Consumer complaint received 2019-12-17
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (NC)

Complaint:
This is to describe the nature of the dispute regarding the American Express Everyday Card applied for XX/XX/2019. I will outline the ways in which American Express is currently violating the FTCs Section 5 UDAP. 

To keep it brief, I applied for a card and they approved me for an XXXX balance. This is card is a balance transfer card. The AMEX Everyday card touted 15 months of 0 % intro APR for purchases and balance transfers and {$0.00} transfer fees and {$0.00} annual fees. 

Once I received the card I called to ask about increasing my limit so I could transfer a larger amount to this card and that would help me reduce my overall balances since I wouldnt be paying interest based on the terms provided. This is where I began to learn of the limits that were not disclosed and are not available to public knowledge. I was told by a representative that the policy from AMEX is the limit allowed to transfer no matter the available limit of credit on ANY card member is the lesser of {$5000.00} or 75 % of the credit limit minus fees. This policy has been in effect since XX/XX/2019. Also I was told that there is only one transfer available per card. I would like to include that I had 3 conversations with 3 different individuals about this matter and got 3 different answers, but this one was the most concise when the  question was asked, what is AMEXs balance transfer policy? 

I had read almost every line on all of the documents I had received to see what the limits were, what percent of credit limit, what amount and nothing was listed. The only language I could find was as follows on the balance transfer application from a solicitation for the credit card : 1. You may request a balance transfer up to the eligible transfer amount, which will be based on your credit worthiness and other factors including your account history with American Express. 
2. The fee for balance transfers is {$0.00}. Balance transfers must be requested within 60 days from account opening.

3. Balances may not be transferred from any account issued by American Express or affiliates.

4. Please refer to terms and conditions insert for complete detailsshown in ( Doc B ). 
In the event that you request multiple transfers, each transfer will be processed in the order that we deem appropriate for business or other reasons up to the applicable limit.

I will expand on 2 of these items.

Item 1 : This states a member can request a transfer UP TO THE ELIGIBLE TRANSFER AMOUNT. This amount is defined by American Express internal policies only when speaking to a representative as the lesser of {$5000.00} or 75 % of the credit limit minus fees, yet not disclosed here. It is also not in any marketing documents. It then follows to say it is based on credit worthiness and other factors, etc. Those may be true, but not the full extent of the determination to what the actual balance transfer amount is. This is a misrepresentation of the statement of fact.

Item 4 is not as important, but it also seems that you can not actually make more than 1 balance transfer even if you request 5. So the statement that processing and deeming appropriate is all just filler and misdirection because the applicable limit is 1. Again, more omissions and misrepresentations regarding American Expresses balance transfer policies. 

In the terms and conditions for complete details about balance transfers there is more ambiguous language. It states the minimum limit of transfer that can be requested, but again no mention of the actual maximum limits. Then the determination of : The eligible balance transfer amount will be : I ) less than your credit limit ; II ) determined based on your credit worthiness and other factors including your account history with American Express ; and III ) Provided to you after your application has been approved. 

I would argue that this is an effort by American Express to omit information that American Express knows would affect the applications and approvals and usage of cards if provided. Therefore a lot of fluff regarding qualifications is being used to try and get around the main policy for all members and is being purposefully left out as it could lead to fewer applications and approvals when compared to other cards who do disclose such information in their marketing materials. 

After all of this information showing American Express was aware of a policy regarding balance transfer limits. They have also had customers calling frequently reporting a realization they were unaware of such limits to balance transfers. No changes have been made in at least 6 months as confirmed by a representative with American Express. Yet with all of this information at American Express disposal they chose not to disclose it in any marketing materials throughout written or electronic outlets to consumers and used ambiguous and misleading language, the question stands ; is there any real harm done. 

I have written AMEX a 6 page document with multiple supporting documents for review, spoken with several representative for clarification of the transfer procedures and process and also been in touch with a legal representative for AMEX. 

I have been in contact with a representative from AMEX legal team about this matter, but they are only interested in talking to me about my specific account and wont talk to me about this matter as it relates to all users. I have emailed back and forth with XXXX XXXX XXXX since XX/XX/2019 and spoken once on the phone on XX/XX/2019. After getting nothing settled and no progress towards a resolution as of the end of XXXX I offered to open dialogue once more regarding the issue pertaining to all users or I would report to CFPB. No one has been in touch since from AMEX. 

I firmly believe AMEX is aware they are misleading consumers by omitting information which is vital to the decision making process on choosing a credit card. By the language they omit and information they withhold they are not giving consumers the full range of information when there is policy in place that could and should be outlined as other lenders do which makes the consumer more informed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation