Consumer complaint received 2022-08-15
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (IL)

In XX/XX/2019 my American Express Blue card was closed. Shortly after it was closed by American Express ; about 2-3 months after it was closed I begin receiving called from a debt collector stating that American Express had turned over the debt to them. I amount stated was several thousands more than my authorized charges. I immediately did two things- I notified the debt collector that the debt was not mine and that the amount reported was higher than any amount I ever used. I suspected fraud. I notified them both verbally and a couple days later in writing. I further sent them a debt validation letter per the Fair Debt Practices Act formally requesting that the collector validates the debt and clearly stating my dispute of this debt. Additionally that same day I contacted American Express and communicated the same thing to them. I was told that they no longer had the account and that I should only communicate with the debt collector to resolve it. After a few months of waiting on the debt collector, I received another call from the same debt collector demanding payment. I asserted again that I had previously sent a debt validation letter ( the amount that was claimed was and is still in dispute ). After speaking with a supervisor I was informed that American Express had not yet responded to their request in order to provide me the information as required by law. I was further told that they were going to send the debt back to American Express and I would not receive any more calls or letters from them. Per their word, I never heard from that debt collector again. However, about five months later a different debt collector hired by American Express began contacting me. I again informed them verbally and by mail within the required 30 days that the amount of debt was incorrect and I sent them a formal debt validation letter per the Fair Debt Practices Act formally requesting that the collector validates the debt and clearly stating my dispute of this debt. Again, I heard nothing for several weeks. I again called American Express who again said that they no longer had the debt and that I needed to discuss my account with the debt collector. After several weeks I called the debt collector and was told similar to the first debt collector that American Express had not responded to their request and they had nothing to provide me. Apparently that debt collector sent the account back to American Express. I never heard from them again. Sadly this process would happen once more ( now for the third time with again a different debt collector ). Again, the same request and again American Express did not respond to apparently the debt collector they hired to collect on this debt that was not mine. After the third debt collector sent the debt back to American Express I heard nothing else from any additional debt collectors hired by American Express, nor did I hear from American Express in over a year.

American Express has reported to all three major credit reporting agencies this debt, in spite of knowing for several years that I disputed the debt due to fraud. American Express had refused to comply with federal laws governing debt reporting and fraud investigation request by a consumer. Instead American Express had used three different debt collection agencies to try and ignore the requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Act. The have bluntly violated the requirements by hopping from debt collector to debt collector knowing full well that the debt is not mine, and making no attempt to follow the requirements of the FDCA. I am asking that a full investigation into their blatant violation and disregard of the Fair Debt Collection Act, be opened. As of todays date American Express still has not opened a fraud investigation, nor communicated the results of this fraud, and in spite of four requests for validation of the debt- choose to ignore all three and instead hop from debt collector to debt collector instead of complying with FDCA .