Consumer complaint received 2023-07-17
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: WA
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:
Thank you for taking the time to read my complaint. 

I was a American Express card holder since XXXX and then they closed my account in early XXXX because I had one angry interaction with an American Express customer service agent. 

Here is what happened. I had placed a credit limit on my son 's card so that he could not spend over a certain limit, however, he went over this limit. This happened every now and then. In the early going, it wasn't by that much, but the last time that it happened it was by quite a bit ... ... .and so I called America Express about this and I attempted to talk to someone. It took me a long, long time to reach an actual person and when I did this person ended up giving me incorrect information about the account -- they essentially said that the card did not go over its " spending limit -- even though it did, and then when I stated that wasn't correct they hung up on me. This, obviously, upset me quite a bit! 

So, then I called the customer service agent back and I let them know exactly what had happened on the prior call and they did not in any way apologize about it. I told them about the card going over its " set limit that I had asked for/and had placed on the account and they said that even with the spending limit that the card could still go over its " spending limit because the card holder could buy essential items such as gas, food etc. They said I should've known this but I do not EVER remember any one telling me this or receiving any information on this. I promise I did know and I could find no paperwork showing this to be true, or any paperwork ever sent to me! The customer service agent was rude and very facetious in dealing with me. And this was not the first time : I had America Express customer service agents get mad at me many times over the years as I begged them to help me with issues such as unauthorized charges. During the pandemic, I had booked a trip to XXXX and there were travel warnings in place to go there after I had paid for the trip through my Amex card and I begged them to help me but they did nothing and treated me like I hadn't been a good customer, even though I had paid my balance in full every month for 15 years. 

On this particular call, I got angry and used one swear word and they closed my account, saying that I violated the agreement between America Express and the card holder. However, I had been having a difficult time due to illness and injury from work and from being disrespected from American Express. I am still shocked that they closed my account since I had a Blue Card and a Gold Card and I paid my bill in full every month, had been with them for years, and had large bills but always paid them. 

I am wondering if they would've done this had I not been Italian American? There were times when I had gone on trips to XXXX and they would make negative XXXX remarks about XXXX and the people of XXXX. I believe this is just one reason why they closed my account after one bad call. I am wondering if you would look into this for me?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation