Amex Just Increased my interest rate from 4.9% to 14.9%

loveandlight

Just got a letter this morning saying with effect from March they have increased my life of balance card from 4.9% to 14.9%!! Has this happened to anyone else? I thought as it was a life of balance it meant what it says. I've got to go out now but I shall phone them later to find out why. They have been acting very odd with me lately. They wiped out all my credit limit a couple of months ago and now this. My overall debt has increased slightly but otherwise my credit file is blemish free with no history at all of defaults or late payments anywhere.

I did phone them last week as I pay by direct debit every month and told them I would be paying in extra amounts every month to bring my balance down faster so I'm wondering whether this is why they have done this.

I was really proud of myself as I could see the balance coming down fast every month and now it'll take forever to clear it unless I can find another card company who will do a balance transfer.

Can anyone throw any light on this for me?
Thanks.

udydudy

IMHO, I think you better clarify with them. They may have raised the standard rate to14.9% (which would apply for future new balances) but the existing balance/outstanding might still be at 4.9% LOB.

I would be surprised if they reneged on that.

Former_Spice

Disgraceful behaviour. Put everything in writing and challenge this. They HAVE to provide you with statements and records of communication by law.

You could try this letter below. Put them on the back foot as they are taking the p***.

_______

SAR - SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST

Dear

Re: Account number:

In the first part under the Data Protection Act 1998:

Under the Data Protection Act 1984 and 1998, and including the right of subject access under these acts, please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to the above accounts held with you since they were opened.

Additionally where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my business with you.

If you are unable to supply data relating to manual intervention because there has been no such manual intervention then please be kind as to confirm this in your response to this request.

For the avoidance of any and all doubt, I reiterate:

I hereby request that you supply me with any and all historical data in your possession which, in any way appertains to me, including (but not exhaustively) a copy of the original signed executed agreement; statements of account; duplicate statements and/or print outs of all account transactions; all internal and external correspondence sent or received by you including memo’s, logs, notes, screen prints and transcripts; notes of manual interventions such as telephone attendants' notes, copies of stored telephone conversations, internal and external emails; any other information held on any/all types of media in any relevant filing system (microfiche included).

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10.00 to access ALL data held by XXXXX about myself. You should be fully aware of your statutory obligations under the Data Protection Act and that any failure to comply with this request will involve a complaint to the ICO as well as potential legal action.

You have 40 days in which to comply with this request.

This communication has been sent Recorded Delivery so I can ensure compliance on these issues within the legislative timeframes.

Yours Sincerely

_________

There are other template letters if they don't comply. Please don't let the get away with this.

Optikal

Hi OP

I work for Amex Customer Services and we've been inundated with calls about this.

The 14.9% is for usual spend and purchase. If your 4.9% LOB was a balance transfer offer and you haven't placed any extra spend or spurchase on your account then you won't be incurring any extra cost.

As for the above poster.... why so hasty to pull out the big guns? I'd understand if this was an ongoing problem that hadn't been sorted for a while, but jeez, at least allow time for some simple clarification before flying off the handle!

I understand that Amex often have quite complex and convoluted ways of explaining their figures (Don't get me started on MoneyBack, Air Miles or Membership Rewards!) but the recent APR raises are only for normal spend and purchase, BTs are unaffected.

loveandlight

Thank you for that Former Spice. I shall definitely follow your suggested course of action if I don't get any joy from Amex. I am sure others on here with probs with Amex will appreciate knowing how to go about it as you've suggested. I always wondered how to go about getting more detailed info and now I know.

I did phone Amex when I got home the other day and their response was quite shocking. They were clueless about what interest rate I should be on but luckily I have kept records of everything and I told them that. Eventually they agreed my balance is 4.9% but the way they answered they sounded very non-committal about it.

My card expires the end of this month anyway and today they sent me another one quoting the new interest rate (14.9%) but I'm not activating the card at all as i don't trust their sly ways and shall be asking them to confirm in writing my balance is 4.9% which is what it should be.

I'll never forget one of their managers telling me a couple of months ago that the reason why they had wiped out my entire remaining credit limit of 2k was because I only pay the minimum monthly amount and because of that I was in danger of going under and those words have swum around in my head ever since and have had quite a depressing effect on me hence why I want to clear my balance with them asap. I will NEVER get an Amex card again.

If this is how they treat their customers who pay on time and have never defaulted, then god help those who do default and do go bust as it seems Amex will show them no mercy.

YorkshireBoy

loveandlight,

I do think (and hope) you're reading the letter incorrectly.

This issue has been raised many times before, and the one that sticks in my mind is the M&S card of a couple of years ago. This offered a 3.9% APR LOB rate (and 0% on purchases for 12 months), yet as soon as M&S raised the standard/typical rate (say from 16.9% to 18.9%) many LOB deal customers were posting to complain about it unnecessarily. They hadn't realised that this new card rate only applied to the existing purchases balance, any new purchases made, and any standard BT's granted/taken (all of which should not have been placed on a LOB card anyway).

On your rate, I remember your posts from last year when you reported they'd trimmed your limit, so have just re-read them. Back then you said (several times) your LOB rate was 3.9% APR, yet now you're saying it's 4.9% APR. Has it been raised since November in a separate notification? If so, maybe your rate isn't actually a LOB rate...it's something else entirely?


EDIT: On the subject of activating your new card...

Firstly, you won't need to do that because you won't be spending on it will you? After all, as has already been posted, anything you do spend will now be charged at 14.9%...and will remain there locked in at that rate until you completely clear the card.

Secondly, failure to activate it has no bearing whatsoever on any T&C's changes notified to you, ie they'll still apply...if that's what you were thinking?

loveandlight

Thanks for your input YorkshireBoy. Amex got my rate wrong last year and told me it was 3.9% LOB when it was actually 4.9% LOB as I discovered when I went through all my paperwork.

I have just phoned them again and they have told me my rate is definitely 4.9% LOB and the 14.9% is for future purchases only and they have apologised for sending me such a badly worded letter.:mad: They really should take more care when writing to their customers.

I won't be activating the card at all as I will never use an Amex card again.

Optikal

It's like banging ones head against a wall.

APR increases are for normal spend only!

Your credit limit decrease will have been for unused credit, this protects both you AND the company especially if you run up a large balance and only pay the minimum then you can't grumble when the company decides to eliminate further risk. Every day I see people fly off the handle and knee-jerk cancel their accounts because they don't take the time to fully percieve the circumstance..

EDIT: Above posted as I wrote this message. We're constantly dealing with the same problem of trying to make all of the blurb we send out comprehensible.

loveandlight

posted by Optikal
Your credit limit decrease will have been for unused credit, this protects both you AND the company especially if you run up a large balance and only pay the minimum then you can't grumble when the company decides to eliminate further risk. Every day I see people fly off the handle and knee-jerk cancel their accounts because they don't take the time to fully percieve the circumstance..

What a load of tripe! Not everybody runs up debts they can't afford and don't pay them back. I note you are in customer service at Amex so your comments don't surprise me at all. You are hardly going to bite off the hand that feeds you after all.

My Amex letter clearly says it's for the amount I already owe them (2k) which is why they are now saying my letter was badly worded.

If you bother to read some of the complaints about Amex and other card companies for that matter you will see that people who have excellent credit like myself cancel our accounts because we don't appreciate being treated as if we are a bad risk. If you can't understand this then you shouldn't be working for a credit card company at all.

mattyd433

loveandlight wrote: »

Just got a letter this morning saying with effect from March they have increased my life of balance card from 4.9% to 14.9%!! Has this happened to anyone else? I thought as it was a life of balance it meant what it says. I've got to go out now but I shall phone them later to find out why. They have been acting very odd with me lately. They wiped out all my credit limit a couple of months ago and now this. My overall debt has increased slightly but otherwise my credit file is blemish free with no history at all of defaults or late payments anywhere.

I did phone them last week as I pay by direct debit every month and told them I would be paying in extra amounts every month to bring my balance down faster so I'm wondering whether this is why they have done this.

I was really proud of myself as I could see the balance coming down fast every month and now it'll take forever to clear it unless I can find another card company who will do a balance transfer.

Can anyone throw any light on this for me?
Thanks.

Yes the balance is not going up to 14.9% (the terms make this clear) it is all purchasing and balance transfers after the first 6 months which is going up. See the enclosed ammended terms.

The bad news is the min repayment on mine is doubling to 5%. Is this legal?:mad:

Optikal

I agree entirely that not everybody does. However it is much much more common than you may anticipate and unfortunately that has a knock-on effect. And believe me, I have no qualms about calling Amex up on its flaws. Not only do they run an archaic ship with constant flaws, break downs and errors, but they seem to be hell-bent on angering their customers through general incompetence. I've spent the past six months searching for another job becuase it's not worth working for a company who make such a job so much of a headache to do.

I agree about your position on having a good credit rating and being penalized. If ever you get through to me and have a good account history, you can instantly consider late payment charges, over limit charges, undue interest and any other charges recredited as I'm of the same opinion as yourself. I also agree with most of what you said, however I'm simply stating how things run from the other side as it were.