Everybody is hurting in these rough economic times. Now, one of the most respected names in the credit card industry is doing their best to remain viable in a tough situation. The latest headlines include American Express significantly reducing advertising, lowering credit limits, increasing APR's, and the outright canceling of some people's cards.

First there is this story at Consumerist.com that details the plight of one man who's Platinum American Express was inexplicably cut-off for no reason. He had been making charges for his new business, always paying on time, and then one day it suddenly became unusable. When the cardholder called in to inquire why his card had been declined he was told that he would have to show his tax returns to American Express before they reactivated the account. He did just that and was told that it would "be three to five days before we can get back to you with an answer". This while he was stranded 3,000 miles from home. And this is a card that has a $450 annual fee!

Or how about American Express punishing you for where you shop? Take this story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for example:

29-year old black entrepreneur Kevin Johnson, who has a perfect payment history and a high credit score, recently got a letter from AMEX cutting his credit limit. The letter said, "Other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped have a poor repayment history with American Express." Kevin couldn't tell what set it off, his statement had what he saw as normal transactions, including places like Amazon, Ruby Tuesday, WalMart, Starbucks and Federal Express.

 Lesson: watch where you shop!

These are just a few examples of the measures that American Express (and other card issuers) have been taking in this turbulent market. In some situations there may be no way to escape card issuer penalties, but if you want to try and evade them a good practice seems to be paying off your balance in full every month.