Consumer complaint received 2019-09-12
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card

Complaint:
I Have a prepaid card that I obtained at a store, The purpose of the car was to have somewhere to receive my direct deposit from my employer and use the funds to pay for my bills and everyday expenses. I have never had an issue like this before with any company where I felt such incompetence and lack of information is provided to its consumers. The reason as to why I did not have a debit card was because I did not want the high monthly fees for a bank account but in this very moment i am infuriated with how American Express Serve handles the protection to its consumers and its ability to solve Fraudulent concerns. With American Express Serve prepaid card, anywhere I try to use the card, it must be processed as credit and credit only, it is like their debit function does not work. This provides enough evidence to prove that I do not provide my pin information ANYWHERE, I cant, the card does not even function as a debit card. I do not use my card everyday, therefore I do not feel the need to check my balance everyday. I only check this account when I want to insure that my direct deposit money went into the account or when i have made a payment or processed a payment at a store. On Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX I received my direct deposit email notification, I proceed to check my Bank account Balance and I see that I did not have the money that I was expecting to have, I immediately check my transaction history and see that there were THREE ATM withdrawals and FEES for these withdrawals. In that very moment I call the card company and inform them that these withdrawals were not done by me and that it is clearly a Fraud. I ask them to give me locations of where this money was withdrawn and they were not able to provide me this information. I then proceeded to ask how this money was taken out when A. The card was in my possession at all times, B. no one has access to my card because I live on my own and C. They needed my ATM Pin number in order to withdraw the Money. which is impossible for me to have provided to anyone or anywhere due to the fact that the card only slides as credit everywhere I go.The representative was not able to provide a response to how this money could have been taken. The first Transaction was Taken on XX/XX/XXXX with money taken out of a total of {$500.00} dollars, which is weird because banks only allow you to withdraw money in whole numbers and bills of {$20.00}. The second Transaction was right after of {$200.00}. Again not in whole numbers. The next transaction took place on XX/XX/XXXX for a total amount of {$700.00} again not a whole number. I was told I would receive a declaration of fraud email with some documents that I had to fill out, I filled this out and submitted this on XX/XX/XXXX. They proceeded to send me another card in the meantime but I had to pay {$20.00} in order to get this expedited because I Had bills that needed to be paid during that week. I couldn't believe the fact that she charged me this much even after the Fraud claim. After submitting the document that Friday XX/XX/XXXX I called the company again to inform them that I submitted this and ask them for an explanation as to why they were not able to provide me with the location of where the ATM money was taken out from. What bank or card does not have such tracking information?! They said that they were only able to find one location the one where the money was taken out back to back on XX/XX/XXXX, that it was at a XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXXXXXX. and XXXX XXXX., that the only information they have of the ATM withdrawal on XX/XX/XXXX was that it was in XXXX. It is crazy that they could not provide details. I filed a police report online and I will be heading to the police station this week to find out if they have any updates. I get a response today on XX/XX/XXXX that they have closed my Fraud claim and that my the credit of my money was not approved. I was so upset and i called them again and they say that all that they can do is re-open the case, have me do the same procedure, get a deceleration of fraud claim in two business day in my email, fill this out, send it back and they will notify me again withing 10 business days about a response for the credit. I feel like it is a joke to go through the same process, it feels like they did not investigate properly, I informed them that i will file a complaint against their card company and that I have video footage that during the times they provided me with of when the money was taken out I was at work, my bag was with me, my card was with me and I was there from XXXX XXXX. till XXXX XXXX therefore there was evidence that I did not withdraw that money. I have the evidence for whenever they or you need it but i need to get my money back. It was for a total of over {$1400.00} and as a XXXX XXXX XXXX and full time worker this is not money that comes to me easily. That is two weeks of hard work that i put into and i need this resolved.I read reviews from this company in regards to how they handle fraud claims right after I filed this complaint and I have read about multiple consumers upset about how they were not able to get their money back from this company. I read the company 's terms and we should be protected from fraud unless they have false advertised this which I am willing to begin a battle with them about.I sent a second deceleration of fraud of XX/XX/XXXX and they responded the same way, they just denied the request and closed the inquiry.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation