Consumer complaint received 2026-03-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: DC

Complaint narrative:
For my business gold card, I initially had an issue with my bank that the funds could not be withdrawn on a payment I made. So I made a second payment immediately from a different account on XX/XX/XXXX. I called on XX/XX/XXXX to inquire about the payment, and they said that another attempt would be made to withdraw from the first account. Since I had already made a duplicate payment, I wanted this cancelled, but they advised it was automatic in the system. I asked the representative, if I was able to move funds around to have enough in that account, could they send the money back by ACH, because I would need the second payment sent back to me. The representative advised me, " absolutely, that is normal, I promise we can issue the second payment back once the first clears. The first was withdrawn again on XX/XX/XXXX, and so I called to initiate the refund as promised on the XXXX. The supervisor initiated a wire request and promised that this would have no issues. They also promised that any holds on the ACH account would be removed in the next couple days. I then called on the XXXX to make sure the wire was being processed, and they advised it had been initiated successfully. I then called back on the XXXX to inquire why it had not arrived, and they then informed me it had been rejected. I clearly explained that I was promised this would work and the account hold would be removed. The supervisor I spoke with once again promised a wire would be initiated, the hold would be removed, and there would be no more issues. As of the XXXX I was assured this was processed and approved. I then called on XX/XX/XXXX to inquire of the status, and was told there was absolutely no way to refund the money. I explained that multiple supervisors had explained to me the exact opposite, and this time the supervisor said, " there is nothing I can do. '' The reason they gave is that an account can not receive an ACH unless it has been on file for more than 6 months. Which is another misrepresentation, because this account has been on file with Amex for years. I explained that I only reinitiated the second payment on the promise it could be sent back, and they advised me that is too bad, because the department who handles refunds is not accessible via phone. I then as a last resort initiated a credit refund sent back to two other Amex cards. This process I was assured was submitted successfully. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another email that the payment could not be applied because the balance was not high enough for the credit. This is because in the email they listed one account, but the balance they were referencing accidentally went to a second account, without my authorization. So the representatives made yet another mistake that will cost me lots of money in interest charges, and when I called back to have it fixed, they responded that there was nothing they could do to reverse the refunds. This is Amex ' mistake, they sent it to a different account than I authorized, and yet they offer no options to remedy the situation. This is absolutely unacceptable, I obviously understand that mistakes happen in what is said, but if I rely on information from a representative, Amex has to honor that! Amex is perfectly fine taking more interest even when they make mistake after mistake in refunding this payment, yet I have to bear the burden of their mistakes.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief