'American Express you should be ashamed!' blog discussion 17 June 2010 at 2:25PM edited 17 June 2010 at 2:27PM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 23 replies 4.2K views

Former_MSE_Penelope

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "American Express you should be ashamed!" Blog.

Please click reply to discuss below.

DJ_Mike

That's just sick. I mean, I never withdraw cash on a credit card for precisely that reason, but to prey on the ignorant or uninformed like that is precisely why banks and card issuers need a serious kick up the backside. Shame on American Express!

The best thing we can all do for their greediness is deliberately take out their cards and only use them to rack up the 5% cashback, then cease using them altogether once the cashback runs out. That works for me. In fact, that's what I've already done!

gurmukh

go get em money grabbing "$£"$%"£%"£!

KTM_Gordo

As an AE customer I have to say that I'm not all that surprised. I have a (mostly dormant) AE Nectar card, and they changed the way they issue points on it a year or so ago - always rounding down instead of rounding to the nearest pound (up or down). I spotted this when checking my points balance online, and rang AE to find out what was going on:

"There was a message on your statement" they said - err... no, there wasn't.
"We'll write and confirm it with you" they said - I'm still waiting...

And with my travel insurance renewal (AE are one of the few insurers that will cover my trips around Europe) the covering letter tells me that they've removed Isle of Man and Channel Islands from the UK, and put IoM in Europe, along with Morocco (formerly in Africa). CI has apparently been deleted altogether...

Oh well, with the Isle of Man now presumably anchored in the Med the weather will be better for the racing - but I feel sorry for all the CI residents who are now swimming around in the channel were their islands used to be.

I dread to think what would happen if I ever need to make a claim.

dimbo61

You may well lose the cashback you have built up if you dont pay in full each month !
But how do you pay in full if you are going to be charged interest on the money you withdrew from the ATM and they have not calculated it yet.

sgk123

Didn't the UK used to have laws against this sort of thing ?

pure_dead_dopey

and then if you run into trouble, they are about as sympathetic as a brick wall, whack on interest, ignore DMPs and generally try to make your life a misery. I think the meaning of Customer Care just escapes them.............

irrelevant

Certainly worth referring it to the ASA, I would have thought. Perhaps it may fail on the Responsibility regulations...

fredbear5150

My company issues Amex cards to employees for the purposes of expenses and I remember them being totally unforgiving of charges in cases where card payments through our expenses system were a day or two late on rare occasions.

A few years ago, when my original business Amex card expired, they brought in a new policy of credit-checking each individual, despite the card being a business one but I refused to let them make that check - I have a good credit rating, several personal credit cards but as a matter of principle I won't let any company I haven't myself chosen to do business with loose on my personal data.

Consequently, the card was never renewed and I now use my personal card for business expense transactions, which means I also benefit from membership points as well.

Personally I don't get why Amex are still in business, especially as I have dealt with them as a customer of mine through my job as a technology consultant - their cards are still not accepted in as many places as Visa or Mastercard, they seem to offer no benefits to members and are very unforgiving when it comes to legitimate customer issues.

swmil

I have just got off the phone to RBS cards having discovered that they are charging me interest on the balance transfer fees I incurred following transfering balances to them to take advantage of a 0% transfer rate. I am a bit of a tart - but I have never had this happen to me before. I asked them how on earth I was supposed to work out if it was cost effective for me to do the transfers and they told me that as they were not a loan company they were not obliged to give a total cost for credit! When I expressed concern that as a taxpayer I owed a company that was operating such sharp practices they said that they were going to end the call. To take this further I have to write in to their complaints unit as it seems that we taxpayers have not seen fit to provide their complaints team with either email or telephones.

mute_posting

Not a month after the reforms to CC's were announced (i.e. no more unsolicitied credit card cheques, limit rises etc) they started inundating me with cheques every month - obviosly trying to get some debt built up before they are outlawed!