If that's the case, then said establishments should no longer accept AMEX.

Along with studying shopping habits, American Express considers which mortgage lender a customer uses and whether the customer owns a home in an area where housing prices are declining.

Guess they'll have to drop pretty much everyone's credit card limits.

AmEx seems to have caught the crazy.

If Amex pulls this crap on me, I'm going to cut up their card, close my account, and save $75 a year membership fee for the privilege of being insulted and mistreated in this way...

I bet it was Wal-Mart that set them off as everyone shops there.

See it as an opportunity to stop buying their crap and support the local hometown businesses.

Actually, this totally may explain why I had my AmEx limit cut in half. My business card had been used for high in tech purchases earlier in the year (Sun, Dell servers). Once I paid that off, I started using the card for smaller purchases (e.g. a bunch of business dinners at chains, office supplies,). Shortly after I did that my limit was cut in two.

This happened to me, too. From what I remember, the letter said something to the tune of "your limit MAY have been lowered for one or more of the following reasons - delinquent accounts on your credit history, shopping at establishments whose other customers have a poor repayment history," and three or four others.

Well, naturally, I freaked out and thought that maybe I had an error on one of my credit reports (since I don't have any delinquent accounts), pulled them all, and no errors or problems to speak of. In fact, my credit score was higher than I expected. My repayment history with AmEx was perfect, never a day late in my 3 years with them, and they even had lowered my interest rate at one point for being a good customer. I do carry a balance on the card (just graduated college and I'm now interning, so it's unavoidable at the moment), but always make more-than-minimum payments.

I live in a college town with a lot of sketchy poor people of many varieties, so it's completely possible that I shop at the same places that deadbeats shop. But is that any reason to assume that I'm just like them, in the face of 3 years of evidence to the contrary?

I cut up the card and haven't spent a dollar on it since then, except my gym membership, which is automatically charged to it every month. They called me a few months ago and asked me if I had lost or damaged my card and if I needed a new one, and I gave them an earful about lowering my limit for no appreciable reason.

Only reason i have my amex card is for my balance transfer... I dont even use it. too much of a pain in the ass to ask every place I go "do you take amex"

Massage Parlors or Marriage Counseling will do it as well.
CC companies view these two as a sign of things to come (no pun intended).

Maybe it was Ruby Tuesday. They figured the sodium and fat might cause him to die, forcing AMEX to wipe his debts clean.

The biggest problem I have with this is that they won't release the names of the places that can trigger it. At least give people the chance to avoid it.

I've never had a single issue with Amex. I have a Blue card, and any "problem" I've ever had was quickly and politely resolved with a quick phone call. These stories make me a bit nervous, but I guess I won't really "believe" them until it happens to me.

Wow, I didn't realize that when you sign up, you're cosigning with the rest of the nation.

@TheFuzz53:

Why, the risk is all AMEX not the merchants.

"29-year old black entrepreneur Kevin Johnson"

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that AMEX doesn't discriminate on race or gender, so after ruling out race as a contributing factor to his shopping habits and new credit limit, what was the reason for pointing out that he's black?

That reminds me, I need to go to the pawn shop with my amex.

@Pylon83: I was in the same boat as you - Blue card, lots of satisfaction with their service and happy to be a customer. My card had been inactive for a while (trying to cut down on spending), and when I tried to make an online purchase with them online (reputable retailer), they flagged it as possibly fraudulent because the card had not been used for a month. After receiving an email from them the same day to that effect, I called them and cleared the purchase to be made, and like two weeks later, I got my letter in the mail lowering my limit.

I assume I got the letter because contacting customer service somehow threw up the flag to review my account.

It seems like these days if someone is using your card at all you would reward them, not punish.

But I don't have the business acumen required to bankrupt a large multi-national company so what do I know?

@lodleader: Meh, I only shop so many places. It only took a couple weeks to discover which places did and didn't.

On a different note, I can't help thinking this sounds a lot like redlining.

@pssshwhatever: Also, I got the letter shortly after I contacted customer service about clearing an online purchase that had been declined because my card hadn't been used in a month or two (that threw up a fraud red flag). I assume my call to customer service somehow queued me up to be reviewed, because there was very little activity on my account before that.

All those right wing nutjobs who were against privacy protections and all for PATRIOT act type stuff...this is how your chickens will come home to roost.

Not only do you have no privacy from the government but commercial, unregulated data warehouses which own data about every bit of your life. For now they're just showing their disapproval by reducing credit limits for shopping at a merchant they don't approve of...wait till they, like another poster mentioned, prevent you from eating unhealthy food since that may cause an early death and failure to pay your debts.

Wait till you can't get a job because your prospective employer pulled a ChoicePoint report on you that indicated you've had 2 heart attackes...and putting you on their group medical plan will increase premiums for their entire employee base.

Or, what if that report showed you've paid for a porno PPV movie with your credit card...and the employer doesn't want to hire any smut fiends.

First they came for the jews...

@Pylon83: Me three with the happy Blue-card using. I don't use near my credit limit, but this whole "people randomly having credit card problems" is making me very nervous.

@pssshwhatever: And how did that go? <-- actual question, not a sarcastic rhetorical one.

@nosidedown: sensationalism...and the fact that it was the AJC that did the piece, might as well of been Fox News if you ask me.

I have an AMEX blue card. Pefect Payment history, no monthly balance carryover. They haven't lowered my balance yet, but they did give me that reason for denying my limit increase request. The only recent purchases I had at the time were from a diesel store.

@nosidedown: 'Cause he be shoppin' in the Ghetto.

