/XX/XXXX, so they can now charge me 29 % interest on my outstanding POT balance. 

It 's even stranger that Amex offered me the POT at a time when I was out of work, and then cancelled it the first week I started a lucrative new job. This feels like a predatory bait-and-switch - get the spending and balance up with an offer of interest-free credit, and once halfway there, cut off the credit and threaten suspension of the entire card to either squeeze a larger immediate payment, or cause a default and be able to charge 29 % interest. I relied on what they offered, and after I did so, for no legitimate reason, they changed the rules and turned my life financial life upside down. 

I 've had this Platinum card for over XXXX years and charged over {$400000.00} during that time, {$250000.00} in XXXX alone. I never defaulted, and never missed a payment during that entire time, with XXXX exception. A payment at the end of XX/XX/XXXX was returned by my bank because they had changed a practice and closed an account which resulted in a deposit I had made not being available to pay the bill. I quickly called XXXX to explain what happened, was told it was not a problem, and after fixing the confusion at my bank, the payment was promptly made. I was charged a " return fee '' on XX/XX/XXXX. But my POT was not closed then, or the month after that, or the month after that, or the month after that. They kept letting me spend and spend and use the XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX. In fact, it was XX/XX/XXXX when Amex offered me the 0 % interest, so the single " late '' payment in over XXXX years could n't have been a significant problem for them.