So Ben McConnell over at Church of the Customer Blog is complaining about American Express jacking his interest rate ever so often to an offensive 29.9%. Just for grins lets call it 30%.
Personally I'm a HUGE fan of American Express and a loyal customer. Then again - I pay off my credit card every month; I don't think Amex has ever gained any money from me through interest payments, but they certainly get a lot of revenue from the 3% they charge to merchants that I buy from.
One of the biggest reasons I'm a fan of Amex is their easy customer service. Questionable charge on my account? Immediately they will credit it back to my account while they investigate. Best of all however is their Purchase Protection Policy. Lose or damage what you bought within 90 days of the purchase date and american express will give you back your money!* I recently had call to use this after buying (and then immediately losing at the beach) prescription sunglasses. The knowledge that purchase protection policy was there, prevented me from getting too upset/frustrated while on vacation.
So charge away exorbitant interest rates Amex. Ben might not be subsidizing people like myself, but I'm sure others will.
*Up to 10k per year.
I used to be a fan of Amex, too (as I say in the comments to my post) for all of the reasons you list.
ReplyDeleteBut stealthily tripling the fees I pay them (not an anomaly, mind you) tells me this is a company that has lost its way.
While I agree with you that tripling their interest fees is ultimately bad - I'm a bit ambivalent on the issue because they don't really affect me regardless of what the rate is.
ReplyDeleteFor example if American Express were to sell a 50% interest rate card that gave greater benefits than the ones I hold now, I would not hesitate to sign up for it.
It might be a bad deal for people who
carry a balance, but if you live within your means you should never be carrying credit card balances.