Lied to!!

Kavanne

When I phoned up to see if I had been accepted for an American Express (I applied online) the man said yes, and the account had a £1400 credit limit. Great, I thought, that's not too bad.

HOWEVER

My mum has just used her card (as an additional cardholder) for the first time and MY available credit has gone from 700 to 641... the total credit limit for the account is only £700! After I received the cards I was told AGAIN by another customer services rep that the credit was split equally on each card, so £700 on mine and £700 on my mother's.

This does not appear to be the case! Customer services opens at 8am, I am very tempted to phone and lodge and complaint as I was told by no less than TWO staff that the credit limit on the account was £1400.

Is there anything I can do about this? There is really very little point in me having a card with a £700 that I have to share with the additional cardholder!

maninthestreet

Can you (or your mum) apply for a separate AMEX account?

Kavanne

Mum doesn't want another credit account (also she is now retired and her income is below £20000)

We want to be able to pool our nectar points especially seeing as I am going to be spending about £7000 on things for my new house (I have the savings to pay for it all, but that's 7000 nectar points!)

I have been told how great amex is by loads of people but frankly, their staff seem uninformed and badly trained (otherwise they wouldn't go round telling people their credit limit is double what it really is, surely?)

I am thinking that if I kick up enough of a stink I will be able to get my credit raised? I am certain they record all their calls, so I will ask them to go back and find out when/where my details were accessed and listen to the call.

The conversation went:
'Hi I just wanted to see if my online application for a nectar card had been processed yet'
'Certainly' <insert security> 'Yes that's all been accepted you should have your card in the next few days'
'Oh great thanks, what is the credit limit on that account?'
'Fourteen hundred pounds'
'A bit less than I was hoping for but thank you'
<end>

There is NO WAY I mistook the words 'seven hundred' for 'fourteen hundred'

I then called back and said 'so on the site it says I have £700 limit, but I was told earlier the limit on the account was £1400, does this mean the account limit is split equally between the 2 cards?'
'Yes'
'I want to increase my credit limit'
'You can't for 6 months'
<end>

dhassen

But the credit limit on the 'account' is 1400 isn't it, if they're saying it's split between the two cards? I'vre never dealt with additional card accounts before though, so have no experience on this.....

By the way your mum's retired income is more than loads of people on this forum, and not to be sniffed at.... 20 grand is one hell of a pension!!

foxwales

Generally if you have more than one card holder; then the credit limit is split over the additional cards on the account; this makes it easier for the customers to manage their money as they are not constantly checking how much credit is left because they don't know what the other parties are spending.

Your ACCOUNT limit is £1400 split over two cards with £700 assigned to each card holder.

Providing you maintain your payments and keep your account in order you can ask for an increase in your credit limit; most lenders will do this automatically if you manage your account well.

Kavanne

No they just confirmed my credit limit is only £700 for the WHOLE account.

They are calling me back after 9.

How can I play this to get what I want? In this scenario, I am going to have to pay off the card 10 times in the next 2 months to get nectar points when I buy carpets, appliances, tv, bed, and everything else... which is just silly. I've asked them to match my halifax credit limit which is £2800 so I can cancel my Hfax card.

dhassen

So it's 700 split two ways? Sounds a little confusing.... are the nectar points THAT important? lol

Kavanne

Well it doesn't say my credit limit is £350 so I am a bit befuddled myself. but my mum has spent £58 and now it says my available is jst £641

Look I may as well get some points on stuff I would have bought anyway. 7000 points on my purchases plus 5000 points we get for having the card would pay for christmas. And perhaps more!

Sorry if I am trying to save some money!!

PS My mum's pension is more like £10000; I said her pension is below £20000 which is the threshold for Amex.

dhassen

No no, saving money is always a winner, just thought it sounded like a lot of effort! (I'm slightly lazy)

Didn't realise amex needs 20k, fair enough

Kavanne

It wasn't meant to be a lot of effort, Amex just seem to be incompetent and their staff are as undertrained as every other credit card provider.

Careful_ly

Just for the record I think your 12,000 Nectar points are worth £60 in store, with you saying they would pay for Christmas got the feeling you were expecting more than this.