Consumer complaint received 2017-05-05
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Can't use card to make purchases

Complaint:
I have been an  American Express Gold Cardcustome  r  since   XXXX  , same card that I pay an annual fee to maintain. This is my main card which I have used to pay for everything in my life, many automatic payments including my   XXXX   XXXX    that delivers my suppliment, my mail order pharmacy. Last several months I have different spending history and payment history since I am dealing with some unexpected healthcare issues. I have paid my  XXXX  and have excellent record with them. In the pas t 10-12yrs ago,  when I did  miss one payment I just had a fine and interest to pay   into the next month and that I what I thought might happen now. Remember   XXXX   card, I never changed anything and I have n't applied for a new credit card i n 14yrs.    I had all of a sudden my card blocked from usage around  XXXX   XXXX , because I missed making last payment and had scheduled for next automatic payment for  XXXX   XXXX . I had scheduled for an automatic payment for many things in my life that just stopped.  XXXX  when called said because they see a change in my spending patternd   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX    yeh, there is I am in the middle of healthcare crisis, so I am not spending money on vacations or things..but on healthcare, medicine ... etc. They had the gall to tell me this is a system generated process and I have to pay to get that off. In the mean time because I have n't had any recent credit cards or other cards that I can use I had to wait for me to get to the medicine and supplements that I needed. I have several other accounts including my gym membership being cancelled. All because  XXXX  put in a policy or decided to act newly on something old ( was n't there in   XXXX   or they did n't do this to me in  XXXX  when I skipped a month because I was waiting for my tuition reimbursement from job to comethrough to pay off my tuition ). The new policy being they monitor patterns and history. I am not sure if they asked me how far back they should look at my history or if I agree to their new policy since I do work in AI and  XXXX , my history will always be masked in a way that you can not understand me as a consumer. The general and unapproved/unagreed, unconsented actions by  XXXX  on a contract that existed since   XXXX   caused undue harm and hardship to me, my life. Just to move my life forward, I am paying the full amount but I will make sure to transition out of this particular situation. What is there to protect someone like me? I kept  XXXX  as my primary card because of the flexibility they offer and I had paid their annual fee since   XXXX   to present. What a mistake. What a breach in contract and trying to fleece you. Their policy should be looked at and made to adapt their algorithm to allow for people 's life events, crisis events that can change pattens ... like what happned to me and not get punished and really get damaged like me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation