I'm more concerned about the 2.7% - that's getting to be a pretty hefty fee. Might have to get a cap one card for my international travel.

AMEX's service is excellent but its really getting to be expensive!

Interesting, I wonder if that is happening on the Costco Rewards card too.

Uh, no. You can't have direct, free-will access to my bank account.

I think the access to the bank account is for correcting problems that might occur by accident when one pays his/her monthly statement using the online payment system Amex provides. For instance, if the amount of the payment were accidentally charged twice, or if one-tenth of the actual amount of the payment were debited due to the decimal point being mis-interpreted, they can make these common-sense type of corrections automatically.

This is useless information without seeing the paragraph being modified. It might be part of a "then" associated with an "if you choose xyz". If that were the case, then this would be perfectly legit.

From the context provided (the EFT Agreement), it probably has something to do with payments. Which one would hope you're giving them access to your bank info, or else where are they figuring out how to take money from?

And to which cards/accounts does this apply?

I got a notice from Citi yesterday telling me my APR is going up to Prime + 13.99%, with a minimum of 19.99%. Good thing I never carry a balance on the card. I though the 12.99% APR I had was ridiculous.

How about no?
I find it interesting that they now are wanting vague access to your bank accounts after a couple of other actions hinting that they are in trouble.

I wonder if one of their strategies might be "accidentally" borrowing money from a large number of customers for a period of time and then give it back later. Sort of a DIY bail out plan.

@JustThatGuy3: Most cards charge 2-3%. But the "Increased by" 2.7% is what scares me... What was it before?

You'll probably have to initiate or authorize an EFT for anything in that section to take effect. Since it's under the "In Case of Errors or Questions About Your Transactions" paragraph, it could mean that AmEx is pre-authorized to fix any errors in an EFT from their end--i.e. no muss, no fuss.

Or it could be a setup to double dip. Whatever.

And this is why you never give people direct access to your bank account. I am a perfectly happy AMEX Blue user, but I'll be damned if I give them permission to withdraw from my bank account automagically.

I have said it once and will say it until I turn blue: Amex are real scumbags.

I mean, under what circumstances would a company believe they are entitled to open access to your bank account?

@Erwos:

Does anyone know how (or if) this will affect green (charge card) users ? I read my mail from Amex as closely as anyone and can honestly say that I haven't run across any change in TOS. If there is one ,they can kiss a 14 year ,perfect payment record customer goodbye. NOBODY gets to debit my bank account when the mood hits.

It's time for us customers to use the new political regime to roll this stuff back.It's gonna be now or never to curb the abuses.To the barricades !

Those are awful changes. I love my AMEX card but I'm not stupid. Its getting dropped off in my safe deposit box to live out its life (with my stupid hi interest BOA card) if I get this amendment.

Oh, AMEX, you so crazy. Yesterday you told me I was an excellent customer so you're offering me a Platinum card, AND you jacked my Blue's rate up 2%. Now this? We might need to sit down and have a long talk about where this relationship is going. I can't stand all this confusion!

Looks like if I'm going to be late with my AmEx payment I'd best move to Iowa.

Just one more way for the man to stick his hands in your pockets

@rdm: It is. I just got the same notice, but I neglected to notice the "bank" part. I'll have to go back tonight and look it over.

TENS DAYS FROM CLOSING DATE It takes them 2 days to prepare and 3 days to mail. That means you had better mail the payment THE SAME DAY you receive the bill!! Bass-Turds

@BusyBusyBusyBusySleep: Although, in all fairness, what does the original part in the contract say? It may deal with a specific case...

Ugh. This makes me wonder how much longer we'll be able to continue "deadbeating" Amex on our Blue Cash card. If they are in this much trouble they're not going to be excited about cutting big fat checks once a year to people who don't pay interest.

@JustThatGuy3:

I'm in Hong Kong, using a Capital One card, getting 0% foreign transaction fees. I have an AmEx but this is far better.

Watch out for DCC - Dynamic Currency Conversion. Retailers convert the purchase into home currency (at a terrible rate). Some places do this, others don't (it's basically a rip-off for foreign tourists). I've had to eat about 2-3%, and trying to convince someone who speaks little English to deny DCC is a hassle.

@Snarkysnake: No idea about Green - like I said, I'm a Blue user. My recommendation would be to disable direct debit on the card and go back to paying it off the usual way.

As for the new regime being the friend of the consumer, I can only laugh. This is the same guy who's supporting all of the current idiotic bail-outs. He's not going to go screw over the credit card companies in their time of self-inflicted crisis.

@Juliekins: I've gotten an absurd amount of cashback on my Blue by charging my college tuition to it. I pay it off at the end of the month, naturally, but it quickly escalates you to that $6000+ area where you start getting a ton of money back on gas and groceries. If they start trimming back on that, I go find a new card.

@zigziggityzoo: It used to be "Increased by 2%" before.

They raised it by another 0.7%. Why didn't the go the full mile and raise by another 1% outright? It'd be in line with most of bank-issued credit cards out there anyway.

---

So, it looks like my WaMu credit has the best rate (1%, which I'll sacrifice if Chase keeps me in their portfolio and forces me to convert to a Chase card) with the Merrill+ credit close behind (2%).

Ahh... I need to get me a CapOne or a CU-issued credit card before I travel overseas next time.

@Erwos: You'd better get ready to pay in cash in Amex Travel Services or pay with a money order every time then.

You write them a check (or use your bank's billpay; for most of them), they have access to your bank account.

You do EFT online, they have access to your bank account.

