Consumer complaint received 2023-04-10
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: WA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you in a state where you do not live or did not sign for the debt

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX XXXX  is pursuing me legally out of state after I have already coordinated a settlement payment with their organization ( for a previous account back in XXXX and for the account they are suing me for in XXXX in XXXX, and I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX. 

To give the full scope of the situation, my unfortunate circumstance starts in XXXX. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX first sued me in XXXX XXXX in XXXX for debt owed to American Express. At that time, I was currently working with a XXXX XXXX XXXX called National XXXX XXXX. I worked with XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX thru XXXX and they settled 0 of my debt and I cut ties with them so I could work with XXXX XXXX XXXX and other creditors directly, and coordinated monthly payments to resolve my debt with American Express through XXXX XXXX XXXX in fall of XXXX. I have successfully paid off several accounts now with different creditors, slowly making things right, which I am proud of that progress. 

When I was setting up my payments with XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, they let me know that there was a second American Express account that they were also pursuing collections for. I told them that I could only afford the one monthly payment, and I was told they would reach out to me after my payments were completed for the first account to schedule payments for the second account. 

I completed my payments, and made good on the debt owed on the first account in fall of XXXX. 

My mother, who XXXX XXXX XXXX, received a letter last week in the mail with information tied to a recent filing ( XXXX ) from XXXX XXXX XXXX against me. She thought it was a scam. For color, I was XXXX XXXX XXXX, but I moved out of the state in XXXX. I XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

When she sent me a photo of the letter ( it was a marketing letter from another law firm offering to represent me in the case ) I immediately called XXXX XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX and set up a settlement payment for the second account. I explained to them how upset I was that they never reached out to schedule payments for the second account and instead sued me, and in addition to taking unnecessary legal action against me, they sued me in a state that I haven't lived in for nearly a decade. I wanted to coordinate a lump sum payment, but instead set up monthly payments ( with the first payment already debiting on XXXX for {$600.00} ) until I was able to secure a settlement amount. 

I called XXXX XXXX XXXX this morning with my lump sum settlement offer and they accepted. No more than 20 minutes later, my mother ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ), was served legal documents today XX/XX/XXXX in XXXX regarding this issue. The person who was serving my mother the legal documents directed towards me ( Me - someone who lives several thousands of miles away in XXXX XXXX ) told my mother I needed to be in court in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

This all came after I had spoken to XXXX XXXX XXXX last week and today and scheduled a payment to settlement the debt in full for the second account. So now I have not only scheduled a settlement payment for the second account, but I am being sued quite literally across the country. 

When I called the XXXX XXXX XXXX back today ( several times ), they kept telling me they weren't lawyers and couldn't discuss the case, blamed the reason they were pursuing me legally in XXXX because of my relationship with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX a service I stopped using in XXXX quite literally so I could set up payments directly with XXXX XXXX XXXX. When they provided me a phone number to the law offices in XXXX, no one picked up the phone. 

After several hours with them on the phone today, being given the same run around answers and victim blaming responses, someone from XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX called me back and apologized, but I have received nothing in writing that I am no longer being pursued legally, so I have to assume that they are still coming after me legally and are betting on a default judgement because I live out of state. 

I fail to understand why they would pursue legal action against me in a different state when I was cooperative with the first account 's payments in the state that I am currently living in. Their tactics are predatory, aggressive, and confusing. I want to settle this account and be done. The Florida law suit is frivolous and unnecessary. I shouldn't have to travel across the country to settle something I already settled over the phone by giving my account and routing number and scheduling a settlement payment. 

I am saddened that American Express approves of these types of tactics to collect debt, especially against someone who was cooperative in the past. The only times I could not set up payment before XXXX was due to literally being out of work and without any means to repay.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation