AmEx Encourages Cardholders to Leave

snips

It used to be that credit-card companies lured customers with cash rewards. Now American Express Co. is paying to get rid of them. The card issuer is offering selected customers a $300 AmEx prepaid gift card if they pay off their balances and close their accounts.

(Sounds like a good deal to me.)

Selected members — the company wouldn’t disclose how many — began receiving letters with the voluntary offer earlier this month, according to Molly Faust, an American Express spokeswoman. “It’s a relatively small number of cardmembers who have sizeable balances and little spending and payment activity,” she says.

(Sounds like good a good business move to me.)

“The intention is to help cardholders lower their debt and encourage responsible management of their credit,” says Ms. Faust. It’s being promoted as a means for customers to “simplify their finances.”

(OK, sounds like BS to me. They are not doing this for the customer, they are doing it for thenselves.)

This story has been getting negative coverage. I understand that it means fewer people with available credit, but it sounds as though these are people that have racked up large bills, aren’t paying them off and aren’t using them anymore. From a business stand point it would seem to make sense to get these people off their lists. I don’t have a problem with it. Opinions?