Consumer complaint received 2024-03-15
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly — Talked to a third-party about your debt
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (UT)

XXXX XXXX ( I may be a letter off on the last name as there was a heavy accent to where I was unable to understand fully ). My wife, XXXX XXXX kept receiving repeated calls that had been going on for a month. The calls would happen XXXX times per Day to my wife and myself. These calls would be while we both were working so we were unable to answer and the number to call back would be a " non working/available '' number after hours. On XX/XX/XXXX my wife, XXXX XXXX clocked out of work to take the phone call that repeatedly would call, when she took the phone call, the man on the other line asked her for XXXX XXXX and she said he was at work but how could she help him ( the man on the phone ) He asked my wife how she was affiliated with me and when she said spouse the man then asked for my Birthdate. My wife gave it to him then the man proceeded to say that He is calling with American Express and he is calling to collect a Debt that XXXX XXXX owes and they were unable to get ahold of XXXX XXXX and so in order for XXXX XXXX 's account to not be transferred to a 3rd Party collection agency that the amount would need to be paid on XX/XX/XXXX. My wife was taken back and shocked, she knew that we had fallen behind on bills and we were trying to get caught back up and she told the man that she wanted to help in any way possible however she could not pay the amount he was alleging was owed ( {$5800.00} ish ) she said she was getting paid and could promise {$350.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and would possibly be able to pay {$700.00} on XX/XX/XXXX but she told the man she is not 100 % sure and she is too nervous to commit to anything arrangement as she is taken off guard and would need to look at her finances first so that this commitment didnt put her back in to a bind that she was trying to pull herself out of. The man then told her, " Well mam if you are saying you can pay {$350.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and {$700.00} on XX/XX/XXXX then you should have no problem committing to set up arrangements to may minimum payments of {$1000.00} per month until your debt is paid off. '' My wife responded with, " No I am not commiting to paying an additional {$700.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, I said I can possibly however I cant promise because I need to go over what I am able to officially pay and I can tell you right now there is no way I can committ to {$1000.00} every month '' The man replied with, " Well in order for your account to not be transferred to a 3rd party collection agency you will need to pay that minimum this month, I want to help you not get transferred but if you don't pay that this month I can't help you and your account will be transferred and then the 3rd party agencies have tendencies to garnish wages ''. My wife was frantic and then said, " yes I wll pay {$350.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and {$700.00} on XX/XX/XXXX '' The man responded with " I need to know you will pay this because if it declines then I can not help you keep your account from transferring '' my wife said, " I can't promise but I am going to try my hardest to figure something out ''. The man then proceeded to take my wife 's checking account information and had her authorize payment to be applied to XXXX XXXX 's account, He also told my wife to take down his number that he called from, " the arizona area code number, he is the one that is handling this account directly '' ( his words, so my wife naturally thought it was Arizona he was calling from ). My wife called me after her conversation with the man and I was confused about the balance he was saying was owed, so when i got home that night at XXXX XXXX I tried calling the number and it had a recording saying the line was unavailable and then it would hang up. Instantly my wife and I started to panic as to who called to get our bank account information from us and is it a spam? So, we waited to call back the following morning. The next day came and by the time we both got off work the number was going to the same not working number. This same day XX/XX/XXXX, We received a call from a long-distance cousin affiliated with my wife 's stepdads ' family saying that a man from American Express has been calling his phone XXXX times a day for the past XXXX weeks trying to get in contact with XXXX XXXX. This took me by surprise that this person was getting phone calls as this is an estranged stepfamily member. This panicked and embarrassed me as to how many people are finding out about our financial hardship? We then out of curiosity called XXXX other family members and they said that they have been getting harassing phone calls as well multiple times a week and even at times 2 times a day. They knew our financial struggle and they didn't want to add to any embarrassment, so they kept hush about it. I had never authorized any of these people to be a contact for my financial business. The number was the same exact Arizona number that my wife had confirmed called her as well. I called American Express card services and when I called the rep was unable to pull up my account. After some digging on the account, she said that the account was with a 3rd party collection agency, and they are no longer handling our account and we needed to contact a different phone number. I gave American Express Authorization to talk with my wife about my account, my wife got on the line and said she spoke with someone from the number of XXXX. The amex rep then said she is unaware what number that is and that I would have to call a different phone number. My wife then said that When she spoke with XXXX he said he was with Amex and she needed to pay to avoid to being sent to collections '' The Amex rep acted very confused and said the account was in collections. My wife then said, I am really frustrated and embarrassed because we are trying our best to get caught up and make things right with our financial situation and your American express has contacted multiple people outside of our close trusted family to air that we are in collections and I don't want it to continue '' the Amex rep said, we do not contact anyone other than who is listed on the account and if that has been done then that is not affiliated with our company '' My wife then explained that what details the man that called her told a family member was close to airing our financial debt amount that we feel needs to be private and our business only. " The rep kept apologizing and assuring that she agreed if the man did reach out to nonaffiliated family members to try and get in touch with XXXX that was unauthorized that this is a violation, and that American Express does not allow that. My wife asked the rep where she was located, and the rep said XXXX '' I got that number the rep told me to call to get in contact with the people handling our account and it was not the number that had been calling everyone '' My wife called XXXX at the XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to inform him that he violated my ( XXXX XXXX 's ) right with the FDCPA due to him claiming to be directly affiliated with AmEx and that he has harassed multiple people ( family and non-family ) to try and either embarrass me in to calling him or to potentially take bait as to who will pay money towards the alleged debt that he claimed is owing for me. XXXX, then said, if you feel i violated that right then I will file a complaint, my wife let him know it was very violating finding out that he had called people we were estranged from and actually had no affiliation to me however this man was calling multiple times a day to say it's a very important business matter in regard to an account with American Express. He then claimed he didn't give details as to the amount that was owing only that it was in regard to XXXX 's AmEx account and XXXX needed to call asap. XXXX then said, " well XXXX wasn't calling me back so I took matters into my own hands to get him to contact me '' My wife informed him that was very violating and embarrassing and so his tactic was to embarrass XXXX in to calling him? XXXX just remained silent on the phone for a few seconds, then my wife said, " You didn't have a clue who I was when you called me and all you asked was how I knew XXXX XXXX and for all you knew was I could have been an ex-girlfriend claiming to be his spouse and you freely gave me all the details of what was owing and how late his account was past due '' XXXX then paused and told my wife, " Is XXXX XXXX there with you, I will need to speak with him, if you feel i have violated this then i will file a complaint. '' My wife said, " You didn't need to speak with him on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX when you were informing me of a balance supposedly, he owed and when you were setting up a payment arrangement from my account, so yes absolutely we feel violated by all of this. I want you to stop contacting anyone, but XXXX XXXX 's number and you may only reach him by email or US postal mail as this has caused such emotional damage of embarrassment. '' XXXX then said that he does work directly for American Express, and he is only doing what he was trained to do and that my account was not in collections with a 3rd party. '' My wife asked why an actual rep would say that? '' he said he is not sure, and she must be mistaken and unaware because he is in a different department? " My wife felt very Frustrated by the man XXXX because XXXX told my wife, I will delete all contacts and any payment arrangement you have made, what would you like me to do from here? My wife asked I would like this alleged debt to be cleared because XXXX is unaware of this debt '' he said, " I tried calling him but he doesn't answer '' My wife then asked him to stop harassing anyone in regard to XXXX XXXX 's file. He said he has made note of the account and will stop all collection calls and scheduled payments. My wife then asked XXXX why he would continue to call the nonaffiliated people the day after she thought arrangements were made? XXXX responded with ; I don't have recollection of me calling but if I did, I apologize for that. '' My wife asked him to check his records and XXXX said he doesn't have any knowledge of him calling but maybe it could be someone else from his department. '' Wife said, " I thought you were the only one handling XXXX account per our conversation on XX/XX/XXXX? '' He then responded with, " Yes mam i am .... '' long pause from XXXX. He asked if there is anything further, he can do for the account and my wife let him know she would be reporting this as it was in violation of the FDCPA. He said, " okay understandable. '' My wife asked if he was familiar with the FDCPA, " he said yes '' she responded with " So you are aware of the violation on his account, right? XXXX did not respond to my wife 's question. She then asked if he was located in the XXXX and he replied " NO '' she asked why he portrayed he was from Arizona, His response '' I didn't tell you where I was located only to take down the number I called from which all I told you was an Arizona zip code '' She said, " That felt very misleading to me as you specifically said it was 'your Arizona number '. So where are you located? He responded with " XXXX ''. My wife felt so frustrated and confused that she asked XXXX to stop calling people and to contact me via US postal mail. The man claiming to be from American Express did sound as if he knew he violated the FDCPA but he wasn't going to come through and fully admit other than he will stop all collection activity.