Consumer complaint received 2020-08-31
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NV
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
A payment we were expecting to receive was delayed, which was going to cause my American Express bill to be paid late. I was aware of this situation, and wanted to be proactive. Many of the other credit accounts that I have both personally as well as for the business were eligible for some form of concessions from the banks. I reached out to American Express in the first couple of days of XXXX to make them aware of the situation and to ask them if they had any type of extension they could provide me. This is how I initially became aware of the payment relief program. 

In the first contact I had with American Express in early XXXX they informed me that though they were no longer offering any 30 day extensions ( which was really all I needed ) they offered both a short and long-term payment relief plan. They then filled me in on the details of this plan, but told me I could not enroll until three payments were returned to the bank. This was auto-pay attempting to collect the money, and every time it would be returned NSF it would then be reprocessed.l for a total of 3 attempts. The total time for the three payments to be rejected was about 1 week. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, right after the third payment was returned NSF, I called back in and asked about the elements of the payment relief program for clarification.The difference between the short-term and the long-term program was simply that the short-term program allowed you to continue to use your card whereas long-term program didn't. After being read the disclosure statements that outlined the the elements in the program shown below, I then enrolled. The enrollment was done on a call that occurred at XXXX p.m. and lasted 44 minutes 48 seconds. I was informed that the following elements of the payment relief program would be applied to my card upon enrolling during that call. This information is also available on their website at https : //www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/financial-relief.html * Your account would not go any further past due then where it is currently at ( since I was not 30 days past due at the time of enrolling, I would not be reported as past due ). 

* Under the short-term program, I would be able to continue to have use of any cards that were under the credit limit so long as I continued to make my payments under the program on time. 

XXXX There would be no late fees. 

XXXX The interest rate would be reduced on the gold and platinum card to 0.0 % APR, and on the blue business card and the XXXX business card to 5.99 % APR. 

XXXX There would be XXXX low monthly payment. 


Within days if enrolling in the program, I had issues with using the card because the system was erroneously showing that I was late. The situation continues to get worse as on XX/XX/XXXX I was reported late to the credit bureaus. they also had an extreme amount of confusion on their end as to whether or not auto-pay was active on my account, which resulted in multiple double payments on the due date in both XXXX and XXXX, and late fees were assessed on my Platinum account XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$250.00}, and XX/XX/XXXX for {$290.00}. A late fee was assessed on my blue business card on XX/XX/XXXX for {$39.00}. A late fee was assessed on my XXXX business account on XX/XX/XXXX for {$35.00} in spite of no late fees being an element of the program. 

I first became aware that they were reporting me as late to the credit bureaus on XX/XX/XXXX, though it could have been sooner on my business accounts. They assured me this would be resolved quickly and would not reported any further behind, but within 30 days it reported a 60 day late payment. 

I stressed all of these issues to representatives during phone calls, and in all of these calls they told me they were working on it, and would usually offer free time frame of either 48 hours or 7 to 10 days for these issues to be resolved. We're coming up on three months, and none of the issues are resolved. In addition to this, I continue to receive calls from American Express telling me I have missed payments. I tell them that all my payments under the plan have been made on time. Upon checking they agree with me, and tell me that they'll take care of the issue and that I shouldn't receive any more phone calls. Usually within a couple days after there's another phone call and it's the same thing over and over again. I have kept recordings of the phone calls, and have detailed summaries of each call. After enrolling on XX/XX/XXXX, I had a total of at least 24 phone calls on the following dates : XX/XX/XXXX for 8 minutes 51 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 1 minute 21 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 1 minute 8 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 5 minutes 57 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 30 minutes 00 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 12 minutes 29 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 37 minutes 38 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for XXXX minutes 29 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 34 minutes 19 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 1 hour 6 minutes 35 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 8 minutes 27 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 21 minutes 59 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for XXXX minutes 19 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 5 minutes 12 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 6 minutes 37 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 9 minutes 21 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 2 minutes 4 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 11 minutes 54 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 5 minutes 45 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 1 hour 8 minutes 53 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for XXXX seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 1 minute 59 seconds XX/XX/XXXX for XXXX minutes XXXX seconds XX/XX/XXXX for 2 minutes 00 seconds Again, after all of these communications, these issues remain unresolved. This is having a very significant impact on my ability to operate with regard to my finances. Very large loans are being held up as a result of this reporting to the credit bureaus, and a few days ago XXXX made the decision to close all of my accounts, and it would appear that it's entirely related to the erroneous reporting by American Express. 

American Express his had nearly three months to resolve these issues, and not a single one has been resolved to date. they consistently have missed their own self-imposed deadlines, and continue to contact me with unsolicited phone calls under the pretext that my account is behind, and after reviewing they realize that is in error, promise to fix the issue and stop the calls, and yet they continue. 

I have reached out to the credit bureaus in an attempt to get it resolved with them directly. They sent the dispute to American Express, and American Express sustained the late payment as accurate. When I have spoke with the representatives at American Express, they assure me this is in error and that it will be removed promptly. Of course that never happens. 

At this point, they are almost certainly in breach of contract contract, have intentionally inflicted emotional distress, caused of a vast amount of damage to existing credit relationships as well as my ability to borrow money both personally and through the business, and have likely violated my rights under the Fair credit reporting act. I need assistance, so I'm turning to the consumer financial protection bureau for help. At this point it's obvious to me further direct dialogue with them directly will not result in any solutions, and is a waste of time and energy. 




-XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief