Comments on: Here’s $300, now go away

By: Mark h

Mark h — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:44:08 +0000

I recently had my account closed, which by the way was paid in full and in good standing. I had over 506,000 points in my account that I have painstakenly PAID for over the past 10 years… I was told by CS that once the account is closed that the points were history… Well, apparently I am not alone in my plight (www.my3cents.com) I have asked AMEX to move my points to my Delta FF account. I can only assume they will ignor my plea,, as I am sure they have others… If so, I will champion a class action suit against them, along with anyone else who has been ripped off by yet again, more corporate greed…

By: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money

Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:07:00 +0000

AmEx paying cardholders to close accounts…

“The glaring question here is whether the only people who will take advantage of this are the kinds of paying customers AmEx would like to keep for the long run,” wrote Tom Petruno at the Los Angeles Times’ Money & Co…

By: bert

bert — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:22:00 +0000

I have been a big fan of Amex forever. It was the first card I ever had. I have also been a merchant that accepted the ridiculous rates and always smiled. Amex today is a company that I can’t even identify with.
They always had the best customer svc. They are about to go under based on a b/model combined with a dismissal of their core values. Their days are numbered with this current offer to existing customers and no one will need the black card when we start bartering again.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:02:51 +0000

Interesting how the new trend seems to be the delinquents get stuff, while the people who at least try to be responsible get stiffed (or worse…)

By: CGHill

CGHill — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:04:20 +0000

Which would explain why they didn’t offer it to me, since I’m not delinquent.

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:34:09 +0000

I clicked on the original link- nowhere it says the customers they select are chosen randomly; the criteria are not disclosed. As one of the commenters said, she actually wanted out (and to receive $300); she’s a member since 2002. She called and asked if the letter applies to her – they said no. She concludes it’s only for delinquents.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:56:40 +0000

Yeah, if they’re people who aren’t making minimum payments $300 to go away IS generous.

I had heard, a couple years back, anecdotal reports of some credit card companies dropping folks who (like me) make an effort to pay the things off in full every month if at all possible (I use CCs mainly as a convenience so I don’t need to carry cash. And so I can order Shiny Things off the internet). The argument was, they weren’t generating interest revenues for the companies.

Funny, you don’t hear that complaint any more.

By: CGHill

CGHill — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:35:25 +0000

If that’s who’s being invited to leave, that’s fine. Anecdotal reports (see the Via link) suggest that it’s a bit broader than that. Of course, they can do whatever they want per their existing agreement.

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:53:52 +0000

Seems a generous offer, to me. They are not obligated to continue loaning money to people who consistently fail to pay back, do they?
I don’t think AmEx will loose anything if these customers will not feature in return business – they are liability rather than asset.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:03:04 +0000

It is kind of awesome that the person discussing this bargain is named Faust, though. (Beelzebub or one of its variants would have been BETTER, but I don’t think those are exactly common surnames).

I can’t say I’ve ever been offered money to “go away,” and if I were, I’d probably be sufficiently insulted that I’d stick around and be as obnoxious as I possibly could.