Consumer complaint received 2017-09-26
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
I have held an American Express card for many years, and for many years have also been enrolled in their AutoPay program so that my monthly charges are paid in their entirety on time every month via a debit from my checking account. 

In XXXX XXXX I first became aware that, shockingly, I was carrying, what had grown to be, a huge balance ( approx $ 40K ). I called XXXX to find out what was going on and was told that my account had been changed so that every charge over {$100.00} was moved to a 'pay over time ' account, which had been accruing interest ... and that this had been going on for over 1 year, since XXXX. Candidly, because of the auto pay feature I had not noticed this on the monthly bills b/c I would just eyeball them for charges to ensure there was nothing fraudulent, but never paid attention to the balance b/c I knew it was being paid in full every month. During that call ( in mid XXXX ), since the agent was unable to identify proof of how this change was made, I was told that XXXX would open an investigation into the matter, but that it would take up to a few weeks to get resolution, and that I would be contacted either by phone or in writing upon conclusion. And on that call I of course also instructed the agent to immediately stop the pay over time feature so that once again the autopay would pay my entire monthly bill. 

After waiting over a month and not hearing back from XXXX, I called again to inquire about the investigation. I was told on that call by a manager that in fact there was no investigation and that they had just categorized my call as a 'complaint ' call and closed it out the same day I had made it. The manager offered her apology over this misrepresentation, but that was as far as it went. When I once again reviewed the situation with her, because the information about my previous call was in the record, she was insistent that I had made the account change to my account online, and therefore that I had authorized them to do this, but could give me no proof of this. Never was I sent an email or written correspondence that I had elected a change to my terms. However at one point she did mention something about my having gotten a new card at the time. After no less than 2 hours on the phone with XXXX that day ( approx 3 wks ago ), being on hold for most of that time, she first offered to credit me the equivalent of one month of interest ( approx {$550.00} ),  but by the end of the call had told me she would credit me the equivalent of 2 months of interest, as a courtesy. And that credit would have to be against current charges, not actually against the formerly accrued interest. When I kept complaining still that I never authorized this change, she put the blame on me that I should have reviewed my bills more carefully. She offered to send me paper statements of when this change had occurred so that I could see it, and said that it would take a week or so to get those to me. Ironically that same afternoon I got a XXXX tracker alert that these statements were being over nighted to me and was supposed to receive the very next day. However w/the Florida hurricane it did end up being delayed and I received them last week. 

Upon reviewing the two invoices, the first being XXXX XXXX and the second being XXXX XXXX, I do see on the XXXX invoice that the pay over time portion is identified on the right side. However the real distinction between these two months of invoices is that the account numbers are different. The XXXX invoice my card ended in XXXX and the XXXX invoice my card ended in XXXX. I had received a new card b/c my previous card had been compromised and they had to shut down that number and send me a new one. Nothing else should have changed, but clearly this was the trigger event that changed my billing terms. The fraud on my card had been identified and discussed w/XXXX by phone, so I never had gone online to report the fraud or do anything related to the change of the card. Therefore if XXXX had indeed recorded my phone call then they could have proof of whether I authorized any terms changes to my card. I do not know how if or for how long they keep recordings of phone calls, but they have never intimated that I authorized an agent over the phone to make this change with the new card issued, and of course I did not. 

They are trying to hang their hat on the fact that I had not more carefully reviewed my previous bills, and the fact that I still received paper copies was sufficient that they were not at fault. But based on my longstanding previous history of Autopay and the fact that this change was only made as a result of receiving a new card, I do not accept that I am fully responsible for this issue. As such, I am more than willing to pay for my charges incurred during this time lapse, that built up over time and are substantial. However I am seeking a full credit from the interest charges associated w/these charges. As an aside, I had also even asked for help w/them freezing the continuing interest growing on this and working out a plan to pay this balance over a reasonable amount of time, but they would not agree to this either.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief