Consumer complaint received 2020-08-20
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NC
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 with American express for two years now and have never had any issues with processing transactions in the past, but it wasn't until this year that I started doing more business  on my amex cards and came across unnecessary obstacles such as multiple financial reviews, charging suspension privileges, and reduction of spending limits on my charge cards, and all of this happened because they claimed that I have never spent so much on these cards before so they suspected fraud. This issue began in XXXX of XXXX when I had attempted to pay for XXXX XXXX XXXX using my Platinum American Express Card which I had a XXXX pre-set limit for. American Express had blocked the transaction and placed a hold on all of my accounts including the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX instead of just placing a hold on the account in question. This incident forced me to call them to reconcile this which they told me the reason for the hold was because of suspected fraud so I had to verify my identity and the charges which I did so successfully, but when I tried processing the transactions again they locked my account a second time for same reason and I was forever caught in a loop of having to call to verify my identity as well as the charges in order to get my card unlocked. Now, mind you, I am using my amex cards for business to pay for XXXX XXXX XXXX and I have a XXXX dollar contract on the line so my music career is predicated on me paying the merchant for the booth time that I need. With that said, I am left with having to defend myself and explain to the merchant that American express is holding my cards up even after I've verified the transactions and emphasized what they are for. But apparently verifying my identity wasn't good enough so to add insult to injury American Express has all of sudden become interested in how much I make a year to see if my income can support the credit limits I have which brings me to complain about my most recent interaction with this discriminatory credit card company. I receive a call two days ago from an amex representative who states that I need to fill out a form that authorizes amex to obtain my tax transcripts from the year XXXX and if I refused to do so within the next two  weeks she threatened to close all of my accounts. Not to mention my accounts will be locked and charging privileges suspended. The reason for this, as I've mentioned already, she states, is because they need to know if my income can support my credit limit as well as my spending habits. Why would they haphazardly need to initiate a financial review when my account is in good standing while I am in the middle of working on a XXXX dollar contract with XXXX XXXX XXXX? Their need for a financial review, which has yet again obstructed my business and my music  career, is not warranted considering that I've verified the charges on my account, verified my identity, and that my account has been and still is in good standing. This just seems to be yet another attempt on American express to not only obstruct business and hyperpolice my account, but to discriminate against me on the basis that they believe I can't " afford '' to pay down the debt I've accrued. American express deserves any legal action that comes their way as their discriminatory practices have potentially cost me a XXXX dollar contract.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation