An Open Letter To American Express | Cracked.com

How are you? I know how hard this global recession has been on everyone, so I thought I’d check in on an old friend. We have had a professional relationship for over ten years.

Me? Well, I’m getting by. Several months ago, I was laid off with millions of other people. I had to take a job at half my prior salary and sell my house. But what am I saying? You know all this! That’s right. After you saw that my credit report showed a sudden three month hiccup in my otherwise flawless finances, you called to see how I was doing. No wait. Not to see how I was doing. To unilaterally cut my credit limit from $25,000 to $1,000. Oh, and you didn’t actually call. But that post card was nice.

Needless to say, this rift in our friendship left me spinning with questions. Mostly, I just want to know why. I was so good to you. I mean, yes I stopped paying my mortgage, (for the house already on the market) but I paid every single other bill. I paid all YOUR bills. Remember the good times? You were my friend … with benefits. What happened to the American Express I knew? The one who thanked me for my prompt payments and kept raising my credit limit? I got a new job. Is it my ass? It’s not me. It’s these new jeans. Ask Capital One, they’re totally into what I got going on. It just seemed like someone over there had made a grievous error.

So I decided to call because that’s what friends do, right? They don’t jump to conclusions and take rash actions without the facts. But, apparently, it wasn’t an error. One of your employees –let’s call her BitchFace— conveyed the sentiment in a subtle way:

“It’s not an error, Mr. Gladstone,” she said, twisting her heel into the larynx of a baby chihuahua. As I bent over to see if I could find what was left of my self worth and dignity rolling away on the floor, she upped the ante:

“We have you right where we want you.”
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Sorry if this has already been on here, but it is hilarious.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/?p=12808

:spray:

The reason they're doing this is because most people will, and many have, run up their cards in survival purchases just before they default on them or declare bankruptcy. It isn't that hard to understand. The credit card companies have seen the writing on the wall and are protecting themselves from greater losses.

Which means that they are breaking all their own rules and fundamentally trashing everyone's credit rating. It doesn't matter that you have a high credit rating. That rating goes in the dumpster as soon as they lower the limit so it's below what you owe, which makes you an automatic overdraft customer subject to all the rules which, by the way, still apply to you as the consumer even though they know no one will hold them accountable for breach of contract. They're still holding you accountable though, if they can, which is becoming increasingly difficult as they're quite willing to cut their losses now.

All of which begs the question, why are we still playing their game? When do we say that this illegal abuse is enough? Speaking for myself, I'm facing a no win situation in which I'm forced to choose between paying my mortgage or paying the credit cards. Having a mother with Dementia who I care for at home while working two part time jobs makes that choice pretty obvious. I have to keep the condo.

It's funny how I just don't feel too bad about the credit card companies anymore. Not since they started breaking the draconian contracts they insisted on making.