Consumer complaint received 2017-12-22
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: OH
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX of XXXX, we were officially enrolled in a debt management program administered by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX see attachment 1 ). 

Under the agreement, XXXX is authorized to withdraw XXXX once a month from our checking account to distribute to the credit card companies who agreed to the terms of the proposal made on our behalf by XXXX. 

For the most part, enrolling in the XXXX XXXX has been one of the best financial decisions we have ever made and after participating for just seven months we feel we are making real progress toward our goal of being debt-free within five years. 

However, we are experiencing an ongoing issue with one of the credit card companies, American Express, who since accepting the proposal from XXXX has treated us in a manner we would describe as unfair and unethical. 

We say that for the following reasons : 1. On several occasions last summer ( see attachments 3 & 4 ), I contacted the company in an attempt to request they remove the delinquent status. 

2. Despite efforts on my part with assistance from XXXX, American Express was non-responsive to my requests to remove the delinquent report and stop reporting me as late. 

3. I recently discovered as a result of being denied a loan for a replacement vehicle that American Express is now reporting the account as being charged off, which is both inaccurate and unduly punitive. 

This action not only negatively impacts our credit report for five years at minimum, it creates the false impression that we simply walked away from our debt to American Express. 

The basis for my request to the company that the negative information be removed, as well as this complaint, is the fact that at the time the company accepted the proposal from XXXX, my account with American Express was in good standing with a history of on time payments ( see attachment 5 ). 

Furthermore we contend that if not unlawful, it is at least unethical for American Express to report the account as being charged off while at the same time continuing to accept monthly payments from XXXX per the proposal agreement ( see attachments 6 12 ). 

Like our payments to American Express prior to enrolling in the XXXX XXXX, these payments have always been made on time. 

Lastly, in my final attempt at resolving the problem directly with the company, I tried to see if the Minimum Payment Due total could be broken up into smaller amounts to paid concurrently with the amount under management with XXXX. 

I never received any word as to the outcome of the reps promise to escalate the request inside the company. 

As an aside, this is a company with XXXX in their name but who employs customer service representatives who are located in XXXX. While the nationality of the companys agents is not a concern, many of these agents dealt with us in a dismissive manner and seemed to take pleasure in doing so. 

As a 30-year customer of this credit card company, it was disappointing to be treated so disrespectfully, particularly when we have acknowledged we incurred the debt and have committed ourselves to a five year plan to pay it off.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation