The company is then acting on any such issues to thin the ranks of customers and reduce its exposure to risk at a time when credit card defaults have risen to record levels.
I put this theory to Desiree Fish, an AmEx spokeswoman. All she would say was that the company "is trying to manage its risk prudently."
She said she couldn't comment on Davis' account but insisted that "if we tell people that there's an action because of a delinquency in their credit file, it's because we've found a delinquency."
I asked about the reports I'd heard of AmEx customers being asked by the company to fax in their income tax returns. This couldn't be a legitimate request, right?
Wrong.
"In isolated cases, we will request that a card member provide us with additional information, including tax returns, in order to verify the spending capabilities of that card member," Fish said.
If a cardholder declines to share such info -- and who wouldn't? -- she said that person's card might be canceled or its use could be suspended until the balance was paid down.
"American Express is a brand you can trust," Fish said. "It's not like you're being asked to fax documents to an unknown number.
"In no way is this intended to offend anyone," she added.
And don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Food donations
I wrote last month about California caterers, hotels and restaurants throwing out roughly 1.5 million tons of food annually at a time when food banks and shelters are facing unprecedented demand for assistance from recession-hit people.
I noted that state Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) was crafting legislation intended to address this sad statistic, but appeared to be scaling back her efforts amid fierce resistance from the California Restaurant Assn.
Well, I'm glad to report that Oropeza has beefed up her bill -- a bit. The legislation, SB 35, still focuses primarily on creating a database that would provide food businesses and their clients with resources for donating leftovers to charity.
But now it also includes language requiring caterers and others to inform clients about the existence of the database. That's a pretty measly improvement, but it is a step in the right direction.
Mandatory discussion of the database might at least get some people thinking about what to do with leftovers instead of allowing them to end up in a dumpster.
