Consumer complaint received 2024-05-08
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (LA)

On, or around XX/XX/XXXX, I applied for the enforcement of the servicemember Civil Relief act ; XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and Re-employment Rights act ( RS 29:422 ). On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an approval email response stating that any : " new cards activity will receive an Annual Percentage Rate ( APR ) of 0.00 % for the duration of active-duty service. If applicable, credit was issued for fees and billed interest and will appear on an upcoming billing statement ( s ). Balances incurred during XXXX XXXX will return to the Standard Annual Percentage Rate ( APR ) as stated in your Cardmember Agreement upon completion of XXXX XXXX. American Express will provide notification of exit and applicable rate increases at least 45 days prior to exit ''. 
I did not receive any credits on either card or were they applied to my billing statements. Basically, I am being refused credit for any interest or fees charged illegally on the cards I hold. Furthermore, the states Ohio, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania extend this act to all charge obligation originated XXXX XXXX XXXX. I am an XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX  in Louisiana, and I fulfill the requirements for credits to be applied for previous charges. As a result, on XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted American Express again to resolve the matter and assure they understood my desire. The person I spoke with informed me that I needed to file a new request, and that he would make sure to annotate the Louisiana code in the notes. Also, I should expect to receive a response by the end of the month, which is closer to their 60-day deadline. Since that 60-day deadline was approaching I reached out today XXXX XXXX. XXXX to receive an update. During this call, the lady I spoke with advised me that SCRA ( state benefits ) has been applied to my cards, but they would only apply it back until XXXX, when the letter was mailed out. However, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received the following response through CFPB : " We thank you for your service and for providing the documents in your correspondence. We received your request to have your account reviewed for SCRA benefits on XX/XX/XXXX, and you were approved for the benefit ( SCRA benefits not LA state benefit ) on XX/XX/XXXX. The Annual Membership Fee was billed on your Platinum Card ending with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, and we issued a credit for the Annual Membership Fee of {$550.00} which appears on your enclosed XX/XX/XXXX billing statement. On XX/XX/XXXX, you notified us of your new mailing address. On XX/XX/XXXX, you requested Louisiana state relief ( Which I had only found out about through networking with new coworkers and a XXXXXXXX XXXX  I stumbled onto ), and the account was enrolled on XX/XX/XXXX, as explained in the enclosed outcome email. We explained new Card activity, will receive an Annual Percentage Rate ( APR ) of 0.00 % for the duration of XXXX XXXX. If applicable, credit was issued for fees and billed interest and will appear on an upcoming billing statement. Balances incurred during XXXX XXXX will return to the Standard APR as stated in your enclosed Cardmember Agreements ( CMAs ) upon completion of XXXX XXXX. As no fees or interest charges were due no credits were issued. Its important to know, we enrolled your XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  account ending with XXXX that was opened on XX/XX/XXXX, in the Louisiana state relief on XX/XX/XXXX ''. 
So, if SCRA was implemented in XX/XX/XXXX, why wouldn't my state benefit be retroactively applied to the same time? I was unaware of the existence of state benefits at the time, which is why I did not ask for them directly. Only recently, via networking with new coworkers and a XXXXXXXX XXXX I came into knowledge about provision states, hence, me learning about the Louisiana State Benefit. Therefore, in actuality, this information was not mentioned and only thing was discussed were military lending act and SCRA when the disclosure was read to me. Nothing, was ever said about key provision state and the state benefits that comes along with it. So, in reality I was consequently mislead about all of my rights and benefits from this company. Throughout this time, I have been charged interest rates greater than 0 % when my bill was not paid in full for the month, which you stated on multiple occasions were your standard rates for all military under SCRA. Even though I am still not happy with the outcome after obtaining the first couple responses, CFPB suggested to try again before escalating the matter further. Finally, I feel I am entitled to the perks you have mentioned in your emails and the fees should be return because I have been a member since XXXX and an XXXX XXXX member since XX/XX/XXXX. Also, I've spoke with others and have screenshots of them receiving different replies and having their accounts credited back.