Profiling credit card holders? Being charged for not seeing a doctor?

[question everything]

These stories are from the AARP Bulletin and I don't know how to find them online:

First story, an AMEX Platinum card holder who has been paying on time and reduced his balance by $15,000 since 2007. However AMEX last spring reduced his limit to $500 above his balance.

Why? Based on AMEX experience with others who shop where he used his card and also with others with the same mortgage provider.

Second story, a woman who broke her leg and limped into the ER of Parkland Memorial at Dallas. She waited 19 hours and finally left in disgust after never been seen by a doctor.

Two weeks she got a bill for $162. For what? A nurse took her temp. and blood pressure and inquired about her level of pain.

After media pressure Parkland relented, saying that in the future they will charge patients only after they've received treatment.

[nuxvomica]

1. If they are going to do this sort of thing, they should at least...

...publish the data from which they are making these decisions. Then we could really see free market forces at work as customers switch from Retailer A to Retailer B so that they can create a better profile. By Amex's reasoning that switch should automatically make them better credit risks by some sort of magic.

edit:
link: http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/personalfinance/articles/another_twist_to_the_credit_crunch.html

[question everything]

2. Thanks for the link

I still cannot find it on my own, nor the second story..

[MadMaddie]

3. I agree with you

I think they have to go after the 3 organizations that control every Americans destiny - Transunion, Equifax and (can't remember the 3rd).

These companies are for profit companies and they have secret forumulas that are considered trade secrets.

I have always felt that the Credit Bureaus are a big scam and need to be investigated. They will destroy your credit by careless mistakes in a minute, but for a consumer to try to get those mistakes the consumer has to spend $$$ and months to even years trying to get their credit rating cleaned up.

[Old Codger]

4. Amex

I had one for years, then out of nowhere they just canceled it, no explanation nothing, I had always paid on time never late ever...Never again

[question everything]

5. One of the problems is that as financial institutions merge and aquire each other

your credit card ends up being moved around.

I keep getting offers from WaMu for credit cards, except... in several months it will be part of Chase and I already have a Chase card.

[Old Codger]

6. Funny

I have 2 chase cards one business card and one private , after I received my cards I kept getting offers from chase, sometimes as many as 3 - 4 a day, I finally had to call them and ask that they please quit sending the offers as I already had 2 of their cards and didn't really need any more. The deal with Amex dumping my card was several years ago long before the current "crisis" hit.

(On edit) I have to correct that, I have 3 chase accounts as I have one that was with another bank and it was "acquired" by chase.

[question everything]

7. I took Chase at their offer

of using it at 3.99% until the loan is paid and used it to pay for the siding on the house last year - a job of $20,000. Cheaper than any home equity loan, even after factoring in the tax benefit of a home equity loan.

Of course, the account was empty and once I used it, put the card in the drawer.