Consumer complaint received 2024-06-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Company closed your account
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
Dear CFPB officials, Please join this discussion here and intervene in this case since AMEX is refusing to further communicate. Here is a summary so far for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX It is now crystal clear about two facts below as AMEX confirmed those once again in the latest response : 1. I never transferred any AMEX Membership Rewards points to travel partners, it was automatically done by AMEX since those cards are cobrand hotel credit cards by AMEX. 
2. It was AMEX 's own glitch, unable to deduct points from the hotel program, that resulted in those *unearned rewards* retained in my account. Other banks, such as XXXX, always deduct points from the hotel program by each statement. 


In another word, I have done nothing actively in retaining *unearned rewards* and indeed not even aware of this issue until AMEX told me in the last response. XXXX  XXXX cobrand hotel credit cards by XXXX always deduct XXXX points from my XXXX accounts. Please refer to my document # 1 for the transaction history of the XXXX statement. There is a refund resulting in a deduction of XXXX Points highlighted on page 2. XXXX XXXXXXXX account also shows that this amount of XXXX Points was deducted. Please refer to document # XXXX, the highlights on page 2. However, as confirmed by AMEX, the XXXX XXXX XXXX credit cards by AMEX can NOT deduct points. Such a comparison clearly shows the discrepancy is due to AMEX 's own system mistake. 

So obviously I am doing this not to gain any points but only as a travel strategy. Indeed booking and canceling reservations have become a part of my travel life. I traveled a lot and spent XXXX more nights at hotels every year and usually used resorts for meetings and events. Some resorts require advanced deposits for each reservation which charges credit cards on file. Since the travel plan always suffers to change I will have to change my plans/modify or cancel hotel reservations from time to time. Such cancellation will result as refunds onto the credit cards and negative points for deduction. And that comes the issue, although XXXX bank always processes points deduction correctly. For some details of my travel life please refer to other documents : Document # 3, 4 more months in the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Indeed the hotel charged my credit card for approximately {$2500.00} in advance. I used an alternate payment at check out and let the resort refund my credit card for the original deposit. 
Document # 5, selected hotel stay history for the recent 24 months. 


As an ultra-extensive traveler with nearly XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  in my hotel accounts, I am not even aware of total points variation from time to time. Now since AMEX clearly advised me about this issue, I will absolutely NOT use AMEX cards to book such resorts anymore. I have no intention of gaming for points and already apologize for the inconvenience of retained points issue for AMEX. Here I would like to apologize again and provide a very fair solution for both sides. 
1. I must return *unearned rewards* retained in my account to AMEX. Even if AMEX is unable to perform points deduction of Hilton anymore, you can deduct my AMEX XXXX XXXX with other AMEX cards. I have a total amount of XXXX XXXX with AMEX XXXX XXXX. AMEX can detect some parts of points with the transfering rate to Hilton Honors at XXXX. 
XXXX. Since this issue was totally based on misunderstanding of my credit card usage, my request remains to reopen all my accounts as I had done nothing wrong and was not engaged in abuse with earning points.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation