Consumer complaint received 2018-02-05
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: MI
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
I was contacted by an American Express supervisor who, despite being aware of my financial hardship and current situation, continued to press me to make payment arrangements on my past due account. Payments were set up to be deducted via ACH from my XXXX Checking Account. 

A few days after setting up the arrangement I consulted with a debt relief company who advised me to contact American Express on their recorded line and tell them that I revoked authorization for the payment arrangement and I stated that I was aware that I was on a recorded line and restated that American Express did not have permission to deduct from my account any amounts whatsoever. The first call was on XX/XX/XXXX and then a subsequent contact was made on their website via chat with a representative. I spoke to multiple representatives on XX/XX/XXXX including supervisors and to each one of them I revoked my permission for the previously authorized transaction. Because I was being pressured to make some other type of arrangements I kept stating that the permission was revoked for the transaction and that I was aware of the requirement of recorded calls. The debt relief company worked with me and said they would assist in consolidating and paying down some of my debt, and instructed me to contact American Express and state that permissions were revoked. I contacted my bank and told them the same thing that I revoked authorization. Then I submitted an ACH dispute form to my bank as well for the transaction. In reviewing my checking account on XX/XX/XXXX I noticed there was multiple charges on my account for overdraft fees as well as the {$91.00} payments that were drafted anyway from my account. Now i'm being told by the bank that I need to dispute the charge with American Express and that the fees assessed to my account were appropriate even though I revoked my permission. This is unfair to the consumer because I'm truly undergoing a hardship right now and am trying to take the appropriate remedial actions however the bank and credit card company don't want to take accountability or return the funds and I would have to pay an additional {$32.00} fee for a stop payment on the check but I've already been assessed {$86.00} in fees ( {$32.00} of which was refunded as a " courtesy '' ) on top of the unauthorized {$91.00} charge that hit my account on both occasions despite my revoking authorization. These institutions are supposed to be regulated so that they do not prey on people like this and I don't think its fair that I'm trying to work to consolidate my debt responsibly but in doing so I've incurred more debt and more fees and nobody wants to help me but rather just point the finger at someone else. Well I didn't have any more control over my own money because unfortunately I have to use a bank and they basically told me I was out of luck as far as trying to remedy the situation. Now I'm out the two {$91.00} amounts on top of the 3 {$32.00} fees I was hit with both times they tried to pull the funds which ends up being {$190.00} in fees for two transactions that weren't supposed to post to m y account anyway in an amount that was less than the total fees I've been assessed. Between this and the interest and fees from American Express I'm not sure if I'll ever see my money which I've worked very hard for and have to support a family with.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation