Credit card companies have no doubt spent billions of dollars on advertising in order to get their credit card in a consumer’s wallet or purse. As a result, they have collected billions of dollars in payments from consumers on credit card balances and debt. Surprisingly, one credit card company decided to return some of that money to its cardholders this week. Only this time, rather than cash back rebates, frequent flier miles, or a no interest balance transfer to increase their use of plastic, they did so to get them to stop reaching for their credit card of choice.

Select American Express credit card holders will receive $300 to pay off the remaining balance on their American Express card by April 30th and close their account.

If you go back a few years and start reading articles on how to act responsibly with your credit, you’ll see similar advice as what you see today:

Pay off your card every month.

If you carry a balance, make additional payments on the credit card with the highest interest rate first.

Make more than the minimum payment [...]

In a poll conducted in April and May of 2008, American consumers ranked American Express, the fourth largest American credit card issuer, highest in consumer satisfaction for the second year in a row according to J.D. Power and Associates.
While it may be a bit early to start placing bets on the outcome of the J.D. [...]

The Democratic Convention is slated to begin this week in Denver and I’m already disappointed about Democratic Presidential Nominee Senator Barack Obama’s choice for his Vice Presidential Candidate - Senator Joseph (Joe) Biden from Delaware.
Delaware is the state of incorporation for most large corporations in the United States because of the perception (whether real or [...]

It hasn’t been a particularly good month to be a credit card company or a credit card processor.

American Express - Moody’s announced on Thursday that it is reevaluating American Express’ rating because of concerns over its credit card business and lending exposure.  (Details are in Reuters).  Moody’s cited a number of factors in the press [...]

The Wall Street Journal reported that American Express is giving up on efforts to attract a younger audience with its specialty credit card line for the young and affluent, in:nyc.  Read more.

Although many are concerned that high credit card debt levels will spark a new consumer debt crisis (read more in this CNBC article), American Express (the largest credit card lender in 2007 by total purchases and cash advances) announced that it expects its earnings per share to grow 4 to 6 percent on the strength [...]