Consumer complaint received 2020-05-18
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Can't use card to make purchases
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (NY)

I called American Express around XX/XX/XXXX. Currently, I have 2 credit cards with American Express, a Platinum card that accrues Delta Skymile points and a Hilton Honors card that was converted about 2 years ago from XXXX to American Express. On both cards, my spending limit is high and I have utilized maybe 30 % and 10 % of my credit per card, respectively. At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, I called each credit card to see what programs would be offered at the time of an emergency where millions of Americans have lost their jobs and are unable to pay for basic necessities. American Express offered a one month ( one billing cycle ) program per card, where I could forego payment on both cards without accruing interest or  any late fees. I asked if it was necessary to call again since I had two cards, but I was reassured by the representative that this offer/program would be applied to both cards. Regarding payments, payment was due on the XX/XX/XXXX ( Platinum ) and XX/XX/XXXX ( Hilton Honors ) of each month. The following month when the offer/program was to be applied, I began receiving calls around the middle of XX/XX/XXXX from American Express. I thought these were just telemarketer calls and ignored them. After messages were sent to my email, I found out American Express was trying to contact me regarding a missed payment on my Hilton Honors card. Immediately, I reviewed my accounts on my phone app and much to my dismay, saw that American Express had decided to deactivate both of my American Express cards. Now, I was not only perplexed but irate. In lieu of this pandemic, me and my family had relocated to a remote cabin in order to have more space in waiting out this pandemic. I called American Express, and after speaking to one/two representatives, I demanded to speak to a supervisor. Considering I was NEVER late with payments and regarding the offer/program I had accepted, I demanded an answer as to what was happening. The supervisor informed me that the offer was for one billing cycle per card. So, again, I asked if each card was separate, did they not each have their own billing cycle? And also, if each card held a separate account, why were both of my cards deactivated if American Express had an issue with only one of the accounts? The supervisor insisted that I was wrong regarding both of my accounts and that the offer had been extended to each card separately. I asked how that could be if I had not received any relief for my payment on the XX/XX/XXXX and had been harassed with calls and why, for the life of me, were both cards affected? She informed me that there had been no mistake even when she clearly saw when I had called and how the offer/program had not been correctly applied to my Hilton Honors account. The supervisor also informed me that both cards were deactivated since it seemed that I was having problems paying on one account. So, regardless, of my pristine payment history with American Express for years, American Express felt they could deactivate both accounts. How was this even possible? I asked again, Are these not two separate accounts? The supervisor then informed me, after the fact, that due to me taking the offer/program offered by American Express, I was unable to use the cards because I could not make payments. I then asked her, Wasnt the whole point of having credit cards the fact that you could utilize them in an emergency? Such as someone losing a job or medical emergency such as a worldwide pandemic? In fact, in that initial XX/XX/XXXX phone call, American Express increased my credit limit on my Hilton Honors card! What the XXXX was going on? After much discussion and complete frustration, American Express refused to take responsibility for their error but did tell me they could waive my XX/XX/2020 payments without penalties or interest but that my cards would be unusable and stay unusable until I became current with my payments. Lets just say after such a negative experience and the fact that me and my family could possibly have been severely affected had we needed to utilize these cards in our emergency and found out that both cards had been deactivated, this could have been disastrous. I will not be relying on American Express for anything. This company I used to think of as my most reliable is useless to me now and probably countless Americans during an actual emergency. I feel it my duty to inform the American public of this issue. Also, what is American Express going to do to actually help me and other American families in similar situations?