@madanthony: Actually housing prices in my area are still slowly but steadily increasing. There was just a short drop off at the height of the meltdown. I guess that's what we get for not reaping the benefits of the bubble before the fall.

@cabjf: My parents are the same. I think their total value has gone down about 2-3% from maybe 5 years ago, but they're still well above their purchase price and it steadily going back up again.

It would be particularly ironic if Walmart was the trigger given that Amex has had several promos with Walmart lately (like spend $40 twice at Walmart and get a $20 statement credit).

@PittDragon:
Sorry, not everyone shops there. I for one refuse! I guess I'll be keeping my AMEX card limits.

@INTPLibrarian: About as well as you'd expect.

The letter I received said that the decision would not be reversed, and I didn't think my powers of persuasion were such that it would be, but the whole thing made me feel a little ranty, so I figured it was worth letting someone at AmEx know that it pissed me off and convinced me to no longer use my card, even if it WAS just a lowly CSR. Since they had called to find out why I wasn't using my card and all.

We have a blue card that we only used at Costco. The balance was always paid in full every month. Last April we had to make a large emergency purchase that would go over the limit. We called and they were great, bumping up the limit to allow the purchase. We have been paying 3 to 4 times the minimum payment, sometimes up to $500 each month. Two weeks ago, we were at Costco and the card wouldn't go through. They called in on it and were told we were over our limit. I knew we had at least %2500 available on that card. So I called and they told me that our limit had been lowered down to the amount of the balance. They said a letter had been sent to inform us. We did not get that letter for 2 weeks. I don't care if they lower the limit, but they could have had the courtesy to let us know so we didn't try to use it. Looking at the fine print, they also raised our interest rate from just under 7% to almost 11%. I am angry but I am not cutting up the card. We are paying off the balance this billing cycle and will continue to use it and pay it off every month so they don't get one more dime of interest from us.

@PeteyNice: They won't do it because they don't want those businesses complaining that AMEX is telling people to avoid them.

@YoFonzie: In the spirit of making ridiculous political generalizations, I'm going to assume that 29-year old black entrepreneur Kevin Johnson doesn't vote Republican and doesn't have any chickens coming home to roost.

Rock on, dude.

Am I the only one who's guessing that it may be Amazon? I guess I'm bucking the white-trash-Walmart-deadbeat stereotype. I just figure that want + internets + credit cards = fail. It's like the eBay effect.

I've been trying to get my limit cut, I think my limit is too high since I hardly ever use it. But they always say they can't do it, then can only stop it from increasing. The most I've ever used was maybe $3k. I like using cash, helps me keep better track of my spendings.

Maybe I should start shopping at walmart, but then I don't have an AmEx.

Kevin should let all these places (I'm guessing the one they are referring to is probably Wal-mart, though) what AMEX thinks of them. Maybe they would help him out, or even stop accepting AMEX. I don't know if it would do anything, but it sure would make a statement.

@YoFonzie: First they came for the jews...

Thank Allah I'm Catholic. They'll leave me alone, right? I'll just let them take the Jews, and the Cigarette smokers, and the people who don't deserve credit, and the people who do deserve credit, and let them ignore me.

@PeteyNice: Not releasing those names means they can mess with your available credit for ANY REASON they want, and pretend that it's actually your fault.

I mean, it's not like they're going to actually tell you 'based on the fact that you gave a donation to the First African Methodist Church, we've decided you live in the 'hood and you're a bad credit risk'.

@tinmanx: Good luck with that. Any of these companies will lower your credit limit, and turn around a few weeks later and bump it back up.

"Kevin couldn't tell what set it off, his statement had what he saw as normal transactions, including places like Amazon, Ruby Tuesday, WalMart, Starbucks and Federal Express."

It occurs to me: We might be misleading ourselves by focusing on the names of the stores Kevin shopped at. What if the location of the stores is the issue?

That is, instead of penalizing all Wal-Mart (or whatever) shoppers, AMEX is penalizing people who shop at specific Wal-Marts that have a lot of deadbeat customers. In AMEX's opinion, Kevin might be shopping in a deadbeat neighborhood.

If geography (and not just brand) it the factor, we should all be doubly annoyed, because that's coming close to redlining credit card customers. If it does turn out that AMEX's policies are unfairly affecting predominantly-minority neighborhoods, they could get their asses sued big time.

@PeteyNice: I wouldn't be shocked to hear it was an algorithm making the decisions, and that the list of establishments changes on a relatively regular basis.

@PittDragon: What local hometown businesses?

@Michael Bauser: Redlining was my first thought, as well. There's something called the "means test," where even if you don't redline according to geography, anything else that has the same effect can be construed as illegal against a specific race/religion/etc.

@tinmanx:

I never get why in the world anyone would want to cut their own credit limit. If you don't think you can spen responsibly, pull the card out of your wallet.

A higher limit tends to increase your overall FICO score, so it's always a bonus to have a greater limit.

@mythago: That sounds like a joke from a Wayans brothers movie.

American Express can shove their yuppie bullshit up their asses.

It'd be SO much nicer if AMEX sent out letters saying, "Whoops, we went a lil' overboard w/ the broadscale granting of absurd credit limits and we're recalibrating. Sorry!"
Along w/ a note to the credit reporting agencies noting it's a no-fault decrease.

Seems much more the case than what they're doing, and if they were honest, they wouldn't bruise their customers' credit rating.

@Gtmac: Touche good sir.

With the falling real estate prices and if you're financially solvent, you could start a local hometown business and cater to those who have gotten their credit slashed for shopping at Wal-Mart.