Some years ago, when I was a consultant working and traveling professionally, my wife signed us up for an AMEX card, believing their "no credit limit" ads.

I used a company MC for work-related travel, and while working 60 hours a week I did damned little travel for recreation.

When the last big contract ended, we went to FL to stay with my parents, planning to be there for several weeks. As a result of being on vacation, my "spending patterns" changed. I had a discussion with an arrogant AMEX representative not long after we arrived in FL.

He asked for my bank account numbers, and I told him he must be joking! As a compromise, I referred him to my broker, who could reassure him that we could afford to pay our card bills in full after we returned home.

One fun thing we did was charter a sailing yacht in the Virgin Islands for a week. With everything included in one fee, it was a reasonable vacation trip, with my wife, my Dad, and me.

When we arrived at the hotel on St. Thomas the night before the cruise started, my AMEX card was dead! That sleazy monster had talked to my broker, and then closed the card down!

Fortunately we had plenty of other resources, and enjoyed the trip just fine. When we returned to the US, I called AMEX and raised hell, and closed our account, after demanding to know the current balance so I could pay in full and shut them down.

I sent along a check for several hundred dollars, along with a hot letter to the VP who eventually got the assignment of calming us down.

Imagine my anger when I got an AMEX bill the next month! They had taken the first $80 or $100 of the final payment in full and applied it to their annual fee! Then they had to gall to add late payment charges to the bill!!!

I wouldn't do business with American Express if they were giving away shares of Berkshire-Hathaway for a dollar! Their "no credit limit" guarantee is used to deny you credit long before any other CC company would even ask about your ability to repay.

They treated my father in a similar shoddy way just as he and Mom left for a round-the-world cruise on the QEII, and wanted him to pay late fees for a card he didn't even take possession of for months of cruising!?