AMEX is flailing around wildly. I've gotten a Credit Line Increase on my Blue Cash, a solicitation for a AMEX Gold, and one for an AMEX Platinum recently. Apparently they like me, but I'll be darned if I pay $450 a year just to use their stupid Platinum card!

I'm curious as to what the rest of the "Errors and questions" paragraph says. Specifically, sentence 3...

The OP mentioned that this was a letter sent out to some customers...does anyone know whether this applies to new customers who sign up with AmEx now?

Since I'm a PIF on time customer, the ratejack is a non-issue for me, unless they decide to f*ck around and manipulate my payment to trigger the default rate and late fees.

The automatic EFT provision is worrisome. If American Express or its agents truly did screw up and underwithdrew funds, all they have to do is call me up and tell me what exactly they're going to do. I make mistakes too sometimes, so if they screw up once in a while, it's not like I'm going to stop them from fixing their own mistake. I will voluntarily consent in that case.

However, an automatic debit provision without any notice really irks me. I will only consent when I'm told in advance. Treat my bank account like a cookie jar and that'll be the end of our relationship.

If American Express really wants to keep heading down this road, I'll be happy to drop them unceremoniously and get my friends to do the same. I become a very bitter person once a relationship goes sour. I will not return and I will not acquire an Amex-network card.

Hey Ben, call and get them to do some 'splainin'.
What are the circumstances that would lead to them fixing the error?
What is an error?
Where do they get the information to go into your account?
Which account do they use if you pay from different accounts monthly?
Do they call to make arrangements to do it on a set day so they don't overdraw you or take money that is there for a different purpose?
What do they pay ME if they take too much out?

Come on Ben, get your reportin' hat on. I smell a scoop!!!!!

@InfiniTrent: Same here, except they also increased my APR on my Blue card. What the hell, AMEX?

What's the rest of that paragraph look like? I'm not an AMEX customer, and likely never will be, so I don't know of a way to access to whole account agreement. I've seen this language in other TOS statements though, and I'd be surprised if this wasn't added to a section about check payments, like: "If you pay us by check... You authorize us or an agent to debit your Bank Account for this amount." Alot of companies are doing this now.

@bohemian: I seriously doubt that. Not even a credit card company could be that stupid.

They must be in some s**t right now. They called and canceled our Business Line of Credit. They are no longer offering it at all to anyone! I bet this will stick a big group of business owners who were using the account for inventory and payroll regularly. In addition, they canceled the best feature on our Platinum card: 2 for 1 domestic airfare. So we canceled our platinum, went back to gold, and within 3 days we had mailings offering the Platinum card! They are a freakin' mess in every direction. Good luck to Amex!

I have always paid my entire balance, every month. Now I'm being punished for being responsible with a nice hefty rate hike. Obviously this doesn't affect me materially because I don't pay any finance charges. It's a matter of principle. When I called AmEx CS to request that they lower it, I was told that that was the lowest possible rate (which is BS - the rate in Ben's posting is LOWER). This seems to be a running theme in today's economy: responsible people are punished for being responsible. I sure wish I'd bought an overpriced house last year with 100% financing and a liar loan. Then I'd be getting bailed out right about now.

@imdgonz:

"They must be in some s**t right now."

More than you may know. Amex recently applied for bailout money by getting a bank charter which will grease the skids toward getting their hands on your tax $$$. The stock has dropped by two thirds in the last 10 months ($60 to $20) and lots hard pressed merchants are dropping them because of high fees.Another problem : when Amex customers get in over their head,they usually have a much higher balance than other companies (People with $100K jobs typically carry a higher balance) . So yes, they are in some deep kim-chee at the moment.But hell, who isn't ?

@TheFuzz53:

Got the same letter. Absurd.

@InfiniTrent:

Platinum can be a great deal, depending on who you are and what you spend. The 2:1 business class ticket deal can cover the annual fee right there, but only if you're someone who would otherwise spend $10-15k for a pair of airline tickets.

@Juliekins: Remember, they may not be making interest on you, but they're making fees from all of the merchants you deal with. They may not make as much moneyfrom you as the people who carry a balance, but they also do not have as much risk.

Almost everybody who takes payments by ETF has a variant on this in their fine print. As do most direct deposit agreements. For most people it's worth the risk for the convenience.

I just called Amex and told them it was very shady that I got this TOS revision yesterday and it goes into effect 3 business days from when I got it. Adding to that was the fact that they were very vague about the context (last paragraph, third sentence).

Of course I got someone in the Phillipines (sp) who had no clue, so I chose "cancel a card" to get an American who was familiar with this. She said it only applied to errors with direct debit to pay my bill. It would have been so much easier to put that in the notification, rather than encrypting the meaning.

Amex = going down the drains.

i just got this letter myself.

Not only did it have this term on the bottom, the top was soooooo poorly printed i couldn't read several lines of it.

between that and them all of the sudden dropping my credit limited from 7500 to 1400 (no late payments, no other outstanding CC debt, no reason for them to do it) i have lost almost all of my faith in this company.

i will probably be keeping my card open for another 2 years just because a week ago i bought a sony 52xbr6 on it and it offers double warranty. Once that runs out, i think i will close my account.

There is nothing shady about these TOS changes. Consumerist is blowing things out or proportion again. The only research required is grabbing an original TOS and comparing - in my case, almost all of the changes are favorable to the consumer.

@billbobbins: They may not be able to. The language used in credit card agreements and TOS change communications is pretty well dictated by law.

@god_forbids: They'll probably just claim "we take the concerns of our customers seriously..." and never make another comment on it.

Yeah when I called Amex about the changes in agreement they gave me a run around so I canceled their service and all three of my cards. My money spends anywhere and I don't need a bailout and if I ever did I would just file bankruptcy and screw them all.