Consumer complaint received 2020-10-04
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, American Express replied to my correspondence with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) confirming they would no longer attempt to communicate with me except as legally allowed. American Express also states they are unwilling to remove the judgment obtained. American Express claims my account was never assigned to XXXX XXXX XXXX, but with XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX. 
American Express also acknowledge receipt of my request for debt validation to on XX/XX/XXXX, and noted my account. American Express also admits to failing to provide debt validation and continued attempts to collect this alleged debt only amounted to the other countless violations by American Express XXXX XXXX. Bus. & Com. Code Ann. 17.41 through 17.63, 15 USC Ch. 41, and the FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT ( FDCPA ). Additional violations include, but arent limited to the following : Harassment or abuse False or misleading representations Failure to correct billing errors Validation of debts Legal actions by debt collectors Furnishing certain deceptive forms American Express filed cause # XXXX in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX claiming the following false, misleading and deceptive statements : 1. Defendants accepted each advance for goods and/or services, and according to the Cardmember Agreement, and became bound to pay Plaintiff the amounts of those advances plus applicable interest and finance charges 2. Defendants have made no objections to any charges under the Agreement, despite receiving notice of such charges more than sixty ( 60 ) days before the filing of this lawsuit.

3. Defendants have failed to repay all of the advances made under the Agreement. The current balance due, owing, and unpaid under the Agreement, after allowing all just and lawful payments, credits, and offsets totals {$4900.00}. Defendants have failed and refused to pay the balance. 
4. Plaintiff duly issued and sent to Defendants the Account Statements which outlined in detail all items charged to the Defendants ' Account and the total amount due and owing by Defendants to Plaintiff on the Defendants ' Account. 
5. Defendants received the Account Statements without protest and neither objected to them nor indicated that they were erroneous in any aspect. Defendants thereby acknowledged that the debt owed to Plaintiff, as outlined in the Account Statements, is true and correct. Defendants thereby acknowledged that the debt owed to Plaintiff, as outlined in the Account Statements, is true and correct.

These statements are false, misleading, and deceptive for the following respective reasons : 1. Notifications of disputed and erroneous bills were provided to American Express notifying I either did not receive goods/or services. Claims I accepted each advance for goods/services becoming bound to pay such amounts is erroneous.

2. A large number of objections to charges under the Agreement were provided to American Express were provided via phone calls, faxes, online submissions, USPS mail, and complaints filed with the CFPB, FTC, SEC, FDIC, and Texas Attorney General between the years of XXXX and XXXX before the filing of the lawsuit. American Express has further admitted to receiving notification of my dispute and notating my account. Therefore, any claim I made no objections, despite receiving notice of the charges anytime in the 60 days before the suit was filed it extremely willfully negligent and false. 
3. Its already been established American Express failed to validate the debt. As such, I was under no obligation to pay this alleged debt. Stating I refused to pay such alleged debt when I was disputing and requesting validation of the alleged debt is deceptive. 
4. American Express acknowledged failing to provide statements validating the debt. Any claim to the contrary is a willful and intentionally false, deceptive, and manipulative act.

5. American Express acknowledged failing to provide statements validating the debt. Any claim to the contrary is a willful and intentionally false, deceptive, and manipulative act. While the numerous disputes filed and formally acknowledged by American Express directly oppose any claim that the Account Statements were received without protest, objection, or without indication, they were erroneous in any aspect. The claim made in this suit filed is also false and deceptive. 
Upon receiving my many dispute notices and requests for validation of the alleged debt American Express was under legal and contractual obligations to cease debt collection attempts, provide debt validation and cease furnishing negative information to credit reporting agencies. Attempts made to notify American Express of my disputes have been consistent, well documented, acknowledged, and extremely high in number. By their own admission, American Express failed to provide debt validation and has been willfully violated very many consumer protection laws and the terms of the American Express member agreement. These violations were only made worse upon American Express filing a frivolous and legally prohibited lawsuit in which they made many false, misleading, and negligent statements knowingly. American Express continues to continue this negligent noncompliance by refusing to vacate this judgment gained through deceptive and illegal means. 
American Expresss willful, negligent and illegal negative furnishing of data, prohibited legal actions, and account closures has caused extreme financial and XXXX  XXXX  which I may never be able to fully recover from. These actions have prevented me from obtaining new credit and negatively affected accounts held at other institutions. I have been unable to obtain any favorable financing, which is needed for housing and to purchase a vehicle. Being without a vehicle is negatively impacting my health as I am XXXX and unable to have all my medical needs met due to the transportation issues experienced as a result. 

Regards, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation