Consumer complaint received 2024-01-28
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Credit card company won't increase or decrease your credit limit
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (IL)

I have been a customer with American Express for 20 + years. I have never had a problem with the company until recently. I have an AMEX gold and XXXX business charge card. I pay annual fees over XXXX for both cards plus interests on my purchases. I also have a business employee card, which was added last year. In XXXX, I charged approximately XXXX on the card. In XXXX, I charged approximately XXXX on the cards. My annual average over the last 20 years is approximately XXXX ( minus the pandemic ). Given that I travel a lot for work, I use these cards for conferences, speaking engagements, business expenses, hotel, travel, etc. I'm reimbursed for about 60 percent of my expenses. Suffice it to say, I have maintained for 20 years a positive payment history with this company and maintain consistent on time payments. Over the years, I have not had a preset limit. In XXXX of XXXX, the company started declining charges without prior notification. The first time this happened, I called to complain. Representatives told me that my average balances were more than my usual spend which justified the reason for declining charges. I called again and was given different explanations by several reps. First, I was told that I was only making minimal payments. I have charge cards and not a credit cards. So my minimum payments are typically the full charges made within the prior spending period, which ranges from average XXXX monthly. The company then told me that it was because of adverse information in my credit history. According to the company my total credit usage was too high. Yet, I do not have any late payments on my credit and no significant score drop. I should note, my credit score is much higher than when I received the cards. I never received any advanced communication about my spending decrease or a preset limit. I was out of town and attempted to charge for a hotel and the card was declined. So, the company put a XXXX limit on the business XXXX but not the Gold card. I use the gold card less frequently for ancillary household purchases. My bill of XXXX was due on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I made a XXXX payment. I typically make partial payments prior to the due date of my cards. On or around XX/XX/XXXX, I spent XXXX at XXXX 's XXXX. I immediately received a message stating that the due date for my payment was approaching. On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged on the my account to pay my remaining statement balance and learned that a preset limit was placed on the account for XXXX. My total balance on the card prior to the limit was over XXXX. The limit caused my account to be over the limit/overdrawn, which reports negatively on my credit. I called the company to file a complaint. The representative told me I could only file an appeal and began to ask me about my assets, bank accounts, money received, etc. I was told I would essentially need to reapply to have a credit limit when I've had no present limit for about 20 years. I constantly stated that I wanted to file a complaint but was forced to go through an appeals process. The representative told me that the limit was due to adverse credit information. My credit utilization was too high. Yet, there are no significant changes to my credit, no delinquent accounts, and no late payments. Furthermore, I'm concerned that the company did not apprise me ahead of time that my credit was being reduced based on credit reporting information prior the reduction taking place. I've already began transferring my usage to XXXX. However, I am filing this complaint because American Express provides me with a very unreliable experience and are not transparent in their practices. Additionally, my customer experience has been horrible. I have not only paid thousands in interests and membership fees by having these cards, I have consistently paid my off my charges in a timely manner only to be treated as if I have been paying them late or have been delinquent. Lastly, they do not provide notice of decreases in limit when those decisions are made based on what they consider to be " adverse '' credit reporting.