Another Round of Amex Shut Downs?
American Express is on a rampage. When it comes to Amex we have seen bad news followed by even more bad news. In the last few days the bank has been shutting down many people’s accounts. There’s already a huge thread on reddit about it.
It’s not clear yet what the exact reason is for these shut downs. It could be more than one. Any type of abuse could be a possible reason, since we have seen them getting really strict about enforcing everything. A list of data points has been collected in this spreadsheet, but from a quick look it doesn’t points to anything specific.
Some possible reasons could be:
- Buying gift cards for spending requirements
- Buying gift cards for Amex Offers or credits
- Self Referrals
- Previous financial review
- Doing multiple pay-over-time offers
We are also hearing some rumors of more fee clawbacks for Saks and possibly other credits. The name of the game with Amex it seems is to stay within their intended uses and be a profitable customer. Over time we’ll see how that all meshes out.
Conclusion
It Looks like a lot of people have been affected by this round of Amex shut downs. The reasons are just guesses for now. I strongly suggest that you do everything by the book when it comes to American Express credit cards.
Let us know if you have been shut down and if so, did you engage in any of the behaviors mentioned above? What do you think of this latest round of Amex shutdowns?
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Only have hh cards so no affect hopefully.
@toomanybooks
What are you laughing about. These people probably (even if a few got shut down) collected a multiple of what you did. Hahahahahahahaha! Higher risk – higher reward
To all those people laughing at me over the years for warning them not to screw with CC companies and pushing for every conceivable dime every day, for opening and closing cards in a year for the SUB only, for self-referring, for cycling credit, for 50 other things:
Hahahahahaha
Idiots.
Most knew the risks, shut down doesn’t mean anything, it’s not like you need 30 cards for everyday use. Someone’s salty.
I’ve been buying physical gift cards from Kroger during 4x promotions with my Blue Cash Preferred and Blue Cash Everyday…so far so good but I’m holding my breath. I also do my regular grocery shopping at Kroger so hopefully that’s a protection too.
Is this for MX on the carts like platinum gold etc. or is this for travel/airline AMEX cards to like Hilton, Marriott or Delta?
No one knows for sure but Amex has been more concerned with MR earning cards in the past.
Wait, almost all the people claiming to have been shutdown on the spreadsheet are either unverified or fake. As far as I can tell, the number of verified users to have been shut down is… one.
I always check the T&C for Amex offers and usually physical gift cards Are not excluded as a prohibited item. I never buy a gift card for an Amex offer when it says it is not allowed.
Game Over, man
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