Consumer complaint received 2022-06-20
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: OR
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
I have both a savings account and a certificate of deposit with American Express National Bank ( an on-line bank ). This dispute begins when the CD, with a balance of just over {$54000.00}, was set to mature on XX/XX/XXXX. This is an enormous amount of money to me and I've trusted American Express National Bank to handle it and work with me in a professional manner to manage the money - apparently that was a huge mistake! Shortly before the date of maturity I received notification that the CD was maturing and that I would need to decide what to do with the funds. The notification explained that I had a 10 day " grace period '' during which I could contact American Express to make a decision about the funds. If I didn't act, the notice explained that, the funds would roll over into a new CD with the interest rate in effect on XX/XX/XXXX. I called American Express National Bank on XX/XX/XXXX ( within the 10 day " grace period '' ) and discussed my options with a representative. My wife and I were both on the line with the representative. The representative had a somewhat unique name - something like " XXXX '' / '' XXXX '' / '' XXXX ''. The representative explained that the yield on CDs had just gone up on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and she and I discussed what to do with the funds. We decided on a new 24 month CD at 2 % interest rate. The representative didn't offer any confirmation number, but we simply agreed to put the money into the indicated CD. Just days after this phone interaction ( I believe it was on XX/XX/XXXX or XXXX ) I received a notice in the mail indicating the the XXXX had been " automatically renewed '' on XX/XX/XXXX at the interest rate of 1.68575 % - significantly below the rate my wife and I had discussed with the representative on the phone. I immediately called the customer service number and explained that a mistake had been made, as the funds from the original CD should have been put into a new 24 month CD at 2 %. I was transferred to a supervisor name " XXXX '' or " XXXX '' and I once again explained the issue. I was told that American Express had " no record '' that I'd called during the " grace period '' and they would not make a correction. When I got angry and cursed at the representative he hung up on me. Frustrated, I waited until the next morning and called the customer service line once again. This time I spoken with " XXXX '' and when I explained the issue, " XXXX '' said - " That's not right, you got the short end of the stick '' and she then explained how she was opening a new CD at the correct rate and that she would ask " banking operations '' to transfer the funds from the incorrectly " automatically renewed '' CD and transfer them into the new CD at the correct rate of interest. I expressed my concern that I didn't want to pay any fees or penalties and I was told that there wouldn't be any. I thanked XXXX and thought the problem was solved. A few days later I received an email asking me to " fund '' the new CD. Sensing that something had gone wrong, I checked my account ( s ) online and saw that the new CD " XXXX '' had created had still not been funded with the money from the original CD. I once again called the customer service number and spoke with " XXXX '' - this was on XX/XX/XXXX. " XXXX '' asked for a few minutes to " review the file '' and then came back and explained that Banking Operations would not transfer the funds into the new CD because once again - " I hadn't called during the " grace period ''. She indicated that if I wanted to complete the funds transfer into the correct CD, I would be charged a fee/penalty of about {$680.00}. I asked to escalate the dispute and spoke with a supervisor named " XXXX ''. This representative told me again that Banking Operations wouldn't make the change and that I had never called to make the change during the grace period. When one calls customer service a message indicates that all calls are recorded for quality control and fraud prevention. When I asked " XXXX '' to find that recording of the call I was told that " you have to understand how hard it would be for us to find that call, we have XXXX of operators and to find that one call would be very difficult ''. I provided " XXXX '' with he exact day and time of the phone call from the data on my phone- the call was on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and lasted a total of 16 minutes. " XXXX '' indicated that someone would look for the call, but as of this time ( 5 days later ), no one has called me back and I'm very skeptical that anyone at American Express has taken any action to find to call and confirm that I did indeed call during the " grace period ''. American Express National Bank is either negligent in their training of their " customer service representatives '', negligent in tracking customer contacts and/or negligent in resolving errors that favor them to the detriment of their customers. In any event, they've been sloppy, contradictory in their explanations, condescending and apparently unwilling to investigate and find the proof that they have which verifies my version of events. I've spent literally between 5 and 6 hours on the phone trying to get this issue resolved to no avail. I'm at a total loss for how to proceed and frustrated beyond words that this company believes that can treat customers in the manner - HELP!

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief