American Express pulls the plug on balance transfers

American Express is the first card issuer to pull out of the balance transfer market completely. From Monday 12th June applicants for any Amex card will no longer have the option of switching their existing plastic debts over to it.

American Express was offering low "life of balance" rates of between 4.9 and 6.9% until the entire debt was paid off, an alternative to the 0% rates for a limited period which are being offered by most of its competitors.

A spokesman for Amex said the company wanted to concentrate on customers who spend and remarked "we are focusing on attracting those who primarily want to take advantage of our reward schemes such as Nectar loyalty points and Money Back".