Amex in trouble.

[Park Life 71]

AmEx asks U.S. for $3.5 billion: WSJ

Day after converting to bank-holding company, credit card giant looks for government help

 

By Sam Mamudi, MarketWatch

Last update: 8:49 a.m. EST Nov. 12, 2008Comments: 66

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- American Express Co. is the latest company to seek U.S. government help to steer it through the financial crisis, according to a story Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reported that AmEx (AXP:18.69, +1.46, +8.5%) is asking for $3.5 billion in taxpayer-funded capital. The paper quoted people familiar with the situation. There has been no official comment from AmEx.

The application has been made under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), though the Journal said it isn't clear if the request was made before or after AmEx received Federal Reserve approval on Monday to become a bank-holding company.

By becoming a holding company, AmEx made itself eligible to access the Federal Reserve's emergency-lending facilities -- but it will now also be subject to greater regulatory oversight. See full story

The request comes as AmEx struggles with slowing consumer spending -- even among its most affluent customers -- and rising defaults. This hits AmEx particularly hard because its business model revolves around consumers using their credit cards.

 

 

 

 

I put this up cause some Americans are having it refused in Europe and having to go through 'verification' 2/3 times before payment is accepted.

Edited November 24, 2008 by Park Life

[Guest alex]

"This hits AmEx particularly hard because its business model revolves around consumers using their credit cards."

Never.

[ewerk 31603]

Reminds me that I owe them a lot of money in about 3 days.

[Park Life 71]

Reminds me that I owe them a lot of money in about 3 days.

 

Sit tight. If they go you won't owe them anything.

[ewerk 31603]

Reminds me that I owe them a lot of money in about 3 days.

 

Sit tight. If they go you won't owe them anything.

 

Reminds me of the morons who reckoned that if Northern Rock went bust then they would own their house outright with no mortgage.

[Fop 1]

Reminds me that I owe them a lot of money in about 3 days.

 

Sit tight. If they go you won't owe them anything.

 

 

Aye, you'll owe Obama, and he's not one to let debts slide.

 

[Meenzer 15872]

I put this up cause some Americans are having it refused in Europe and having to go through 'verification' 2/3 times before payment is accepted.

AmEx customers have always been second-class citizens in Europe, mind. There's tons of shops in Germany that (reluctantly) take most major credit cards, but not AmEx.

[Park Life 71]

Reminds me that I owe them a lot of money in about 3 days.

 

Sit tight. If they go you won't owe them anything.

 

Reminds me of the morons who reckoned that if Northern Rock went bust then they would own their house outright with no mortgage.

[Guest alex]

I put this up cause some Americans are having it refused in Europe and having to go through 'verification' 2/3 times before payment is accepted.

AmEx customers have always been second-class citizens in Europe, mind. There's tons of shops in Germany that (reluctantly) take most major credit cards, but not AmEx.

Enough to make you want to join the BNP tbh.

[Meenzer 15872]

I put this up cause some Americans are having it refused in Europe and having to go through 'verification' 2/3 times before payment is accepted.

AmEx customers have always been second-class citizens in Europe, mind. There's tons of shops in Germany that (reluctantly) take most major credit cards, but not AmEx.

Enough to make you want to join the BNP tbh.

(insert pun about Banque Nationale de Paris here)

[Guest alex]

I put this up cause some Americans are having it refused in Europe and having to go through 'verification' 2/3 times before payment is accepted.

AmEx customers have always been second-class citizens in Europe, mind. There's tons of shops in Germany that (reluctantly) take most major credit cards, but not AmEx.

Enough to make you want to join the BNP tbh.

(insert pun about Banque Nationale de Paris here)

Very good.

[Park Life 71]

I put this up cause some Americans are having it refused in Europe and having to go through 'verification' 2/3 times before payment is accepted.

AmEx customers have always been second-class citizens in Europe, mind. There's tons of shops in Germany that (reluctantly) take most major credit cards, but not AmEx.

Enough to make you want to join the BNP tbh.

(insert pun about Banque Nationale de Paris here)

 

No good. Bankrupt as well apparently.

[Meenzer 15872]

That was going to be the crux of the pun. But it really wasn't worth the effort. And now I've spent more time talking about why I didn't bother with the punnage than it would have taken me to actually make the pun. Gaah.

[Zathras 296]

$3.5BB? Peanuts in the grand scheme of what has been given out recently. I say they can have it. Just rummage around through Hank Paulsen's couch cushions....

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

I put this up cause some Americans are having it refused in Europe and having to go through 'verification' 2/3 times before payment is accepted.

AmEx customers have always been second-class citizens in Europe, mind. There's tons of shops in Germany that (reluctantly) take most major credit cards, but not AmEx.

That's because Mastercard and Visa stitched them up.

 

I've got an Amex Blue Card. I like it for two reasons. Number one, you get cash back on what you've spent at the end of the year. And number two, it's clear

 

Don't think they issue them anymore though so I don't know what'll happen when it expires.

[Rob W 0]

the only reason for having an AMEX card is that it can work in places that others don't

 

I know a guy who got a 15 man team out of Chad on his AMEX card when, once again, management had screwed up and the Bad Guys were at the gates (again)

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

the only reason for having an AMEX card is that it can work in places that others don't

 

I know a guy who got a 15 man team out of Chad on his AMEX card when, once again, management had screwed up and the Bad Guys were at the gates (again)

Are you a mercenary Rob?