Consumer complaint received 2019-09-07
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Application denied

Complaint:
I travel for work so on XX/XX/XXXX I called your customer service to inquire about the XXXX XXXX AMEX credit card that was presented to me via your web interface. I expressed my concerns because, despite my stellar record with the AMEX where I have : a ) an AMEX Platinum, a personal card in good standing b ) an AMEX Blue, a business credit card in good standing c ) a {$19000.00} personal loan paid in full I have been a customer only from XX/XX/XXXX. I worried it might be too short for a new card. The customer service representative assured me that the length of my history with you would not be a problem and encouraged me to apply. So, I did apply for the Aspire card but was immediately declined. 

It is understandable that every financial institutions prerogative is to extend a credit or not, to anyone. However, I wanted to find out the reasons and called the AMEX on XX/XX/XXXX to find out. In the declining letter I found the reason : A recent payment you made to American Express was returned unpaid by your financial institution. That was in error. 

On XX/XX/XXXX a glitch in your system used my XXXX XXXX business checking account ( ending in XXXX ) as a source for the payment of my personal Platinum card. ( CONFIRMATION XXXX ) Needless to say, my business checking account has been linked to my AMEX Blue business credit card, while my personal Platinum card has been linked to my personal checking account ( ending in XXXX ) since the day one. At that day, XX/XX/XXXX my business checking account, that was erroneously charged, did not have funds and, as a result the payment could not be processed and was returned. 

Immediately upon seeing your error, I contacted the AMEX customer service that assured me : a ) they would fix the glitch b ) they would remedy the issue. 
They were true to their word and a ( new ) payment was taken from my personal checking, the accounts were properly linked, and the penalty fee has been waived. You acknowledged the glitch and on your side and rectified the error. The note about your error was, and still is, in the system. 

That same error from XX/XX/XXXX stayed on my personal Platinum cards payment record and was a reason, or one of the reasons, why was my XX/XX/XXXX application for Aspire AMEX declined. 
This is the background. What transpired next was truly an extremely unpleasant experience during which I have been lied to numerous times. I also spent four hours and thirty minutes ( 4h30min ) on the phone with your representatives, in addition to at least half an hour of your chatting with your support online. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I spoke with various people only to, finally got the supervisor ( please note that I have spoken to so many people that I do not have their names or IDs. Only a customer service representative, XXXX from Florida, ID XXXX has given me her identification data ; she for sure has some knowledge of my prior experiences and this case ) who assured me : a ) the AMEX is aware of their XX/XX/XXXX error b ) the error has been removed from my internal payment history c ) he has advised the underwriting team about the said error d ) the underwriting team would this time manually go over the XX/XX/XXXX application that has now been re-submitted. 

To my dismay, the declining letter did not have a date of XX/XX/XXXX when those assurances took place, but instead the date of the original application, back in XXXX. One of the reasons stated was that same XX/XX/XXXX error, A recent payment you made to American Express was returned unpaid by your financial institution. It was clear to me that a ) I have been lied to by the supervisor when assured the error is not a part of my payment history or b ) that the underwriting team did not bother to consider my concerns at all. 

I called again in order to clarify those issues and come to the mutually agreeable solution. Another one hour and 34 minutes on the phone ( 1h34min ) were a pure torture. Not only that no one cared about  the fact I was in XXXX, already after XXXX  my time, or that I had been speaking with so many people already without a solution in sight but I have been manipulated and deceived repeatedly : a ) I was told the returned payment was not an issue and, by the same representative b ) I was told that he admits ( sic! ) that the unpaid payment was the reason only to have been told, by another representative. Two contradictory statements in less than a minute!? 
c ) that the XX/XX/XXXX error have been removed from my record. 

While on the phone I logged into my account only to see the same error still standing there, in ugly red letters. Please note that they all refused to connect me to another supervisor and were playing a deaf phone game with me by telling me : a ) the error has been removed said one customer service representative b ) the error can not be removed said another customer service representative, but the note would be left in the system than b ) the error will be removed and than c ) the error will be removed from my credit history I want you to note this issue. Almost five hours into attempts to resolve this harmful action by the AMEX, they mentioned credit history that was not a part of the problem. I wasnt late and for sure wasnt reported as late d ) the error has been removed but it requires 24 hours to reflect in my payment history.

They put me on hold, at XXXX XXXX   my time, for over 20 additional minutes despite my beseeching ; I was  truly tired etc., but they still refused to connect me to the supervisor or to provide with any real help. Moreover, the representative told me it would be a waste of time to talk to the supervisor anyway. And she had told me that after she had me on hold, one hour into conversation, for those additional 20 minutes I spent waiting to the same supervisor!?

Please also note that at that point I had tried to convey my main concern. No matter the Aspire application issue, as long as that returned unpaid error is a part of the internal records I would never, ever be able to be approved for any other AMEXs financial product in the future. 

All of that was truly a nightmarish XXXX XXXX at which moment I gave up for it was clear to me that I ought to seek the remedy elsewhere.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation