Consumer complaint received 2024-07-10 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: CA

Complaint narrative:
American Express Credit Card Financial Relief Program On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email an on the top right corner you could see a picture of my XXXX XXXX American Express card and it also displayed the last 5 digits of my card number. This email stated " you may qualify for temporarily lowered monthly payments and interest rates with American Express Financial Relief Program ( FRP ). In addition to my credit card I also have a personal loan as well. Soon after I decided to take advantage of the FRP program for both my credit card and personal loan. I clicked on the link and proceeded to follow all the steps to enroll my card and personal loan. I got a confirmation that I was enrolled and my personal loan monthly payment dropped in half. I also saw my credit card interest charges get reversed in the amount of {$190.00} on XX/XX/XXXX with the following description " Will appear as a credit on your XX/XX/XXXX statement as CR ADJ FOR FINANCE CHARGE ''. I was very happy that Amex could help me and was feeling good that everything was taken care of. 

Months later a merchant that I had autopay set up with tried running my Amex card and the charge was declined, as I had expected. On XX/XX/XXXX I got an email that said " the transaction below has been declined because you are enrolled in the Financial Relief Program '', the amount was {$180.00}. This was not a surprise as I was promised lower interest and no annual fees while I was in the program. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I get a {$650.00} renewal membership fee charged to my card and it alarmed me. I looked at my statements and found that I have been charged the full interest and the annual fee for a card that does not work as it says it is enrolled in the program. 

I started calling Amex multiple times and have spoken to many departments. They all said they see a problem that the card was not enrolled. They all admit that it is a problem, and share that it is a system problem and every department I spoke to from regular customer service to the FRP group all said that I have to talk to the back office department located in Florida. They stated they can not call them, email them nor could transfer me to them and that they only take cases. Multiple cases were opened on my behalf. I did my very best waiting for their call, after I did not get a call back I would call again and have them submit another case. I have had to repeat myself so many times. 

Fast forward on XX/XX/XXXX I get a call and answer it, it is a person finally from this special back office department that everyone said could help me get enrolled as they had the ability to do things in the system manually and they could reverse my interest and the annual fee. The person that called me said he was sorry that he could not enroll me because the system will not let him. He also said that he can not reverse the charges because it is the regular customer service department that handles this. He transferred me to the regular customer service line. The agent stated she can not do it, then transfers me to a supervisor and he says he can not do it and that the charges are correct. I asked him if he knew why I was asking for the credits, he said no. I had to spend more time explaining everything all over again. He then says that he will research and discuss with the FRP group. He comes back to the line and says he has the FRP on the line and that they will help me. The FRP agent then told me the same thing I have been hearing for months that they have to open a case to get it to this back office team. I informed the agent that I already got a call from them and there have been many cases open. He advises me that the system problem won't allow him to enroll me nor can he credit the interest and annual fee. 

On XX/XX/XXXX when I log into my Amex card, a banner shows this : You are enrolled in the Financial Relief Program. If you make additional payments over and above your plan amount, you can complete the Financial Relief Program sooner. Please note that the amount due on this page may be inaccurate. Please refer to your statement or confirmation letter for your required plan amount and other important terms and conditions. '' I have done my very best to get help during this difficult time, American Express has failed me. No one wants to take ownership of their system problems and failure to meet the commitments they have made to me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation