Consumer complaint received 2026-04-12 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint because American Express has confirmed that XXXX of my Membership Rewards points have been rendered inaccessible for their intended purpose due to an institutional system migration issue that Amex has known about since XX/XX/XXXX but that was not disclosed to me until my seventh call on XX/XX/XXXX, thirty-nine days later. During those 39 days, across six prior calls totaling nearly four hours, Amex representatives proposed individualized " fixes '' for what was in fact a systemic platform migration problem, and one of those fixes which I agreed to based on incomplete information made my account situation materially worse. THE POINTS AT STAKE I have XXXX Membership Rewards points, accumulated over years of card membership. These points are linked to my American Express XXXX XXXX card, which provides premium redemption benefits including a 35 % Pay With Points rebate on my selected airline ( XXXX XXXX ) when booking through Amex XXXX, promotional transfer bonuses to airline and hotel partners, and full access to the Amex XXXX redemption platform. Through these credit card XXXX XXXX, the points have an effective value of approximately {$18000.00} or more in travel. XX/XX/XXXX AMEX IDENTIFIES THE INSTITUTIONAL ISSUE ( NOT DISCLOSED TO ME ) On or around XX/XX/XXXX, American Express internally identified a system migration issue affecting its Membership Rewards platform. This issue affects multiple customers. I was not notified. XX/XX/XXXX MY TRANSFER FAILS AND I BEGIN CALLING In early XX/XX/XXXX, I attempted a routine transfer of XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX for an upcoming XXXX trip. The transfer failed. I called Amex on XX/XX/XXXX XXXX days after Amex internally identified the system migration issue and was told to wait XXXX hours. No one mentioned a systemic issue. XX/XX/XXXX A WORKAROUND MAKES THINGS WORSE On my second call ( XX/XX/XXXX ), representative XXXX ( identifier GC XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and I discussed resolution options. We jointly agreed to create a second XXXX XXXX and port the XXXX point balance from the old account to the new one as a workaround. At no point during this call was I told that the underlying cause was a known system migration affecting multiple customers. Had I known this, I would not have agreed to create a new account structure on top of an already-unstable platform migration. I would have waited for the engineering fix. The new account could not receive the transfer. I was told to wait XXXX hours. XX/XX/XXXX XXXX MORE CALLS, THREE MORE MISDIRECTIONS - Call XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX, evening ) : Follow-up. No resolution. - Call XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX minutes ) : A different representative identified the blocker as a restriction on my Business Checking account. I was transferred to the Checking team, walked through an online verification popup, and the restriction was cleared. The points remained stuck. Still no mention of a systemic issue. - Call XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX minutes ) : I was told a back-end team needed to close an open ticket. Target date : XX/XX/XXXX. I was told to wait. XX/XX/XXXX PROMISED DATE PASSES WITH NO COMMUNICATION XX/XX/XXXX came and went. No callback. No resolution. No email. No notification. I waited XXXX additional days. XX/XX/XXXX SUPERVISOR CALL MAKES THINGS ACTIVELY WORSE On XX/XX/XXXX, I called again and was escalated to a supervisor who identified herself as " XXXX '' ( spelled C-E-R-A ) from the Banking Servicing XXXX department XXXX The call lasted XXXX hour and XXXX minutes. Critical event during the call : When the call began, I could still see my full XXXX point balance in my credit card redemption interface. During the call, an Amex back-end process re-linked my Business Checking account from my original XXXX XXXX ( XXXX points ) to the secondary XXXX XXXX ( XXXX points ). As a result, the XXXX balance disappeared from my credit card redemption interface in real time during the supervisor call. I have screenshots taken at XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX showing both XXXX XXXX visible ( XXXX and XXXX ) proving the full balance was accessible before the mid-call change. The supervisor verbally acknowledged during the call : XXXX. The XXXX points still exist in Amex 's system. 2. I have done nothing as a customer to cause these points to become ineligible or unusable. 3. The current state is a result of Amex 's own back-end changes. 4. The workaround ( second XXXX XXXX ) created " a multi-department situation that should not have been a multi-department situation. '' XXXX. Her intention was to " refresh these points availability. '' She committed to a callback within XXXX business days. She declined to provide a ticket number, employee ID, or written confirmation. XX/XX/XXXX THE INSTITUTIONAL ISSUE IS FINALLY DISCLOSED On XX/XX/XXXX, supervisor XXXX called back ( XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX minutes ). For the first time in XXXX calls over 22 days, she disclosed : XXXX. The issue is institutional related to a system migration to a central Amex platform. XXXX. It affects multiple customers, not just my account. XXXX. Amex has known about it since approximately XX/XX/XXXX. 4. There is no ETA for resolution. She stated it will not be resolved within the next 30 days. Her proposed interim solution was for me to redeem the points as cash through the checking account. I declined. I accumulated these points over years specifically for travel, not cash. Cashing out would force me to accept approximately {$7500.00} in cash value for points worth over {$18000.00} in travel value through my XXXX XXXX card 's benefits a 58 % loss. When I asked for a Customer Relations referral, she said she did not have XXXX. She provided an automated complaint line ( XXXX ). THE FINANCIAL HARM Points value trapped in degraded profile : The XXXX points are currently accessible only through my checking account XXXX XXXX, which offers basic cash redemption and XXXX partner transfers with no promotional bonuses. My Business Platinum card 's XXXX XXXX which I pay an annual fee for include : - 35 % Pay With Points airline rebate : I have selected XXXX XXXX. The full XXXX cap of XXXX points is unused. This benefit alone is worth XXXX points ( {$3500.00} {$5300.00} ) that I can not access because the points are in the wrong XXXX XXXX. - XXXX transfer bonuses of 2040 % to airline and hotel partners ( credit card XXXX XXXX, not available through checking ). - Amex XXXX booking access with XXXX pricing. Travel plans in jeopardy : I have a XXXX trip planned for XXXX XXXX that I intended to fund using these XXXX points. These points were not accumulated casually they represent years of deliberate saving toward high-value travel redemption. I am now facing the real possibility of having to cancel this trip entirely, because paying cash for flights and hotels that I planned to cover with XXXX XXXX is not financially viable. The points that were supposed to make this trip possible are trapped in a profile that strips them of the redemption benefits that give them their full value. Constructive forfeiture : I want to be clear about what " the points still exist '' actually means in practice. Amex XXXX characterize this as a minor technical issue because the XXXX balance is still visible in their system. But points that can only be redeemed at basic cash value stripped of the 35 % airline rebate, promotional transfer bonuses, and Amex XXXX access that I pay a XXXX XXXX annual fee for are not the same points I accumulated. Telling a customer " your points are safe '' while removing the redemption benefits that make them worth accumulating is a constructive forfeiture of value, even if the nominal balance is unchanged. Time investment : XXXX calls totaling approximately XXXX hours XXXX minutes across 22 days. WHAT AMERICAN EXPRESS HAS FAILED TO DO XXXX. Disclose a known issue. Amex knew about the system migration since XX/XX/XXXX. I was not told until XX/XX/XXXX after XXXX calls and a workaround that made things worse. 2. Issue a ticket or case number. Across seven calls including a supervisor escalation, no ticket number has ever been provided. 3. Provide any written confirmation. Every commitment has been verbal only. 4. Meet its own promised deadlines. The XX/XX/XXXX resolution date passed without communication. 5. Prevent further damage. A mid-call back-end change on XX/XX/XXXX made the points less accessible, not more. 6. Offer an adequate resolution. The only proposed solution " cash it out '' asks me to absorb a 58 % value loss for Amex 's error.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief