Consumer complaint received 2020-01-03
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: MA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
In XXXX, XXXX, my American Express Card was compromised and I was issued a new card with a new account number. I have two American Express accounts, one of which I have had since XXXX. The card that was compromised was the second account and was used solely for business purposes. 

I had set up autopay for both accounts and had been paying the minimum balance due on both cards since XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX respectively. On XX/XX/XXXX, the total amount due on one of the cards, in the amount of {$2800.00} was paid in error. I had not changed the autopay amount and called American Express immediately on XX/XX/XXXX, to stop payment and revert to the minimum balance amount to be paid. At that time, I was told that they could not stop the payment and that I would have to call my bank. Then the amount was requested again by American Express so the payment was declined by my bank the second time. I called American Express again and asked them to credit my account for the {$2800.00} which they did. I then had an extra {$2800.00} in my bank account, which I paid back to American Express since this was also an error. Simultaneously, my Bank ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) declined payment on the minimum balance due unbeknownst to me. 

I received several calls from American Express requesting payment on the account at which time I authorized the minimum balance due to be paid on both cards. During each conversation, I let them know that I had NEVER authorized the full amount of the card to be paid. On XX/XX/XXXX, the amount of {$69.00} was returned from my bank and on XX/XX/XXXX, the amount of {$60.00} for the second card payment was returned from my bank. In addition, I was unaware that XXXX XXXX XXXX had stopped payment on all American Express requests, so the authorized minimum payments I made did not go through. This was certainly not my intention. 

In further calls with American Express around XX/XX/XXXX, I was told they would be cancelling my cards. I explained again to the representatives that I had never authorized the full amount to be paid and believe that there was some internal error that had occurred. They said that they would investigate it and that I should call back in a week. On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with the Responsible Lending Team and explained the entire situation again. I stated that if they did not fix the situation I would have to file a complaint with the CFPB. The representative asked to put me on hold and wanted to talk to his team. After several minutes ( was on the phone for XXXX minutes total ) he came back on the line and told me that they had reinstated both of my accounts. 

Several days later, I received 4 letters from American Express ( attached ). Two were dated XXXX XXXX ( the day before my call ) and two were dated XX/XX/XXXX, the day of my call. The letters dated XX/XX/XXXX, stated that they declined my request to reinstate my accounts due to my FICO score of XXXX. 

This information was also included in the letter : " The following are the key factors that contributed to your FICO score : 1. The ratio of revolving account balances to their credit limits is too high.

2. The number of accounts that have or had a delinquency.

3. There is no recent information about installment loans on your report.

4. There are too few accounts currently paid as agreed. " I did not have any other accounts in delinquency at the time and there were no accounts that had not been paid as agreed. They were unable to explain further than this. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted the Responsible Lending Department again, I asked about the letters I had received, and this information was explained to me. I once again explained, FROM THE BEGINNING, the situation and that there must have been a mistake. I referred to my auto payments that had been in effect for a year and that this current situation was an aberration. I also explained that I have been an American Express cardholder for 37 years and that I was very disappointed in the way that I had been treated. I had recently started a new business and I used these cards to help launch the business. I stated that I had now spent over 7 hours on the phone with various representatives from American Express with no results and that I would be filing a formal complaint. I was asked to give them another week to review the situation. 

I called back on XX/XX/XXXX and was immediately connected to the collections department due to the status of my accounts. I was redirected to the Responsible Lending Department after explaining the situation AGAIN. I spoke with XXXX XXXX who said they were still investigating what happened. He seemed to understand the situation and expressed some empathy for my frustration, also stating that he could see that there might have been an internal error. He told me to call back in 24 - 48 hours if I did not hear from them. 

I called back on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX XXXX and after 33 minutes was disconnected. I called back and was connected with XXXX XXXX who was in the collections department, which I realized after asking to speak with his supervisor, XXXX XXXX, who told me that I was speaking with the collections department. She then sent me to the Responsible Lending Department where I spoke with XXXX XXXX. I received no further information/resolution and at this point I stopped calling as I found it to be a futile effort. 

I have not received further information from American Express. Both of my accounts have been cancelled and I am planning on paying them down, but would like to have my cards reinstated as I do not want my credit score to be affected by this American Express error.

In retrospect, I believe that once my card was compromised, someone else may have had access and may have changed the autopay amount. This was not addressed by American Express, but the timing of the issue of the new card and the auto payment error were within one month of each other and coincidental

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation