As some of you may have heard, earlier this year American Express filed suit against Courtney Love, alleging that she has an unpaid credit card balance of over $350,000 (with that amount I’m guessing she must have a Centurion card).

Now, Courtney has turned around and filed a counter-suit against them… she blames AmEx for the problem! Reportedly her attorney, Keith Fink, told TMZ that American Express issued her (and her business entity) a staggering 104 credit cards! They seem to imply that AmEx was negligent in issuing her so many credit cards that supposedly she didn’t ask for or want. She also claims all the charges were fraudulent and not made by her, and therefore she’s not responsible for them.

What do you think? Is Courtney Love just a victim of identity theft or is there more to it than that?

(p.s. Courtney – if you’re looking for an Amex Centurion alternative, check out the Visa Black Card!)

Do you have an American Express card? Then there’s a good chance you recently got a letter in the mail from Amex raising the interest rate on your variable APR card. In fact, I received this letter in the mail myself for my Blue card. The changes go into effect during the first billing period that starts in October.

First of all I would like to say I’m actually a huge fan of Amex and I think they’re a great company. But I was a little bit disappointed with the way they handled this situation. The three bullet points on my letter (and I imagine yours too) basically say this:

• Interest rate is being raised on cash advances and purchases
• If you have a “penalty rate” on your account because of a late payment, the interest rates are going up
• The late fee is being increased

Finally, under these bullets, they say they are “pleased to let you know” they will no longer be charging you an over-limit fee (BTW I discussed this in my last blog post).

Amex, I must say although I remain a huge fan, I am a bit disappointed with this particular situation. I don’t even carry a balance so this doesn’t effect me, but having my APR go to 13.99% + the prime rate on top of that seems awfully high in my opinion. Why this bothers me so much is because I feel bad for the other equally responsible cardholders out there who have been hit with this big hike. I understand that the recent credit card reform legislation as well as the recent losses from defaults is making it a bit more expensive to do business for now, but I don’t feel accounts with perfect histories should be given this much of an increase – a 1-3% increase seems more reasonable to me.

I’ve been an American Express holder for 7 years (multiple cards). I’ve never had a single late payment, not only on my Amex cards, but on any credit card or bill in my entire life. My FICO is close to 800. A few years ago when I was in a coma and knocking at death’s door, one of the first things I said to my mother when I awoke from it was to make sure my bills were paid so they wouldn’t be late. That’s the kind of customer I am – more concerned with my obligations to paying bills and my credit history, than the fact that I was crushed in an accident and was told I was about to die. Should responsible customers like myself and others like me be rewarded with such drastic APR hikes like this?

This site has financial ties (affiliate advertising) with Amex, Discover, and most other major banks, but as you see we still strive to give you our honest opinions. My card from Discover has 5% cashback and no annual fee… and they’ve manage to not raise my APR. This has been my favorite card as of lately and you find out about it in my Discover More review!

A chart from Consumerist showing average late fees from '94 through '05. Today they average about $35.

Fees for going over your credit limit are a huge money maker for the industry. In fact, they are estimated to bring in around $3.7 billion in revenue this year alone. The recent credit card reform (which doesn’t kick in for another half year) will help protect against these fees: creditors won’t be able to charge you a fee for going over your limit, unless you have specified that you want to be able to spend beyond the limit.

American Express has recently announced they will soon no longer charge customers fees if they exceed their limit. Discover has stated they also will be doing the same. However, give with one hand and take with the other… Amex is raising interest rates for a huge number cardholders by an average of 4%. In fact, this past week I received notice in the mail for this, and so did a few friends and family members I spoke to whom also have Amex cards. I have a FICO score of 810 and although I don’t know the scores of the others, I do know they use their credit responsibly.

So they may be socking it to you even if you have exceptional credit. Although the press release I am basing this off of doesn’t say this increase is across the board, when I called up customer service, the rep told me it was an “across the board increase on all accounts.”

But back to those late fees… did you know you should never exceed 30% of your credit limit anyway?

Is the economy on the brink of recovery? It’s tough to tell, but there are some positive signs we are seeing. Take for example the bailout money paid to the banks. The Federal Reserve recently gave permission to ten of the financial institutions that received bailout money to pay it back. American Express was one of these companies. It recently repurchased the $3.39 billion in preferred shares it previously sold to the treasury. This repurchase, however, did not include the outstanding warrants still owned by the Treasury Department.

Over $68 billion in TARP funds is being paid back from the nation’s largest banks. However, there is much scrutiny over the motives behind the repayments. The bailout money came with restrictions on executive compensation and it’s well known fact that is one of the reasons these banks are so anxious to pay it back. This is especially obvious considering that these funds are not from internal sources, but rather money the banks raised from private investors across the globe.

What do you think? Should the banks have been allowed to pay back the bailout money so they could forgo the restrictions on executive pay?

1% or 5% cash back credit card? How about a 20% cash back card? While rumors have been buzzing for months about this card, today they were finally put to rest when the “Twenty from American Express” was revealed at a corporate press conference for the new credit card. The card will feature 20% cashback on the first $20,000 in annual purchases in a broad array of categories, including gas, groceries, travel, restaurants, mortgage payments, cosmetic surgery, and more. After that amount, the cashback will be 1%.

The Twenty from American Express will only be available to those very best credit scores (830 and above). The concept behind the card is that there is virtually zero chance that those individuals with that credit score will ever default, and in turn, Amex can afford to reward them with ultra generous awards. Furthermore, American Express stated they hope this card will be used as a stepping stone to recruit new customers for their new division – American Express Mortgage Network – where customers can finance and re-finance their mortgage at “ultra low” rates as low as 2.99%, with a 0% for 12 months introductory offer on new mortgages when cusotmers mention the coupon code “aprilfools” during the application process.

Over the past 12 months, for most of us those little non-descript envelopes which contain credit card solicitations aren’t showing up in our mailbox as often. However this doesn’t appear to be the case for a Chicago-area family. They decided to save all their credit card offers they received in the mail over the course of a year. The result? 23 lbs of wasted paper, over 445 different envelopes containing credit card applications. Whether it was an airline reward card, 0% balance transfer credit card offer, or virtually any other type – it was all there.

The father and husband of the family, Gary Silbar, observed that the biggest peddlers were Chase, Citi, and Amex. In fact, roughly 25% were from Chase alone. In the third quarter of 2008 there was a 28% decline in credit card offers when compared to the year before.  However that still leaves over 1.34 billion card offers that were mailed out during the third quarter this year. The difference is that now, creditors seem to only be targeting those with the best credit, like the Silbar family.

And what did these banks get in return for spending several hundred dollars on sending the Silbars these credit card offers? Absolutely nothing – no new card signups. No wonder the banks are broke when they’re wasting money like that!

Home to over 20 million people, Sri Lanka is an island country located about 19 miles off India’s southern coast in South Asia. The island’s central location makes it the crossing point of many sea routes, and as expected, that makes Sri Lanka a thriving player in the industrial economy.

Over the years American Express has continued to strengthen and expand their operations in the Asian markets for obvious reasons – they are growing economic hotspots. Continuing the trend, Amex and Nations Trust Bank of Sri Lanka have teamed up with SriLankan Airlines to issue the first airline-branded Platinum card in the country. SriLanken operates in 25 countries with 45 destinations, including Hong Kong, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Rome, New Delhi, Dubai, and many more. The agreement also means Nations Trust, one of the biggest banks in the country, will now exclusively issue American Express credit cards.

A member on Credit Card forum pointed out the news that there is a new Visa black credit card which has just been released, but is this really nothing more than an imitation of the American Express Centurion card?

The Black Card (yes, that is the official trademarked name of the card) carries a $495 fee. That’s $45 more than the American Express Platinum card.

This black Visa card is made out of carbon graphite. It offers 24-hour concierge (like Visa Signature cards do). It also offers rewards and perks like airport lounge access.

So is it a knockoff? Well, it’s too early to tell, but it appears to be more similar to AmEx Platinum or Bank of America Accolades, rather than the Centurion. The Amex Centurion has a much higher annual fee ($5,000 initiation fee + $2,500 annual fee), tougher requirements for membership. The Visa Black card appears to be a card that more people will have access too.

Ever wonder what the very first credit card looked like?

This card was issued in 1958 by American Express and under the current definition of a credit card, most would consider this the first credit card ever issued. Diners Club did have a card prior to this, but it could only be used at restaurants.

Anyway, this paper credit card is a far cry from today’s titanium American Express Centurion card!

Consumer Reports magazine ranked credit cards by issuer. The ratings were based on cardholders’ experiences they’ve had with fees, interest rates, and customer service.

There were 21 major credit card companies ranked and the major ones are displayed below…

A few of the company’s rankings are about where you would expect them, but a couple are a surprise. Not many people have heard of USAA – a credit union for the military and their families. The second highest was Naval Federal Credit Union. The nation’s highest ranked major creditor was American Express (who happens to be one of our advertising partners).

Among all issuers, the problems cardholders most complained about were customer service and excessive late fees.