Consumer complaint received 2019-01-24
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
In XX/XX/2018 I applied for and was approved for an American Express Gold Card. I applied because I was offered XXXX bonus points once I spent {$2000.00} on the card. I also applied because the Cardmember agreement indicated that I would be able to directly place any charge that was over {$100.00} in a XXXX XXXX XXXX account. I also applied because one of thecardmember benefits was a {$100.00} annual airline add on fee ( such as luggage ) redemption credit offered. 
During my first month of card membership I specifically made purchases anticipating American Express would stand behind the promises it asserted in the agreement. American Express proved not to stand behind its promises, which caused me to default, which caused me to lose all of my points, caused a great amount of unexpected and unjustified fees, caused American Express to close my account and report derogatory remarks on my credit report ( credit report has already been disputed ) 1 ) I attempted numerous times to manage my XXXX XXXX XXXX account. To my dismay, each and every time I tried to access the XXXX XXXX XXXX feature on both the mobile and regular sites, a system error appeared. It turns out i was not not eligible. This was deceptive because the agreement did not explain to me that there would be a chance that I could potentially be ineligible for XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX is described as a feature of the card, not some special side program for separately qualified individuals. Several items were planned to be moved into XXXX XXXX XXXX, including several XXXX, XXXX, and Airline Ticket charges. At no time would any system allow me to pay any item over time, even though the user agreement clearly describes this feature. 
2 ) American Express never honored its promise to apply a {$100.00} credit for airline Add-ons. I specifically put this type of charge on this account anticipating a credit that was not received. 
3 ) The bonus points did appear on my statement after spending {$2000.00}, but were unfairly deleted before I could redeem them. Unfortunately, I was not able to pay the entire amount of the first or second bill because I was expecting to be able to pay all of the purchases I made for over {$100.00} Over an extended period of time as promised by American Express. Because I was unable to pay 100 % of my total balance, American Express charged a late fee, defaulted my account, reported derogatory remarks on my credit score, deleted all points before I could redeem anything, and worst of all, cancelled my account. 
Very upset with American Express, I requested a payment plan, and matters got even worse. I spoke to a representative on XX/XX/2018 and inquired about a payment program. She was very nice and explained how it worked. She signed me up and told me that Amex would consider reopening my account and reinstating the deleted points after I completed the payment plan. I had to make the first payment on that plan by midnight the same day or else my plan would be canceled. I agreed and called them back at around XXXX XXXX  to make the payment. The representative informed me that the Payment Plan department has already closed. Totally agitated, I asked to make a regular payment anyway in order to preserve my rights in consideration of the promise I made earlier that day to make a payment before midnight. The next day, despite the fact that I made the payment of {$100.00} as specifically instructed by the first representative, American Express decided not to apply it to my payment plan and instead cancel the payment plan, pretend I never had one in the first place, and worst of all, send a bad report to the credit bureau. A couple weeks later I had the money to pay off the entire balance. I called and made a payment on a XX/XX/XXXX for the full balance. Later that week I decided to call Amex to inquire about the huge amount of lost points and possible reinstatement if my account. Once I called, Amex refused to talk to me at all because my account had apparently gone to XXXX XXXX XXXX. I called XXXX XXXX XXXX and they informed me that Amex had placed my account in collections even though it had a XXXX  balance. XXXX  then informed me that they could not tell me anything about my account before it was sent over to them, even though Amex refused to talk to me at all. Finally I got in touch with a department in Amex I. Florida that could answer my questions. The representative very rudely informed me that I never had a payment plan and that it was my fault for making the {$100.00} payment as they informed me it would cause the payment plan to cancel. But I apparently never had a payment plan ... Anyway, I am thinking about suing American Express for false advertising, misrepresentations to consumer, theft, I dont know. Can CFPB help? Thank you very much for your time and help with this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation