Consumer complaint received 2015-03-23
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: ME
Product: Credit card
Issue: Late fee

Complaint:
1 ) XXXX automatically billed my American Express account in late XXXX for a tax preparation product that I was not prepared to use and so did not download ( and have not downloaded so far, although my husband did so this Month -- XXXX XXXX ). 
2 ) I was not using my American Express card at all in XXXX except to pay a similar automatic charge from XXXX XXXX XXXX -- on XXXX XXXX XXXX. It had a credit balance of {$3.00} according to the statement of XXXX XXXX XXXX, which I retrieved when I was in a position to discuss the bill -- I was " on the road '' in XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, returning XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
3 ) Last year, American Express charged and then removed -- on my request -- the late payment charge that they had levied for this same automatic charge from XXXX XXXX XXXX, which I had not expected that year, either. 
4 ) This year, American Express has refused to remove late charges of {$35.00} from its bill of XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( payment due XXXX XXXX XXXX ), and added another " late payment fee of {$26.00} to its bill of XXXX XXXX, plus interest ). 
5 ) On XXXX XXXX XXXX, while still " on the road '' and thus receiving all emails including junk over the internet, I saw the AMEX notices, called customer service and paid the precise XXXX XXXX product amount of {$91.00} -- but not the late charges of {$35.00}. 
6 ) I refused American Express ' late charges because : I have not charged anything to the American Express card all year, their promotions, etc. go into my junk file and do not appear in my incoming e-mails, and their MONTHLY charges were 38 % of the charges for the product -- usurious. As a client of American Express since XXXX and always in good standing, I am disgusted with both their usuriousness and their lack of appreciation for past business. 
7 ) AMEX ' next bill of XXXX XXXX, XXXX included a " late payment charge '' of {$26.00} plus {$0.00} interest -- total charges of {$52.00} despite my having paid the for the XXXX product. 
8 ) I was reminded of my intention to cancel the AMEX credit card when AMEX sent another bill on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, continuing a balance of {$91.00} ( due XXXX XXXX XXXX ) that was totally made up of usurious late charges, the last one being {$38.00}. 
9 ) I cancelled my AMEX card on XXXX XXXX XXXX despite threats by the " XXXX '' account exec that the late charges would continue to be levied on top of one another and my account would stay " open '' -- from their point of view? -- until these and possibly more cumulative fees were paid. 
7 ) On behalf of other credit card holders and myself, I submit that American Express ' continuing to levy new late fees each month and then charge interest on said late fees as they accumulate and then ding my otherwise excellent credit report with these " unpaid bills '' -- is a fraudulent practice. 
8 ) This practice by AMEX is exacerbated by the automatic charges from such firms as XXXX, which seem not to allow customers to pay on the actual use of their product, but on their own schedule of having the product 'ready for use '. 
9 ) Please help me to stop AMEX from continuing to dun me for its usurious charges, and please help me -- and others -- escape from the practices of " automatic billers '' which cause these charges. 
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief