Consumer complaint received 2025-11-26 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments — Problem during payment process
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
I use my American Express cards frequently for the majority of my routine purchases and have a long, successive history of timely paying in full each month. I have a long history of paying in full - never missing payments or carrying balances. I incurred a small cash advance during the XX/XX/year> billing cycle, which includes a small related fee and limited interest on the charge until it is paid off. 

When making a payment for my American Express cards, I am presented several preselected payment options- minimum payment, statement balance, total balance and other amount. Minimum payment is the minimum required by Amex. Statement balance includes all amounts from the most recent statement that are owed by the next due date. Total balance is all amounts owed at that time, including the statement balance, any past due amounts and amounts incurred after the last statement date that are not yet due for payment. Other amount is self explanatory. 

When I paid my XX/XX/year> billing statement, I chose the " statement balance '' preselection, understanding it would result in the payment of all amounts reflected on my most recent statement that were due and owing. I have selected this option every month since I opened my American Express cards. Upon making timely payment of the " statement balance '' in XX/XX/year>, I noticed on my XX/XX/year> statement that I continue to be charged for the cash advances, fees and related interest from XX/XX/year>. I was baffled, because I selected the " statement balance '' option and expected all XX/XX/year> charges would be paid. 

After chatting with an American Express representative, they determined that I did not repay the cash advance, fee or related interest from the XX/XX/year> statement, despite me having selected to pay the " statement balance. '' American Express 's representative said the only way to stop fees and interest on the cash advance was to pay my total balance then owing, which includes approximately a far greater amount of unrelated charges for the XX/XX/year> billing cycle that are not yet due. American Express is unable to facilitate payment to pay the past due amount related to the cash advance. Rather, American Express effectively accelerated all credit amounts due and owing, even though payment is not yet due, in order to stop incurring fees and interest on a charge I thought I already paid in full. 

My XX/XX/year> statement reflected the cash advance, fee and related interest. Therefore, the " statement balance '' payment option should have included all amounts from the XX/XX/year> statement. It clearly did not. Instead, the option to pay the " statement balance '' payment did not include the cash advance and related amounts, only other credit amounts from the XX/XX/year> billing period. I was led to believe I was paying all amounts due and owing by choosing the " statement balance '' preselection, but in fact, I underpaid. Now, my only option is to pay my entire balance immediately to avoid continued fees and interest, even when virtually all of the balance is related to charges for which payment is not yet due. There is no option to pay the purported past due amounts only. 

This practice by American Express is deceptive, unknowingly compounds credit issues for consumers, and intentionally misleads customers to underpay all amounts owed, directly benefitting American Express.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation