Consumer complaint received 2026-05-13 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: KS

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint because American Express is continuing to bill, collect, and pressure me for payment on an identity-theft disputed account while giving false, misleading, and materially incomplete responses about the status of its investigation. I received an American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card statement for account ending in XXXX, with a closing date of XX/XX/year> and a payment due date of XX/XX/year>. The statement claims a new balance of {$4300.00} and demands a minimum payment of {$440.00}. It also states that the account is past due, includes a past-due amount of {$400.00}, warns of a late fee of up to {$39.00}, and threatens that my APRs may be increased to the penalty APR of 29.99 %. At the same time, American Express admits on the same statement : Your billing inquiry is under investigation. No payment on the amount under review of {$2000.00} is required at this time. This is contradictory, deceptive, and misleading. American Express is claiming the matter is under investigation while also treating me as past due, demanding payment, threatening late fees, threatening penalty APR consequences, and continuing collection pressure. That appears designed to scare or coerce payment before the fraud and identity-theft issues are resolved. American Express has already been placed on repeated notice that this account chain is disputed as identity theft. My FTC Identity Theft Report XXXX. XXXX states that the disputed American Express account number XXXX and related account ending in XXXX were not opened, authorized, used, or ratified by me. It also states that my XXXX XXXX XXXX debit card/account, including debit card ending in XXXX, was compromised, and that payment activity from a compromised debit or bank account does not establish that I knowingly opened, authorized, used, or accepted liability for the disputed American Express account XXXX American Express has also been given a XXXX fraud alert showing fraud monitoring was triggered on my debit card ending in XXXX. Despite that evidence, American Express previously claimed that payments from my XXXX account meant I accepted liability for the American Express account. That claim is false, misleading, and directly contradicted by the identity-theft evidence I provided. XXXX XXXX XX/XX/year> CFPB response refused to accept my fraud claim, refused to delete or change its reporting, and claimed that payments from XXXX proved liability. XXXX XXXX XX/XX/year> CFPB response then stated that account ending in XXXX is in litigation and that account ending in XXXX was still under fraud investigation. Despite admitting that fraud investigation activity was still underway, American Express continued billing me on account ending XXXX and continued treating the account as past due. This American Express credit card does not appear on my current XXXX, XXXX, or XXXX credit reports. American Express is therefore continuing to bill and collect on an identity-theft disputed account that is not currently appearing as a valid tradeline on my consumer credit reports. That further supports that the account is disputed, unverifiable, blocked, suppressed, deleted, or otherwise not being reported as a valid ordinary account, while American Express still attempts to pressure me for payment. I believe American Express is lying by omission and suppressing important evidence. It is not honestly addressing the FTC Identity Theft Report, the XXXX fraud alert, the compromised payment-source issue, the related account-number chain, or the fact that account XXXX has repeatedly been disputed as part of the same identity-theft event. Instead, American Express keeps presenting the account as valid and collectible while withholding a full explanation of what evidence it reviewed, what evidence it ignored, and why it continues to treat me as liable despite unresolved identity-theft evidence. XXXX XXXX conduct appears fraudulent, deceptive, and abusive because it creates the false impression that I owe this alleged debt and must pay immediately to avoid harm, even though the account is disputed as identity theft, does not appear on my current credit reports, and American Express has not completed a fair, complete, and transparent investigation. I dispute this debt in full. I did not open, authorize, use, benefit from, ratify, or accept liability for this American Express account. I do not consent to American Express collecting, billing, reporting, suing, assigning, selling, transferring, or otherwise enforcing this alleged debt.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation