Consumer complaint received 2016-09-04
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: DC
Product: Credit card
Issue: Closing/Cancelling account

Complaint:
American Express ( AMEX ) has wrongfully closed my Platinum Card account, wrongfully deprived me of over XXXX Membership Miles, improperly deprived me of access to years ' worth of my records ( including records relevant to this complaint to CFPB ), wrongfully charged me late fees and penalties in amounts I am unable to determine without full access to my records. AMEX has provided misleading and/or deceptive information regarding my card account whose charging was terminated by AMEX due to suspected fraudulent activity by unknown persons. AMEX deceptively and without clear notice to me continued to cause charges to be incurred by the terminated card account, in contravention of past practice and in a deceptive manner. AMEX compounded this conduct by causing other charges ( which I paid in timely fashion ) to be incurred by the new replacement card. Amex has also submitted misleading credit reports that have damaged my credit rating, and has unfairly and in a retaliatory way denied me the opportunity to reopen an account and reestablish access to my Membership Miles. 

I was an American Express Platinum cardholder from XX/XX/XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX. American Express contacted me regarding possible fraud on my card in XXXX XXXX. An Amex rep told me that due to suspected attempted fraudulent activity on my card, they were immediately terminating any further charges on that card account, and sent me overnight a replacement card with a new account number. I promptly activated and began to use the replacement card. In XXXX XXXX I changed my billing and mailing address, and received email confirmation from Amex of the change. 

I did not learn until many months later that American Express had also kept the old fraud-associated card account open ( I understood they had closed it when their representative told me on the phone in approximately XXXX XXXX that they were terminating any new charges on the card due to the possible fraudulent charges ). Amex continued to bill certain charges to the old fraud-associated account instead of the new account, which I did not see or know about. They sent bills for the old fraud-associated account to the old address, which I had changed officially with AMEX pursuant to procedures specified by AMEX, not my new address. They also charged late fees, interest and penalties to the old account. 

I should note that at several times in the past prior to the XX/XX/XXXX events I had reported a lost or stolen card on my platinum account and received a replacement card. In every case, no further charges were billed on the old card, everything rolled onto the new card where I could plainly see it, and merchants were unable to charge the old card. This was the case as recently as three months previously, as indicated by XXXX XXXX, XXXX email attached to my complaint submission. Therefore, based on past experience and past practice by Amex, I had no reason to think they would keep the old fraud-associated account open and bill charges there. 
I first learned of this problem in approximately XXXX XXXX when I was contacted by phone by an Amex rep regarding past due charges on my account. This was a great surprise. My records confirm payments in full on XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, & XXXX XXXX, XXXX. At this time I learned of the second account, that being the old account with the fraud-associated card. The representative told me there were several months worth of late fees, interest & penalties. He agreed to waive 2 months worth, since the error was on the part of Amex in failing to notify me of the second account. I discovered in XXXX XXXX that both accounts had thereafter been closed. However, the rep did not provide clear or adequate notice regarding the possibility that my account would be closed. I also lost access to more than XXXX Membership Rewards miles, which AMEX has refused to let me access or transfer

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief