Can't believe they could be bothered to threaten over this 'joke.' I have had a gold card since 1982 and when in Australia in 2000 I attempted to buy a $7,000AU (approximately $7,000 Canadian) car with my AMEX card. I was denied because it was outside my spending pattern and I had been late paying in October...$1,600 (I mistakenly filed bill without paying but paid in full on next invoice over $4,000 and paid December before leaving for Australia before the bill statement had been posted). I have been late, but always pay in full. I got the mumble jumble about outside my usual spending patterns (I had $30,000 in an AMEX savings account and when they learned that, they were going to use it as collateral, but couldn't access my account number). I ended up paying cash and using MasterCard to make up the difference...MasterCard was great! Meanwhile the saga continues with me writing 3 letters to them and them finally offering me a free year on the card fees and 10,000 points...11,000 points gets me a toaster. The screw-up with AMEX cost 7 days sitting at my friends home hundereds of miles away and then backtracking to the dealer to complete the car transaction. Next time I leave home, it will be WITHOUT my AMEX card...it will be replaced with a Visa card.