First post on FT Amex.

I activated my Amex Gold card today and wished to book an airline ticket that I have been holding off from booking because I wanted to put it on the new Gold and Platinum charge cards to meet the minimum spending threshold in order to receive the bonus reward points.

Having read in some of the forums that people called in to Amex prior to making a big ticket purchase, I did same because it is a new card and I can understand if the credit algorithm would disallow my ~$4,000 purchase given it would be the first transaction and there is no history for the card to determine a "base." The Amex representative advised me that I would not even be allowed to make a $1,000 purchase given that it is a new card. My response was . I asked her I understand the algorithm and the way the credit department conducts their analysis on debt servicing, but really, Amex approved Gold and Platinum based on my FICO and other information, so one would think the system would start with some sort of starting point for a new customer without any history with Amex.

Needless to say, my excitement with using my Amex cards quickly subsided. Has anyone experienced this in the past? I am not discontent with their credit algorithms on charge cards on the "soft limits" given such makes sense that one should not spend more than their repayment ability as it is a charge card, but rather the initial spending on the cards.