Consumer complaint received 2026-04-29 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Can't use card to make purchases
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
American Express charged me {$890.00} on XX/XX/year> for " benefits, '' but with their suddenly imposed restrictions, the card 's only function is to tell me declined. If I can not even use my card, I genuinely do not know what benefits they are referring to. Their official explanation is that the fee " supports my benefits. '' One has to admire the conviction required to write such a statement, Amex should know that it is a dangerous game to claim that on paper, as it becomes their official statement. It is just astonishing how out of touch American Express is, truly. What Happened : XXXX payments were returned. I take full responsibility for the first. I failed to confirm sufficient funds, however I immediately made a goodwill payment upon notification, and American Express 's own second attempt on that payment also cleared successfully. American Express then required an additional payment to restore card access. It was a Friday and I was unable to transfer funds from my checking account in time. I linked my XXXX brokerage account as the funds were held there. That payment bounced, but was corrected the same day I received notification. American Express created the conditions for that failure and then used it against me, so now my no preset limit charge card has a preset spending limit of {$4200.00}, with no explanation but they conducted a Financial Review and no opportunity to respond. On the same day they imposed a limit on a no preset limit charge card, they emailed me reminding me not to leave my {$100.00} XXXX credit " on the table. '' I would like to know how I am supposed to use a {$100.00} dining credit when they are blocking {$5.00} purchases. They continued with personalized emails promoting premium lounges, XXXX XXXX Airfares, and Amex Experiences. Again, I would like to ask how I am supposed to access any of these things when there is a hard cap on my account, despite being in good standing. With the account status, these marketing emails are straight up tone deaf and completely inappropriate given the hardships they put me through. The Annual Fee : In my previous complaints I requested a waiver of the {$890.00} annual fee. American Express responded verbatim : " We can not waive this fee because it supports your benefits and helps us provide best-in-class services. We want to provide you with benefits and services that are both valuable and relevant to your day-to-day needs. '' I have been on a restricted account for several months. I would genuinely like American Express to identify which benefits I have been able to access, because I am paying {$890.00} for a {$4200.00} spending limit and a lot of marketing emails. They claim this fee funds best-in-class service. I have had multiple hours-long calls with no resolution and XXXX complaints met with the same form letter, not a single concern addressed. I have also had multiple instances in which I was unable to reach the XXXX XXXX line to receive their best in class service, it disconnects immediately, at least pretend to give me a fake dial tone? American Express maintains that this constitutes best-in-class service verbatim, then this complaint also concerns false advertising but that is a matter I will leave to the OCC. Harm : Regardless of any eventual resolution, the harm is already done. I have spent several months with a paper weight, during a period of significant personal and financial stress, including a wrongful termination. American Express added fuel to the fire, leaving me not knowing if I could pay for food, yet I was still charged {$890.00} for benefits I could not access. The benefits are secondary to me, I would have settled for a functioning card. XXXX complaints remain completely unaddressed, amex produced the document purely to satisfy regulatory requirements, again best in class supposedly. On top of everything multiple marketing emails about perks I can not access. Out of touch does not begin to cover this clown behavior, I dont know how else to describe all of this. Restoring my limit tomorrow does not undo the damage that has already been done. The physical and psychological toll can not be quantified to a number. I will leave the question of remediation to their best-in-class service team, as they have yet to provide anything of substance. Apparently, restricting my access to basic necessities while I am fighting for my rights is American Express providing me with benefits that are " valuable and relevant to my day-to-day needs. '' XXXX more thing that infuriated me was that I called the concierge, as it is my birthday month, I asked for a favor to reach out to cosmetic counters by phone, never have I ever mentioned any purchase, I was simply attempting to get birth day gifts from cosmetic counters, however the concierge felt compelled to tell me that my account is currently capped, which had not a single thing to do with my request, to amex this might be best in class but to me it is just rude. I am exhausted with filing these complaints. This is not something I want to do, but I guess this is what my XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX me for. American Express has left me with no other option every attempt at resolution has been met with non-response or indifference. I am in disbelief that American Express considers a templated response that fails to address a single raised issue to be acceptable, I also worked in large corporations I know there are extensive templates that just requires filling out info, so I advise amex to try harder next time, I can tell. I do have the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to know that the response included nothing of substance, I do not know how amex thinks that their letter would satisfy my complaint, I do not know if amex assumes I do not have basic critical thinking skills, the response letter is just insulting. If American Express believes that they provided a reasonable response, then by the same logic, I could give them a bad check and call it payment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation