American Express must have been influenced by the Cash4Gold commercial during the Super Bowl. AMEX announced that they are offering card holders $300 to pay off their balance and close their accounts. Cash is king these days, and they are offering a prepaid card (AMEX gift card) if users pay off their account balances between March and April.

Talk about doing a 180. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t get an offer in the mail that rewarded me to open an account, not close it. Apparently credit card companies are seeing a dramatic increase in deliquent payments as the recession starts to hit the wallets and purses of the American family. The hope is that they can get rid of these potential problems by bribing them in the exact same way they got them as customers!

I have an AMEX and it is my main credit card. I have the Blue Cashback which gives me a lot of flexibility around what I want my rewards to go to. I however do not carry a balance or have the Gold/Platinum/Black/Adamantium card that AMEX is looking to close. Anyone get a letter from American Express looking to cancel your account for cold hard cash? Are you going to do it? Would you do it?