Consumer complaint received 2016-01-07
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: AR
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
Revisiting the XXXX previous complaints against American Express Bluebird, they did credit my account for XXXX of the unauthorized transactions they have since decided that XXXX transaction was authorized the transaction in question is for " XXXX '', a firing range in XXXX, I do not own guns I do not LIKE guns I do not want to be around guns so the assertion is I stopped by and donated XXXX to a firing range is ridiculous and the representatives reason it was authorized was direct quote " the merchant said it was authorized '' I am the card holder it is my money I spend the money I did not and would not spend the money at a shooting range thus I did not authorize the transaction and since I am promised no liability for unauthorized transactions I can not be charged for XXXX to a firing range since I did not authorize said transaction. Further the representative told me my account is PERMANENTLY locked and will not be unlocked and none of the remaining funds will be returned I mentioned my direct deposit goes into the account and he said no funds will be released to me and clarified upon reiteration that they will still allow the deposit to clear so basically they are stealing my remaining funds ( including the check I initially called to do a stop payment on ) and he confirmed the existence of the long denied american express XXXX and that I am now on it and wo n't ever be allowed to open any account with them again pretty sure all of this is against not just state law but federal banking regulation. I then asked how it was investigated and was told they do n't have to release that information and are not going to because it is investigated by a " back office '' team who has no phone and apparently works out of some sort of dungeon in XXXX or wherever my money is going. This is apparently the normal response to anyone disputing fraudulent transactions as a simply XXXX search returned tons of other people who had very similar experiences. I then asked him to define the word authorized or investigation he declined to do other told me basically your money is gone and so is your paycheck next week and get over it. I have bills to pay that ca n't wait the 15 days it takes these people to respond to complaints and I am sure they are just going to respond and say they can do what they want when they want because no one is going to stop them and even the CFPB is going to not take any sort of regulatory action against them again and Ill just be out money maybe I should contact the media ( consumerist, local media ) not sure yet but since I do for a fact know that what is going on breaks the law and federal regulation we are starting with this complaint the third of which I have had to file against American Express regarding the same issue. I just wanted the benefits promised by XXXX ( early direct deposit no fraud liability ) and I trusted the American Express name I also found out this bank is only using American Express 's name and license and is n't actually an entity of the company and is n't based in XXXX at all lovely news. Please take action on this complaint please stop these crooks from stealing more money from me and the other people who have already fallen victim to fraud.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation