American Express announced late February that they are offering $300 payments to a limited number of cardholders who agree to close their accounts; The new direct mail program, offers prepaid American Express gift cards valued at $300 for those that enroll and pay off their account in two months. AMEX said that the program is targeted at reducing the risk of future defaults. Gail Hillebrand from the Consumers Union says that the deal is positive in that it is allowing consumers a choice, and told NPR that “We’re seeing all kinds of cutbacks and harsher terms”, and that the deals are “designed to respond to the fact that the credit card industry pushed out too much debt to American consumers and too much credit availability, and now they’re trying to pull it back all at once”.