Consumer complaint received 2021-03-25
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Trouble using the card
Sub-issue: Problem using the card to withdraw money from an ATM

Complaint:
My wife and I filed XXXX taxes with XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX the customer representative who had filed our taxes had insisted on us using their XXXX XXXX prepaid American Express serve card to receive our tax refund on and any new stimulus money that the IRS may issue. We chose to use the card for that reason she gave us a temporary card at that time two weeks later we received in the mail a personalized card with my name on it, XXXX XXXX due to the fact I was the main tax filer. On XX/XX/XXXX the IRS had deposited {$3500.00} into the account and I was able to use it right away. I had spent around {$200.00} at XXXX that evening and withdrew {$500.00} at the ATM the next day. I chose to put the rest back in order to save for a vehicle I needed. On XX/XX/XXXX I tried logging into the account on the American Express serve app, it kept coming up with an error message saying it was the incorrect username or password which I knew for sure was not true, so immediately I called the number on the back of the card. After waiting on hold for several hours a customer service rep by the name of XXXX with ID number XXXX had informed me that due to a fraudulent deposit our account had been suspended we explained to her that no one had deposited anything on that account besides the IRS. I asked to speak with a supervisor, she connected us with a representative by the name of XXXX who said he was a supervisor with the fraud department his customer ID rep is XXXX he had informed me that due to the fact the IRS tried to deposit the other half of me and my wives stimulus onto that card in her name and not my name it was considered fraud, we explained to him the situation that we were issued that card from XXXX XXXX and as we filed our taxes jointly and both of our names should be on it because the tax refund and the stimulus is would be coming in both of our names he said there was nothing to worry about and that we should be receiving an email by Tuesday the XXXX stating that our account is unsuspended and we will be able to use our card again and log into our account. On Tuesday we did not receive an email and we were still unable to log into our account or use our card at any store or ATM. We tried contacting customer care again several times each time we were put on hold for several hours and told there was nothing they could do about it and then hang up on me, several times after asking for their name or ID number they would also hang up right away. I started doing some research and found the email to the executive office of American Express I emailed them my situation and what was going on with my account and how it was unfair and unjust for them to just freeze my account and not let us be able to get our money all because the IRS was depositing money onto the account from the stimulus. A day after emailing the executive office of American Express a woman by the name of XXXX XXXX had reached out to us and said she would handle the situation she gave me her phone number extension email and said she would have it figured out by Thursday and that they should have never done that and apologize for the situation. On Wednesday I tried calling Ms XXXX for an update several times she did not answer or respond. I then decided to call the customer service number again to see if maybe they had an update with my account and what was going on. After giving them my card number and social security number to verify my identity they told me that an account didn't exist with that information and then hung up on us. Thursday morning XXXX XXXX had called my personal cell phone just to inform me that she needed more time to look into it and that it could be 30 to 60 days before she had any kind of information on our situation and that basically I am not able to get any money until then and there was nothing that I could do about it. I asked her if she could just close the account and mail me a check for the amount that was already on the card that was deposited in my name because they had already sent back the check to the IRS that was in my wife 's and that I had every right to have access to my money off of that card she told me no.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief