Amex Platinum Charge Card - You have to pay now!

[parksie]

Binxx,

I agree.

I am happy that they ask if this is a charge that I have made and not by someone who could have stolen the card.

But I am not happy that they let the charge come through and when it does go through they say - thats it no more credit!

I use the card for all sorts of purchases such as petrol, groceries, wine etc.

I do have another card however I do feel that I am being compromised.

I have full intention of paying what's due in full by the due date so I am pretty unhappy to be put on a full credit stop until I pay the bill!!

 

[Dave Noble]

Dave,

I can make the payment right now.

I could have made it yesterday.

In fact I would have been better off not using the card at all for the $27,000 purchase!

However this is not the point.

I am on not able to use the card until I pay - and this is the point I am trying to make.

I have not received the statement, I have a great credit history, I am not outside of the terms of the payment agreement.

Surprised you are not getting it?

Do you work for American Express?

By disagreeing, I must work for AMEX?

The simple point is that AMEX charge cards have an exposure limit; you have hit your exposure limit from using your personal card for business purposes. AMEX have now informed you that you are at the limit and no further charges are to be made until your exposure is reduced

Whether you spend a cpl of minutes making a payment and then being able to use it is up to you; AMEX are not going to just let you up the spending on the card. Build up a history of large transactions a month and paying it off, then your exposure limits will increase. For now, alarm bells have gone off

Given that the purchase was a business purchase , the appropriate payment method would have been the business account which assumedly has a higher permitted exposure if this is a typical spend

AMEX advertise the charge cards as no preset spending limit, not as no spending limit

 

[albatross710]

I will probably give them a call to let them know the card will be back in full force in Feb (failing any other 3 points per $1 promo) with other card providers.

Well based on previous experience between the various card providers and banks....we know there will be a promo.

 

[parksie]

Dave,

"AMEX advertise the charge cards as no preset spending limit, not as no spending limit"

What's the difference?

I wish I had of been told that if I spent as certain amount they would immediately cut me off!

I wouldn't have spent the amount in the first place.

 

[Dave Noble]

Dave,

"AMEX advertise the charge cards as no preset spending limit, not as no spending limit"

What's the difference?

big difference . No spending limit would mean that any amount can be charged

No preset spending limit means that there is no fixed limit that is published. There is a spending limit but that limit will fluctuate based on how the account is used

 

[parksie]

Well here in lies the problem!

Amex should tell me what I can spend up to and not pretend that I can do what I like.

As I said if I had of known I had a limit I would not be an unhappy chappy right now and my card would be available for use.

 

[Flashback]

Dave,

I can make the payment right now.

I could have made it yesterday.

In fact I would have been better off not using the card at all for the $27,000 purchase!

However this is not the point.

I am on not able to use the card until I pay - and this is the point I am trying to make.

I have not received the statement, I have a great credit history, I am not outside of the terms of the payment agreement.

Surprised you are not getting it?

Do you work for American Express?

While I understand your frustration, AMEX are perfectly reasonable to have done what they did.

You mention that you would have just done a TT transfer anyway, so why not pay the money off the AMEX now; you would have had the money go out of your bank account already anyway if you went with the TT option.

 

[parksie]

The answer to your question:

Why don't we pay the money now - principal!

I won't be paying until the last hour of the last day that this amount is due.

They can sweat!

 

[auriga]

I am with you, parksie.

I would not be happy with this treatment from Amex.

 

[parksie]

Thanks Auriga,

Good to have some support on this issue there are a lot of people on this site who seem to think I should be grateful that Amex even let the transaction go through!

 

[Ric]

I normally do not waddle into this kind of controversy but I have to agree with Dave, Flashware and the others.

big difference . No spending limit would mean that any amount can be charged

No preset spending limit means that there is no fixed limit that is published. There is a spending limit but that limit will fluctuate based on how the account is used

This is also what I understand it to be. If I don't fully understand what is written, I ring up and ask. Yes the "preset spending limit" is based on your history of average spending amount/habit. And usually, if there is a change (a spike) in my spending this month, I would call up and let them know and usually its alright after they have input this into their systems.....and no alarm bells will ring. I do this for both my personal and business/corporate cards.

I never sign on the dotted line until I more or less understand what I am signing into. And this is not pointing the finger at anyone. Just letting readers know this what I do......sometimes my staff says I am too pedantic!!:shock:

 

[serfty]

...

I simply am left feeling like American Express does not trust me after all of the years we have built up a long standing business relationship.

So with this in mind I think we will have to disagree on this one. ...

Not sure why; I actually agree with you.

I have simply stated facts, without comment.

If this happened to me, I would be miffed as well.

I'll reiterate:

The amount listed as being payable on your statement is due at the time the you are deemed to have received the statment, not on ANY date that may be listed on the statement or indicated online.

Amex can withdraw use of the card at any time.

It's up to you if you wish to use the card and abide by Amex rules.

For reference:

9 Liability For Charges – Immediate Payment

Payment of all Charges is due and payable to us by you and the Business
immediately upon receipt of our monthly statement by you or the Business.
Each monthly statement of Charges shall be deemed to have been received
by you or the Business upon the date of the actual receipt or the seventh day
following its despatch by us. You and the Business must pay the full amount
shown in the monthly statement immediately on receipt of the statement.

Now, I had a situation last year where I need to make a purchase that was about three times my normal monthly spend.

I contacted Amex beforehand and advised them of this purchase a few days beforehand. I was thanked and the purchase went through with no issues - I paid the amount after receiving the next statement.

The reason I made this call was advice and information given on this web site. One particularly pertinent piece of information was the existence of a "non pre-set, non published" spending limit on the charge card.

Two more comments/opinions from me:

1. As far as "Rule 6" goes, if Amex applied this haphazardly without seeming cause, they would very soon go out of business. It is commercial sense to only use it when deemed necessary. In your case, it is apparent they deemed it necessary (whether [morally or otherwise] right or wrong).
   
2. In relation to "Rule 9", which specifies 1 week from statement date, Amex never use to publish a pay by date on the statement at all for charge cards. I believe this has been introduced over the last one or two years to give account holders something concrete to use. "Liquidated Damages" will not be applied unless payment in full is not received before the generation of the next statement.

 

[Binxx]

The answer to your question:

Why don't we pay the money now - principal!

I won't be paying until the last hour of the last day that this amount is due.

They can sweat!

If I were in a similar situation and since have got direct debit for full amounts for the cards to come out when due, I too would not be rushing to get that changed.

This raises another point. If the OP had got direct debit setup for the full balance, would Amex have acted differently realising that they would get the money on a specific date?

The point here is why does Amex not want to retain a good customer? I guess it is because they make plenty of $'s from people who default and pay the exorbitant interest rates.

 

[Diesellife]

First of all, I don't believe this is an Amex issue and certainly not their fault.

Amex is not the sole charge card provider (Diners Club also) and in BOTH circumstances, it cuts off when you go over your average spending pattern.

Before applying the card, please do your research on what is a charge card and the difference between a credit/charge card, that could save some embrassment over arguing simple facts in here.

As other people mentioned in here, no preset limit doesn't mean no spending limit. Your limit will adjust according to your average spending every month.

Most of the people with charge card could careless with the hidden limit because THEY HAVE THE MONEY in the account or somewhere can be accessed when required! Would you prefer AMEX declined your $27000 payment? You would have to find alternate source of payment anyway... So what's the big deal here?

If you make the payment now, your card can be used again in no time. And it also helps to establish your payment record, which possibly will assist your hidden limit in the near future. That means you possibly can charge a $27000 next month without putting a block on your card.

Don't expect you can charge a 3million property in day 1 but no preset limit certainly guarantees the possibility of doing so (Which normally you won't be able to do it on a credit card!)

I guess it's time to evaluate your position whether you want a pre approved limit credit card or no preset limit charge card.

Don't blame anyone, all you need to do is to follow the rules.

PS: If you don't have the additional cash to pay your outstanding balance, this only means that AMEX is exercising its good risk management and should provide no further credit to you!

 

[Ric]

I had a call yesterday to advise that i could not use the card any more until I has cleared 1/2 the outstanding amount.

On the question of why Amex does not want to retain a good customer; from the OP first post, it does not seem that Amex is threatening to cancel the card and not retain said customer. To me, it read that they are just suspending usage of the card. To reuse the card, at least 50% of the outstanding amount is to be paid first. Risk management as Dave puts it.

So, my understanding is that OP does not have to pay now if OP does not want to use the card until statement comes out. After statement amount have been paid, the wheels moves again.......hopefully to a higher "pre-set" limit!

Please correct if my understanding is wrong.

 

[Dave Noble]

The answer to your question:

Why don't we pay the money now - principal!

I won't be paying until the last hour of the last day that this amount is due.

They can sweat!

Do you really think that American Express will be worried or concerned with petulant behaviour. If you would prefer not to be able to use the card until the debt is paid on the latest payment date then that is your choice ; this is also not likely to be beneficial in the system increasing your exposure limit in the upcoming period

Risk management is an important part of providing people options to get into debt. based on past activity they have assessed that your current indebebtedness is at the limit they are happy with. They haven't cancelled the card, just informed that this is as far as they will allow it to go and informed what repayment will be enough for them to release it

AMEX loses nothing in this; the only loser is you

 

[Binxx]

Completely agree that there would have been a preset limit on the card based on previous usage so why was that limit permitted to be exceeded?

Had it been rejected for the 27k charge the OP would have contacted Amex who would have explained the scenario stating either

a) The spend is outside your spending pattern hence got rejected or:
b) You have exceeded your preset limit based on your years of spending pattern, hence the transaction got rejected.

Amex could have also made the OP aware that had they been contacted upfront (Which IMHO is the appropriate way of putting through 'unusually large' amount's regardless if you have credit limit or not) then they could have temporarily increased the limit and transaction could have gone through and balance paid out in full when due and everyone is happy.

In current scenario, firstly they have let the charge go through and now want 1/2 the amount back to take the 'block' off their card.

Sounds a strange way to do business and retain good customers to me.

 

[Dave Noble]

Completely agree that there would have been a preset limit on the card based on previous usage so why was that limit permitted to be exceeded?

They have permitted the purchase to be made and then contacted and said whoa, that's enough. That seems a pretty decent way top do business and far better than the other option of just declining the purchase

I would suspect that most customers would prefer to be able to make the purchase rather than have the purchase declined

 

[Diesellife]

a) The spend is outside your spending pattern hence got rejected or:
b) You have exceeded your preset limit based on your years of spending pattern, hence the transaction got rejected.

Would you prefer AMEX declined the $27000 and tells you that your limit has already reached?

OR Have the $27000 gone thru instead and block it after that transaction?

In both cases, a limit is reached and therefore a "block" is established and unable to use to card until payment. IMHO, the second option is that AMEX honoured the transaction and gave more financial freedom and less embrassment than the former?!

 

[Binxx]

They have permitted the purchase to be made and then contacted and said whoa, that's enough. That seems a pretty decent way top do business and far better than the other option of just declining the purchase

I would suspect that most customers would prefer to be able to make the purchase rather than have the purchase declined

What is the point of having a preset limit then?

Just as a scenario, had the card been stolen and a large transaction allowed to go through, what happens then? The owner gets hounded for the monies?

Most people would rather not have the transaction go through.

Once on a trip to NZ many years ago, my gold Amex charge card was declined for a hotel charge. Admittedly I had not informed Amex of the trip and was racking up $'s on the card. On the phone when I explained the situation to them (I had to call them from the hotel lobby itself) they took the 'stop' off and let the charges go through for the rest of the trip.

So win-win