Amex declined at the point of sale

[bluenics]

Do they normally decline you at the POS if you are above your above 3x your normal spend or what is the cutoff point?

Do they decline you or phone to say please pay down immediately?

I've never had it happen except for a fraud check

 

[ftm]

I have had it happen relatively abruptly. Normally there is a phone call as you are approaching your comfort limit (which moves over time) asking you to make a payment, but depending on the size if transactions going onto the card, it might just stop and the call come later.

 

[Mal]

Hmm. Any idea how to work out their comfort limit?

 

[greenfrog86]

Hmm. Any idea how to work out their comfort limit?

They will give you an indication if you ask... The staff can run test transactions and see at what value they get declined

 

[Ewing]

Do they normally decline you at the POS if you are above your above 3x your normal spend or what is the cutoff point?

Do they decline you or phone to say please pay down immediately?

I've never had it happen except for a fraud check

The last time I had a charge card it just declined once I hit my comfort limit - the call came after, and they asked for an indication of my estimated ongoing spend.

It happened again a few months later. I got sick of it and went back to credit cards where I know at any given time how much is available.

 

[Mal]

Would a prepay work?

 

[Cynicor]

Amex aren't fond of prepay, and may lock the card, in my own experience. I suspect it is for money-laundering reasons or some such nonsense, but has happened to me on an Amex issued credit card at least.

 

[greenfrog86]

Amex aren't fond of prepay, and may lock the card, in my own experience. I suspect it is for money-laundering reasons or some such nonsense, but has happened to me on an Amex issued credit card at least.

It is different with a charge card - the prepay is the only way to keep spending if they aren't happy when you reach the comfort limit...

 

[lovestotravel]

You can ring and they will give you an idea of your "comfort level"

Generally it's about twice what you have spent on average over the past 6 months, as a monthly spend

You can prepay to get around this, I have done it several times and they haven't cared

But as always YMMV

 

[Mal]

Thanks for the advice. I never had an amex charge in Oz and did an international transfer to a gold charge. Have been ramping up the spending but don't want to be denied for an upcoming transaction which is a lot higher than my average.

 

[get me outta here]

Amex aren't fond of prepay, and may lock the card, in my own experience. I suspect it is for money-laundering reasons or some such nonsense, but has happened to me on an Amex issued credit card at least.

I was not aware that if I paid manually a week or so early in prep for a big spend that AMEX would still take the full amount on the due date. That way, I had 2x the amount to spend which was useful when I went to buy my car. So, it was a sort of prepay inadvertently.

 

[k3nnis]

I just called up and I was looking to purchase something for $10000 on my plat charge and it was ok. Then I asked the rep what my limit would be, she went all the way up to $50000 and it was fine. I was surprised for my large limit. Anyways I don't think I will be putting $50000 on my card in a month anytime soon