Consumer complaint received 2020-06-03
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
My account with American Express was sent to an outside agency, not sure why this was done by American Express. We are still making payments directly to American Express via their online portal and are current with our account, this is the most important piece of info to note. We have always fully intended to stay in good standing with American Express, and keep making payments DIRECTLY to American Express. 

American Express sent the account to XXXX XXXX , XXXX. They are a collection agency out of XXXX, TX ( XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX TX XXXX XXXX, XXXX # is XXXX. We called XXXX XXXX , XXXX at the above telephone number on Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX  and were on with them until approximately XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

We spoke to XXXX XXXX and explained the situation that we were not sure why it was sent to them and that we are still making payments to American Express directly, she continued to state that we were late ... ..we are not, we have proof of this via the American Express website ... .she continued to argue, then placed us on hold - at this point, another representative who said he was a supervisor at XXXX XXXX, his name is XXXX XXXX came on the line. Mr. XXXX again tried to tell us that late while at the same time, acknowledging that he sees the last payment made on XX/XX/XXXX - we explained that if he can see this, in reality, we are not late and that the account is in fact, current. 

Our account on the American Express portal shows that we are due for only our XXXX Payment of {$400.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Mr. XXXX continued to insist that we are late and continued to harass us into entering into a payment agreement w/ XXXX XXXX. 

We responded that we were not going to enter into an agreement with XXXX XXXX as we are and have been making payments w/ American Express directly ... .he continued to state that the account is now with XXXX XXXX . We asked if it was incorrect that we are still able to make payments directly to American Express / not allowed to make payments directly to American Express, he was giving the illusion that we MUST enter into an agreement w/ XXXX. We know that this is NOT the case as we are still actively making payments to American Express, the debt was NOT sold to XXXX. 

Mr. XXXX was extremely abrasive, unprofessional, continually getting loud and interrupting us - and was using intimidation tactics with us by saying they ( XXXX, XXXX, XXXX ) was going to continue to call, mail, and do whatever they wanted to in order to collect the debt. At this point we advised him that we were going to call American Express directly and discuss the account and the tactics XXXX XXXX is using. We also mentioned to Mr. XXXX that we were aware of a Class Action Suit filed against XXXX XXXX , XXXX through the United States District Court for the XXXX  District of Wisconsin XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, Individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated ( Plaintiff ), Vs. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, At this time, Mr. XXXX responded that he must '' back out of this conversation '' At XXXX XXXX  we then proceeded to call American Express at XXXX. We were connected to XXXX in the Account Services Department. She stated that this account was sent to an outside agency, but acknowledged that she does see that we are still making payments directly to American Express and that we are current, with only our XX/XX/XXXX payment of {$400.00} due at this time. We explained to her that we're not sure why this was sent to an outside agency in the first place and that we fully intend to honor our financial commitment to American Express and continue to make payments directly to them. We filed a complaint back in XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX # XXXX ) with Amex against another outside agency they had sent the account to. Today we filed another complaint ( Complaint # XXXX ) against XXXX XXXX , XXXX and their tactics. We also reiterated that we fully intend to stay in good standing with American Express and continue to make payments directly to them. Of note, XXXX from American Express was extremely professional, listened without interruption, and tried to help us to the best of her capacity and said she would forward the complaint to the appropriate department that handles these types of situations. 

We are requesting that this issue be resolved and have the account pulled back from these outside agencies as we have been, continue to make payment directly to American Express via the online portal.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation