Consumer complaint received 2025-05-29 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
On or about XX/XX/year>, I activated my American Express credit card ( account ending in XXXX ) and linked my checking account for automatic payments ( autopay ) at the same time using American Expresss own online portal.

Despite this simultaneous activation and autopay authorization, American Express failed to register the autopay setup, a technical and systemic failure fully within their control. They later claimed that autopay was not found until XX/XX/year> more than XXXX months later which is blatantly false and provably incorrect based on the fact that my bank account was successfully linked and confirmed during the card activation process. 

As a direct result of this system defect, they assessed {$10.00} and {$21.00} in late fees and {$0.00} in interest not because of consumer error or negligence, but due to internal failure of their infrastructure. These unlawful charges were immediately disputed, but American Express specifically, an employee in their executive response unit refused to reverse them, citing generic internal records and invoking the Cardmember Agreement to justify these fraudulent charges.

Their response is inadequate, deceptive, and in direct violation of multiple consumer protection laws. A Cardmember Agreement does not nullify or override federal or state statutes, nor does it protect American Express from liability when their systems fail to opera
te as advertised.

MANDATORY COMPLIANCE & LEGAL VIOLATIONS : American Express is required to comply with the following federal and state protections, which they have clearly violated : Truth in Lending Act ( TILA ) 15 U.S. Code 1601 et seq. : Requires fair and accurate billing practices.

Fair Credit Billing Act ( FCBA ) 15 U.S. Code 1666 : Mandates fair resolution of billing disputes.

FTC Act 5 15 U.S.C. 45 : Prohibits unfair or deceptive acts in commerce.

Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ( FDCPA ) 15 U.S.C. 1692 : Applies to the collection of illegitimate fees.

Uniform Commercial Code ( UCC ) 2-302 Unconscionable Contract or Clause : Disallows enforcement of one-sided contract terms resulting from a system error.

New York General Business Law 349 : Prohibits deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce in the state.

DEMAND FOR PROOF OF CLAIM : This is a formal proof of claim demand under UCC 1-308, USC Title 15, and FTC enforcement guidelines : Amex must provide the following : Verifiable and timestamped system records proving that autopay was not authorized or attempted at the time of card activation.

Legal basis under federal and state law justifying the imposition of late fees resulting from their own registration failure.

Evidence that the refusal to issue a goodwill reversal was compliant with federal dispute resolution requirements under the FCBA.

Failure to produce all three proofs constitutes an admission of systemic failure, unlawful enrichment, and deceptive business practices. I assert that American Express can not and will not be able to produce legitimate proof because the failure occurred on their end, not mine.

Pattern of Unfair Business Conduct This incident is likely not isolated. If American Expresss autopay registration system fails to capture payment authorizations during card activation, then thousands of consumers may be unlawfully charged late fees and denied reversal under the false pretense of policy.

Their refusal to take accountability is not only unethical it is criminal negligence in the administration of consumer financial services. They are choosing to exploit the complexity of billing systems to extract unearned income from trusting consumers.

REQUEST FOR ENFORCEMENT : I am requesting the following from the CFPB : Full reversal of all late fees and interest assessed due to American Expresss system failure.

Regulatory audit of their autopay registration platform and customer onboarding procedures.

Civil penalties against American Express for deceptive trade practices. 

Public accountability for the employees and departments responsible for perpetuating this abuse.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation