Consumer complaint received 2025-06-25 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Privacy issues
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I am writing to formally lodge a serious complaint regarding multiple unauthorized and inappropriate third-party contacts made by a representative of American Express in connection with my personal account. I have never given AMEX permission to contact these individuals. 

On XX/XX/year>, a specialist from AMEX contacted my father, identified herself as being a senior account specialist with AMEX looking for * my name *. My father is not an authorized user, reference, or contact on my account. I was extremely concerned by this breach of privacy and immediately called the specialist. That call was recorded.

During that call, the specialist confirmed : She contacted my father and stated she was with AMEX, looking for my name ; I am the ONLY authorized user on the account ; She could not properly explain how my fathers number was obtained This was already inappropriate but it became significantly worse. 

I later discovered that, on the same day, the same AMEX representative contacted another individual and left a documented voicemail stating my full name and identifying the caller as a senior account specialist with American Express in reference to a personal business matter that had been assigned to her. The individual contacted is a high school student with whom I have no financial, familial, or authorized relationship. I have never provided AMEX with their information, and I now have serious concerns about how many other individuals may have received similar unauthorized disclosures ( call or voicemail ) about me. 

AMEX reached out using numbers they thought were mine. I never provided or authorized those numbers. Yet they used them to disclose my identity and financial affiliation. This shows negligence in how AMEX handled my personal data. 

By contacting unauthorized individuals and leaving detailed voicemails, American Express exposed me to a significant security risk. Anyone answering those calls could have easily impersonated me and potentially gained access to my personal or financial information. Upon learning about the calls and voicemails, I called the number left in the voicemail. During that call, I was only asked to provide my name and the last XXXX digits of my phone number to verify my identity, after which the representative immediately disclosed that my account was in collectionsfurther demonstrating a serious lapse in security. 

This conduct is a violation of federal privacy law, specifically : The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ( GLBA ), 15 U.S.C. 68016809, which prohibits financial institutions from disclosing nonpublic personal information ( NPI ) to third parties without the customers explicit consent.

By contacting my father and an unrelated individual and identifying themselves as being with AMEX while leaking information about me, American Express unlawfully disclosed my XXXX. 
American Expresss own privacy policy, which pledges not to share customer information with unauthorized individuals. The unauthorized third-party contacts breach these commitments.

GLBA Safeguards Rule, which requires financial institutions to maintain procedures to prevent unauthorized disclosures and prohibits deceptive practices to obtain or share customer information. The calls and voicemail left to unauthorized parties demonstrate a failure to maintain these safeguards. 
Even saying, Im with AMEX and this message is for XXXX XXXX, is a disclosure of my financial relationship. Doing so to at least XXXX different people without any authorization one of whom I barely even know/have a related relationship with is inexcusable. I am unaware of how many other people were contacted using my full name and financial affiliation to AMEX. 

This unauthorized disclosure of my personal and financial information has caused me emotional distress and violates my privacy rights under federal law.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation