Geez, I joined Costco because and decided to take the AMEX for the extra rewards, now it may screw with my credit. I don't carry balances so I would hope they wouldn't play games. I was planning to do some real estate hunting and I don't need some POS credit card company screwing my credit report because they f***ed up giving credit to everyone that applied. I have to say some of those stories were people with monster debt loads and they don't give details on the rest of their debt, ie mortgage, home equity lines. Maybe more to some of those stories than appears in print.
Your own performance as a debtor is reflected on yrou credit score, not the health of the credit company.
Great call MR DODGE, I've been with AMEX for over 25 years and it has been my primary card for all that time. When I first started with them the only payment plan they had was pay in full upon receipt of statement. Having an AE card was an automatic indication that the holder was financially stable and paid their bills promptly. You did or they canceled you. Once they changed the policy and started letting members carry a balance I did see a shift in their attitude. Previously they were very up front about things but when they began the program to carry a portion of the month's balance forward I signed up for the program "just in case" it would be convenient for me to spread my bill over another month or two. That was back in the days when fraud was not such a problem and I just normally made out a check for my balance without really examining the charges. After a few months I noticed a finance charge and got to looking a little closer at things. The new program automatically held a portion of that month's charges in the carry ledger (don't remember how much, but it mounted up surprisingly fast). Of course I was stuck for the extra charges and dropped the plan immediately. Evidently I was not the only one caught in this because they made a big deal later about the format of the bill and how they had improved the plan and now they would only carry a balance if the customer requested it. They called and wrote several times trying to coax me back but I declined. Since then things have been fine and as the card companies were offering 0% advances AMEX at least charged a reasonable rate (comparatively speaking) of 8-10% for cash advances. I thought they were showing good business sense there. Too bad a great company has succumbed to the greed of recent years and now appears to have fallen into the debt trap game. My balance last month was 10k and so far no problems, but now I am wondering after reading some of the posts in the link. Maybe I will be embarrassed at the cash register one day when they cancel me with no warning.....
I always get that offer to "only pay certain charges - just sign up and get 1,500 points" rather than pay in full every month; but have disregarded it expecting some sort of fees to be tacked on even if I though I continue to carry no balances.
No kidding - I figured something was up when they try to bribe you with points to sign up for a program that allows you to carry a balance.
I hope you're Asian, about 5'5'', 100#, female and talented in massage and the sensual arts. If not, you cannot fuck with me.