Don’t Leave Home . . .

Anyone who carries a charge card will take comfort in knowing that credit companies sometimes get socked with whopping bills too. For the American Express Company, makers of the popular green, gold and platinum cards, the latest numbers aren’t pretty: $205 million in third-quarter losses. The red ink was the result of large-scale job reductions, severance payouts and other cuts caused by the recession. But contributing to the poor performance was a distinct drop in card use by American travelers, short on cash and intimidated by the high cost of travel abroad.