Firing Unwanted Customers

As if layoffs were not a slap hard enough on an employee's face, banks have figured out a way to fire customers who are not worth the pain for them. Take American Express for example, which has devised a way to fire unwanted customers. It is sending offers via email to a specified set of customers to pay off their account in full and receive a $300 credit, post which their accounts would be settled and closed. Who are these customers? Surprisingly enough, these are not the ones who default on payments and have their credit line exhausted and pile up month over month of credit charges and fees. These are the customers who always pay in full within the credit period, never default, do not use the full credit line, look for the teller to check their balance rather than using the ATM and rarely use an add on service that accrues charges. In other words, these are the customers who make very little money for the bank in terms of default and finance charges, late fee etc.

I find it alarming that a bank would willingly let go of responsible customers but then again in the current scenario, banks such as American Express are sending a clear cut message to their customers, "Make us money, or get lost". No longer is carrying an American Express credit card a statement in itself 'cause now the bank decides whether you are a worthy customer or not even though you might have a great FICO score.