Warning about American Express...

[Mohammed Ali Othman]

Well you are not the only one, not being happy with AMEX. I was a member of
AMEX for more than 10 years since 1976, without any defauting record for paying
my bills. I always paid it in full.

One fine day, I was called by an AMEX staff who told me that I had not settled
my bills. Upon investigating with my accounts dept, I found that our new
accounts clerk had missed out the payment to AMEX. So we paid immediately, in
full.

The accounts clerk in my company repeated the same mistake again in the next two
occasions. She thought that AMEX was just like any other credit card company and
not realizing that it was a charge card.

With all my sincerity, I returned all my AMEX cards including three other sub
cards. I did not want any more mistakes to be done by the erratic accounts
clerk. I paid all my dues in full to AMEX to ensure that there were nothing
outstanding between myself an AMEX.

A year later, AMEX kept sending me flyers inviting me to join again. I thought
by then that the accounts clerk had been replaced with an efficient one, I might
as well re-join AMEX. So, I submitted my application form with the hope that I
would get it, since my record was very clean for more than 10 years.

To my surprise, my application was rejected flatly. A few weeks later, someone
from AMEX called me to join. I told her, I had applied a few weeks ago and it
was rejected. She promised to look into the matter. Later I found out that I was
some sort of being BLACK LISTED by AMEX.

It was very disappointing, but at that time AMEX was among the pioneers in this
business, and I can sensed how SNOBBISH they were.

Small Business Person wrote:

> American Express may not be quite as much of a friend of small businesses as
> their ad
>
> campaigns lead you to believe.
> Here are some facts for your consideration...
> Having one card payment received 34 days after the "statement date" and ALL
> cards (including
>
> all employee cards), and Optima cards are "frozen", sometimes stranding
> people "on the
>
> road".
> If a business runs into "temporary cash flow problems", and makes payment
> arrangements, and
>
> keeps those payment arrangements, all cards are cancelled (including any
> Optima accounts).
> If one account becomes delinquent, ALL other accounts, including Optima
> (which you can
>
> normally pay off in monthly installments), becomes IMMEDIATELY DUE AND
> PAYABLE IN FULL, even
>
> if all payments on that account have been made on time.
> American Express charges small businesses the highest merchant fees, and if
> there is a
>
> cardmember dispute, takes the money back, and the burden of proof to get it
> back is solely
>
> on the merchant.
> Why do big companies use American Express Corporate Cards? Because many
> large companies get
>
> them for $5.00 per cardmember per year, and 90 days INTEREST FREE to pay
> them! How do they
>
> make money? Nearest we can figure is on high merchant fees and the
> $55-75/year plus steep
>
> delinquency fees (hundreds of dollars in some cases), for being 45 days
> late.
> If your business is a sole proprietorship, and you are over 60 days past
> due, even making
>
> partial payments, expect them to go after personal assets with impunity.
> If they post YOUR money into an incorrect merchant account, it can take
> WEEKS to get it
>
> resolved...
> Ever wonder about the "no preset spending limit"? It doesn't mean that you
> have no credit
>
> limit. It means that they just won't tell you what it is. They approve
> transactions on a
>
> case by case basis. Well, should we allow him to check into a hotel, or does
> he sleep in the
>
> rental car? For that matter, should we allow him to even rent a car? No,
> lets have fun
>
> and strand him. We just tell him he's over his "pre-set spending limit".
> In spite of a
>
> successful Amex ad campaign, how embarrassing would THAT be??? The down
> site is that it is
>
> out of your control. It is in theirs...
> If we had a "friend" or "partner" like that, we'd be VERY concerned.
> In all fairness, they know how many small businesses fail, and they know how
> to get the
>
> personal assets from people...
> Just, keeping your eyes wide open, DO NOT expect understanding or compassion
> from their
>
> representatives in any tangible way. Also, don't expect any agreements
> you make with them
>
> to be binding on their part.
> If you travel, carry an extra card...
> They are in business to make money, and if that coincides with "helping
> small businesses",
>
> then fine.... But if you have setbacks, as many small businesses
> experience from time to
>
> time... And it will be aggressive...
> Why do you think, in the ads that there are small businesses that DON'T take
> American
>
> Express... Maybe they have been burned by their "partner in business"...

[soc...@iname.com]

anyone have any rough idea on what criteria banks use to approve or
reject applications ? I know its always a "banks reserve the right to
reject applications without any reason " thingy, but I am just very
curious and dissappointed when my application to Standard Chartered
Bank (Singapore) was rejected.

[Dave]

Yeah, just go to the AMEX newsgroup, they've got all your answers!
<soc...@iname.com> wrote in message
news:3a6d6708...@news.magix.com.sg...