FYI: Cardinals, Fang, Biggles, Ximenez/Ximinez, and The Spanish Inquisition refer to the grand inquistors portrayed in the classic Monty Python comedy skits. They are the redbirds who pop up out of nowhere to deal with heretics - which is anyone who questions or does not follow their religion, which is spelled out in the good book, which is comprised of the terms and conditions of the credit accounts. Since the terms and conditions are necessarily vague and typically allow changes at will, The Spanish Inquisition tends to pop up unexpectedly as in "Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition." The AMEX Spanish Inquisition is just one of many - every credit card issuer has its own staff charged with monitoring credit accounts. The Inquistion is made up of the fraud, loss prevention, audit, risk and compliance professionals. Their trinity is prevention of fraud, waste and abuse.

Several folks on FT are redbirds, BTW. I suspect one or two are bluebirds (law enforcement professionals) as that flock is on the look out for money laundering and fraud.

Originally Posted by Astrophsx

What the heck are you talking about?? These people have mentioned nothing about getting shut down by their credit card. "Cardinal Fang" and "Spanish Inquisition" are these your code words for American Express?