Amex introduced a limit on my charge card, should I cancel, transfer?

[max_k]

I had a platinium charge card for a while now, I was using it daily to collect points and once or twice a year for heavy spending when travelling. I am able to expense myself hotels/flights etc from my company and I usually would use personal amex then and expense it back to myself.

Last month I was travelling and amex out of nowhere made a limit of 3.4k on my card. They said to remove it I would need to show 10k income in the last 3 months, which I don’t want to as I am keeping most of my monies in my company, I don’t need that much for my personal spending so I don’t want to increase my tax bracket for no reason. I spend 10k+ maybe once or twice a year only.

Now I am kindof stuck with pretty bad card with 3.4k limit and fees of 650 which sounds like a bad deal and I have premier cards with much higher limits with no fees at all.

Should I downgrade my card? If so for which one? I don’t want british airways one as I don’t want to be stuck only to avios. Should I keep it? Doesn’t sound like a great deal anymore, but I worry they won’t give me this card ever again, I haven’t used launges this year much, but last year I was travelling for 8 months and I am planning big travel around the world (and USA) next year where all the amex lounges are… I can also probably pay myself those 10k for 3 months upfront next tax year I guess, but I am not sure it’s worth to sit with this card for a whole year.

[richo]

Take out a business AMEX gold for your business expenses. Keep the platinum charge card (if it has value to you) for your smaller personal expenses.

[Luca M]

@max_k Do they want to see £10k per months or £10k in total over 3 months (working out roughly £3300 per month, similar to the Barclays Premier pay in requirement)? You could pay yourself a dividend advance and/or from your Director Loan account, etc (your accountant will be able to tell you what works best), but ultimately Amex is right to want to check that you can cover the personal liability you open yourself up to when doing business expenses on a personal card.

I have an Amex relationship that goes back over 20 years and have held both personal and business cards, although most of my spend is on my BAPP card, from time to time I check my “spending power” on my Amex Platinum and last I check they would authorise a single transaction for £45k.

I was asked for income details a year or two ago, at the same time when many people reported about similar request from Amex on here and other site. They are obviously becoming more cautious, as the for the recent income requirement reports in the other post.

In any case, financial Institutions are usually familiar with the financial arrangements of business owners/directors and what that means with regards to minimise tax liabilities, but also you need to understand that you and your business are different legal entities (I am guessing we are talking about a LTD) and thus need to have separate financial arrangements.

As I have mentioned above, I would pay myself the required amount and try to retain the card with a useful “spending power” limit.