New AMEX card - but balance transfer rejected

kevin.philips

Amex probably has some way to predict wether the applicant will spend on the card as well as balance transfer. If they think the applicant is only going to BT, then there's no money in it for them and therefore they decline the BT. Surely they have the right to only approve profitable customers?

Yes, they have the right but to offer a product with an incentive and then remove the opportunity to take advantage of the incentive is wrong. How could they ever possibly know that the applicant won't spend on this card in the future, surely marketing sense for them would be to allow a non profit card in the immediate future with an aim to creating a long term customer relationship. Its better to have a customer who you can try and make profit from than no customers at all.

We reserve the right to refuse any Balance Transfer requests

This is their get out clause as has already been discussed I just hope others reading this now do not go for this card providing a little satisfaction for the OP.

Mercuryrising

Is this the 5.9% balance transfer for life Nectar card?

Well I used it for the first six months and I got loads of free nectar points thrown at me - see other thread (in addition to the usual ones you earn) and then I got up to £4K balance transfers with no fee when the deadline approached for doing it without a fee. Therefore that has to be the best permanent BT card ever (apart from the 4.9% airmiles one which I don't earn enough salary to apply for).

No problems whatsoever, maybe you need to spend on it a tiny bit for a month or so in order that they think you are not just using it as a BT card.

The_Boss

The only possible answer I can think of is to spend on it for the first 5 months and pay it off in full at the end of 5 months. Then do the balance transfer. But again there is no guarantee of that going ahead. In which case, it has just blatantly played into their hands.

I have already told the mrs to phone them up to cancel, and when they ask why to tell them the reason. If they offer her the transfer in the end, then fine. If not then close it. But she isnt so bothered about closing it, where I'm fuming that they could be pulling such a stunt!

Mercuryrising

Completely agree about you being annoyed - it just happened to work out well for me as I had a 0% Natwest card expiring at exactly the same time as the Amex balance transfer deadline so I could just use it for the Nectar bonuses until then.

I've just applied for a Morgan Stanley 5.9% LOB card purely for BTs and if they say no I'll be furious at getting my hopes up and then dashing them. :mad:

philgods

"Theboss"

It may be she was rejected for the same reasons as us...
See thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=192347

Turns out AMEX has sent out many letters in error for 0% life of balance, when they only meant to offer it for 6 months.

The_Boss

philgods wrote:

"Theboss"

It may be she was rejected for the same reasons as us...
See thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=192347

Turns out AMEX has sent out many letters in error for 0% life of balance, when they only meant to offer it for 6 months.

Thanks for that. It was the low rate life of balance offer she applied for, and being a bit paranoid about online applications, she phoned them herself to apply -so they knew what card she was applying for.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

I Must be one of the lucky few, as I applied for my life of balance January this year and got a limited of £8,000, I made a total balance transfer £7700 and all were accepted. I have to admit that I have not spent on the card and never will, so I suspect this is where the problem lies with AMEX, no one is spending on this type of of card.

I would not be suprised if they ended this offer in the coming months as its not profitable for them. come on, where else could you borrow nearly £8000 and pay less than £30 a month in interest!!!

Mercuryrising

Isn't a 4.9% Life of Balance which is unlikely to be transferred by the customer to another account profitable enough for them?

I would have thought that the least profitable ones would be the 0% no-transfer fee cards like Natwest or 0% purchases cards like Sainsburys. I've completley abused my Natwest one - 9 months of a high balance paid off and transferred at the end. :rotfl:

The_Boss

Exactly - at least they would be getting some interest out of it - and the fact it is 'for life' means that people arent in a rush to pay it off after 6 or 9 months - so chances are it would be there for the long run.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

It must be hurting them otherwise they would not be trying to deter people from doing balance transfers. I read on a thread somewhere, that some people were being asked questions on their likely spend with AMEX before being issued with a card, not sure if this is still happening, would like to know if it is.

I don't know about anybody else, but I am certainly in a rush to pay it off, I'm not making the minimum payments, as I do not want it hanging around my neck forever, the sooner I pay it off the sooner I get my life back!!!