Consumer complaint received 2024-04-16
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Can't use card to make purchases
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (WA)

INTRODUCTION : The definitions in this complaint are in accordance with U.S. Code ( b ) Bureau. 
The term Bureau means the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

( c ) The term Board refers to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

( d ) The term organization means a corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, trust, estate, partnership, cooperative, or association.

( e ) The term person means a natural person or an organization.

( f ) The term credit means the right granted by a creditor to a debtor to defer payment of debt or to incur debt and defer its payment.

( g ) The term creditor refers only to a person who both ( 1 ) regularly extends, whether in connection with loans, sales of property or services, or otherwise, consumer credit which is payable by agreement in more than four installments or for which the payment of a finance charge is or may be required, and ( 2 ) is the person to whom the debt arising from the consumer credit transaction is initially payable on the face of the evidence of indebtedness or, if there is no such evidence of indebtedness, by agreement. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, in the case of an open-end credit plan involving a credit card, the card issuer and any person who honors the credit card and offers a discount which is a finance charge are creditors. 

( h ) The term credit sale refers to any sale in which the seller is a creditor. The term includes any contract in the form of a bailment or lease if the bailee or lessee contracts to pay as compensation for use a sum substantially equivalent to or in excess of the aggregate value of the property and services involved and it is agreed that the bailee or lessee will become, or for no other or a nominal consideration has the option to become, the owner of the property upon full compliance with his obligations under the contract. 

( i ) The adjective consumer, used with reference to a credit transaction, characterizes the transaction as one in which the party to whom credit is offered or extended is a natural person, and the money, property, or services which are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.

( j ) The terms open end credit plan and open end consumer credit plan mean a plan under which the creditor reasonably contemplates repeated transactions, which prescribes the terms of such transactions, and which provides for a finance charge which may be computed from time to time on the outstanding unpaid balance. A credit plan or open end consumer credit plan which is an open end credit plan or open end consumer credit plan within the meaning of the preceding sentence is an open end credit plan or open end consumer credit plan even if credit information is verified from time to time.

( k ) The term adequate notice, as used in section 1643 of this title, means a printed notice to a cardholder which sets forth the pertinent facts clearly and conspicuously so that a person against whom it is to operate could reasonably be expected to have noticed it and understood its meaning. Such notice may be given to a cardholder by printing the notice on any credit card, or on each periodic statement of account, issued to the cardholder, or by any other means reasonably assuring the receipt thereof by the cardholder. 

( l ) The term credit card means any card, plate, coupon book or other credit device existing for the purpose of obtaining money, property, labor, or services on credit. 

( m ) The term accepted credit card means any credit card which the cardholder has requested and received or has signed or has used, or authorized another to use, for the purpose of obtaining money, property, labor, or services on credit. 

( XXXX ) The term cardholder means any person to whom a credit card is issued or any person who has agreed with the card issuer to pay obligations arising from the issuance of a credit card to another person. 

( o ) The term card issuer means any person who issues a credit card, or the agent of such person with respect to such card. 
( p ) The term unauthorized use, as used in section 1643 of this title, means a use of a credit card by a person other than the cardholder who does not have actual, implied, or apparent authority for such use and from which the cardholder receives no benefit. 


( q ) Charge card For the purposes of this subsection, the term charge card means a card, plate, or other single credit device that may be used from time to time to obtain credit which is not subject to a finance charge.

FORMAL COMPLAINT The consumer is filing this formal complaint after making multiple requests to Amex to resolve the issues disclosed herein. The following facts along with the attached records of evidence shall show that Amex willfully neglected their lawful duties to uphold the laws which are regulated by the Bureau and the Board.

I. UNLAWFUL ADVERSE ACTIONS : Adverse action [ s ] include denying an application for credit, terminating an existing credit account, making unfavorable changes to the terms of an existing account, and refusing to increase a credit limit. ECOA and Regulation B require creditors to provide statements of specific reasons to applicants against whom adverse action is taken. With respect to adverse actions based on a credit scoring system specifically, the Official Interpretations explain that the reasons disclosed must relate only to those factors actually scored in the system. Moreover, no factor that was a principal reason for adverse action may be excluded from disclosure. The creditor must disclose the actual reasons for denial ( for example, age of automobile ) even if the relationship of that factor to predicting creditworthiness may not be clear to the applicant.

The previous stated facts are important because the records will show that Amex has taken ( 12 ) twelve Adverse Actions against my accounts without providing statements of specific reasons. Additionally, the record will show that Amex willfully continued to cause Adverse Actions to be taken against my account after requesting that they cease doing so unlawfully. Following are a series of Adverse Actions taken against my account, which has caused me to file this complaint : 1 ) Refusal to process an authorized charge card transactions and failure to provide proper notice at XXXX XXXX retail store preventing a consumer credit transaction for an amount equal to or greater than $ XXXX 2 ) Refusal to honor the " NO PRESET SPENDING LIMIT '' by setting a credit card limit in disguised as " spending power '' for multiple transactions. 

3 ) Amex has caused II. REFUSAL TO PROVIDE BALANCE REFUND CHECK : According to 15 U.S. Code 1666d - Treatment of credit balances : Whenever a credit balance in excess of {$1.00} is created in connection with a consumer credit transaction through ( 1 ) transmittal of funds to a creditor in excess of the total balance due on an account, ( 2 ) rebates of unearned finance charges or insurance premiums, or ( 3 ) amounts otherwise owed to or held for the benefit of an obligor, the creditor shall ( A ) credit the amount of the credit balance to the consumers account ; ( B ) refund any part of the amount of the remaining credit balance, upon request of the consumer ; and ( C ) make a good faith effort to refund to the consumer by cash, check, or money order any part of the amount of the credit balance remaining in the account for more than XXXX months, except that no further action is required in any case in which the consumers current location is not known by the creditor and can not be traced through the consumers last known address or telephone number. 

On XX/XX/2024 the consumer initiate a billing error dispute for the amount of {$8000.00} USD via a credit balance refund request to Amex 's authorized online portal. The request is identifiable by Ref. No. XXXX. Amex has made claims that it resolved the issue on the same date and via my online account has stated that it has provided me with a letter, email, or verbal advise detailing the resolution of my inquiry. To this date, I have not received the requested credit balance refund check, nor have I received any specific details as to the resolution of this matter. 



III. REFUSAL TO RESOLVE BILLING ERROR DISPUTE : On XX/XX/2024 the consumer initiate a payment dispute for the amount of {$21000.00} USD identifiable via reference number XXXX due to the fact that AMEX refused to process a consumer payment. Amex has yet to provide any details, resolutions, nor compensation for the Claims Paid Dispute and is currently liable for damages caused to the consumer for causing Adverse Actions without notice and refusing to process the authorized consumer credit transaction which was initiated with an authorized charge card issued by Amex. 


It is the hopes of the consumer that Amex elects to provide swift and just compensation to the consumer in order to remedy all damages caused. It is also the hopes of the consumer that Amex honors its obligations under the open end credit plan. In the event that Amex elects to neglect their lawful duties to the charge card holder ( s ), the consumer retains all rights to seek remedy by initiating a Federal Civil Court Case against Amex as it has reason to believe that Amex is willfully committing consumer credit violations and is also potentially committing securities fraud.