I'm thinking we should not complain. It's a wonder that we can use a credit card in the first place.

Having charges rejected, especially automatic ones is not pleasant, especially when there is in actuality more than 4K remaining on a credit card. There really is no excuse for it. I really don't think complaining about it is going to make anyone decide to no longer allow the use of AMEX.

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DtG

You might try calling them again.Amex seems to have a lot of poorly trained CSR.They seem to have a different line of BS for each person when it comes to savings bond.Last year Amex told a guy you could only buy 5K of bonds every 7 days.If you get lucky someone will understand & get your the credit you should have restored.If the situation is as you were told I wouldn't have been able to get my account credit restored with a simple phone call.I wish I had got her name,she has been the only somewhat competent person I have ever spoken to at AMEX !

I just called Starwood AMEX - the CSR tells me that the I-Bond purchases would be coded as cash advances, and wouldn't authorize me to purchase more than my cash advance limit.

This doesn't seem right, given this discussion thread. Is the info. in this thread still correct, i.e. these purchases are not cash advances and the limit is the Amex credit limit or $30K per person/per year?

Here's a link to the government's website which addresses this issue.

http://www.savingsbonds.gov/sav/sbdfaq.htm

Look at the fourth question:

Q:Is this considered a merchandise purchase or a cash advance?
A: Your savings bond purchase is treated as a merchandise purchase. It is not a cash advance.

Maybe you could forward this link to the ignorant AMEX rep.

My AMEX card also gave me problems. I called and explained to "Amy," that I was was cut off after buying three $1000.00 bonds
and needed to buy more. She said, "you were cut off because it's a computer and NOT in human hands. Just what do you expect me to do about it?" She went on to say, "You got to admit it's pretty unusual for anybody to buy that many bonds online." I became extremely annoyed and asked for a supervisor as "Amy" began to get quite nasty. I'm tempted to write a letter to AMEX and enclose a printout of this message thread.

dgordon: I went through the same exact thing you did. I too, had tried to "prepay" to extend my buying power and found out I couldn't do it either. But this had nothing to do with the problem I encountered with "Amy."




[This message has been edited by Neal (edited 04-23-2002).]

As an ex-AMEX employee, I can tell you most of the problems can be avoided by calling ahead and telling the CSR you are planning a large purchase. The ones that don't have any problems thus far probably have large or unusual spending patterns, and the computer doesn't flag their purchase as a potential stolen card. If you think about it, multiple purchases for $1000 even, all in a span of a few minutes, tends to look suspicious. Second point is that while AMEX has no pre-set spending limit, in reality, it is based on your ability to pay. An extremely large purchase immediately after your cut (billing) date can be a warning sign for people planning to skip out or go into a financial crisis (CCC or bankruptcy).

American Express Optima will not allow you to exceed your monthly credit limit even if you pay off the balance mid-month. Why? I don't know.

Actually, I did call ahead the first time I bought bonds. I was told I may still possibly have trouble and did once again. So after that fiasco, it didn't seem worth the trouble to call again a second time, especially when I wasn't buying very many bonds.

FWIW, the savings bond website recently raised the transaction limit to $5,000. So instead of having to make five separate $1,000 bond purchases, re-entering all your information each time, you can do it in one go (for example, one $5,000 bond or five $1,000 bonds).

See bottom left corner here:

https://wwws3.publicdebt.treas.gov/s...=78&button.y=8

I don't know if this change will help anyone who is running up against the Amex or Optima limits. The first time I purchased savings bonds online using my new Starwood Amex/Optima, I was only able to do $2,000 worth (two $1,000 bonds -- before the bond website limit was raised), and then my credit card was declined for the next $1,000 bond. In subsequent weeks, however, I was able to do larger bond purchases. Nothing to do with my total credit limit, but possibly to do with the fact that the card was newly issued.

Kathy

I hated that AMEX wouldn't let you pay off the balance and then continue charging. VISA and MC both allow you to do this and I have on many occasions charged well beyond my stated credit limit (you never know when a relative who is planning a LARGER cash puchase will accept your kind offer to put the purchase on your credit card and give them a few extra days to reimburse you with the cash. )

Wrong thread...sorry

[This message has been edited by afang (edited 07-07-2002).]

Why purchase I Bonds over EE?

My understanding is that the AMEX limit is $30K in face value per person per year, and the per person limit applies to the named bond holder, so a family of 4 would have a $120,000 face value limit or $60,000 cash purchase limit?

Can Visa or MC be used for purchases too?

nologic - the answer to the question of why purchase I over EE is one that's somewhat difficult to answer. I bonds are inflation protected bonds, whereas EE are standard bonds which pay a rate of interest linked to current market rates.
Having said that, one reason to purchase I bonds is that the annual purchase limit per person (imposed by the US govt - not by AMEX, as your post suggests) is 30K. EE bonds, which are purchased at the discounted face value have an annual purchase limit of 15K per person.

So, if you only want to buy one series of bonds, you can purchase more I bonds than EE, but that's relatively inconsequential. In addition, you can purchase both series if you wish.
And, yes you can use MC/Visa as well....again, this is something determined by the govt. Best wishes.

Got it...thanx...

I understand these rates are exempt from state taxes and accumulate exem[pt from Federal taxes (although taxable upon withdrawal), so the effective after tax yield is somewhat higher than the stated rate.