Consumer complaint received 2021-09-26
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (TX)

On XX/XX/XXXX, American Express received my request for debt validation. All they did was send me a cardholder agreement, not a valid contract. Attached below is a copy of that cardholder agreement. 

Pursuant to 16 CFR 433.1, 433.2 & 433.3 433.2 Preservation of consumers ' claims and defenses, unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 
In connection with any sale or lease of goods or services to consumers, in or affecting commerce as commerce is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, it is an unfair or deceptive act or practice within the meaning of section 5 of that Act for a seller, directly or indirectly, to : ( a ) Take or receive a consumer credit contract which fails to contain the following provision in at least ten point, bold face, type : NOTICE ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE SELLER OF GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED PURSUANT HERETO OR WITH THE PROCEEDS HEREOF. RECOVERY HEREUNDER BY THE DEBTOR SHALL NOT EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER. 

or, ( b ) Accept, as full or partial payment for such sale or lease, the proceeds of any purchase money loan ( as purchase money loan is defined herein ), unless any consumer credit contract made in connection with such purchase money loan contains the following provision in at least ten point, bold face, type : NOTICE ANY HOLDER OF THIS CONSUMER CREDIT CONTRACT IS SUBJECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND DEFENSES WHICH THE DEBTOR COULD ASSERT AGAINST THE SELLER OF GOODS OR SERVICES OBTAINED WITH THE PROCEEDS HEREOF. RECOVERY HEREUNDER BY THE DEBTOR SHALL NOT EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID BY THE DEBTOR HEREUNDER. 

The Cardholder agreement failed to disclose this, therefore, this was an unfair and deceptive act on behalf of American Express.

Also pursuant to 18 USC 894, ( a ) Whoever knowingly participates in any way, or conspires to do so, in the use of any extortionate means ( 1 ) to collect or attempt to collect any extension of credit, or ( 2 ) to punish any person for the nonrepayment thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

( b ) In any prosecution under this section, for the purpose of showing an implicit threat as a means of collection, evidence may be introduced tending to show that one or more extensions of credit by the creditor were, to the knowledge of the person against whom the implicit threat was alleged to have been made, collected or attempted to be collected by extortionate means or that the nonrepayment thereof was punished by extortionate means. ( c ) In any prosecution under this section, if evidence has been introduced tending to show the existence, at the time the extension of credit in question was made, of the circumstances described in section 892 ( b ) ( 1 ) or the circumstances described in section 892 ( b ) ( 2 ), and direct evidence of the actual belief of the debtor as to the creditors collection practices is not available, then for the purpose of showing that words or other means of communication, shown to have been employed as a means of collection, in fact carried an express or implicit threat, the court may in its discretion allow evidence to be introduced tending to show the reputation of the defendant in any community of which the person against whom the alleged threat was made was a member at the time of the collection or attempt at collection. 

American Express has been in violation of using extortionate means through harassment and false impersonation of a lawyer/attorney which is also a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692e .