Date Received: 2023-11-05
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Subissue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Consumer Complaint: Please see the previous two complaints that you closed. AmEx LIED to you. They did not provide " monetary relief. '' Instead, This is a lie. Instead, as of today, they allowed the crooks from XXXX XXXX to reopen the Dispute. This is the FOURTH time this Dispute is reopened by AmEx. I wrote to them that " I will report this to the XXXX who you lied to several times. Also, I want you to stay in this motel and get infected with whatever they give to your customers -- XXXX, etc. You are disgusting. Not thanking you, XXXX XXXX ''
Company Response:
State: NJ
Zip: 07003
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-05
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Subissue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Consumer Complaint: My friend, XXXX XXXX and I, made a purchase with a merchant. My purchase was for {$27000.00} and XXXX 's was for {$40000.00}. The principal objective of the purchase was for his company to build us e-commerce stores. We were responsible for some work on the project- namely optimizing our credit profiles to obtain credit from banks to fund the e-commerce store and his team was responsible for building the stores. Despite XXXX and I successfully upholding our end of the bargin, he took our money did not complete the project by the deadlines set out, and his team refused to show us the work that had been done. We filed chargebacks for no services received with a number of the banks and were successful in a majority of those chargebacks. AMEX refused our chargeback on the grounds that their cardmember agreement prohibits the use of the card for an investment/security and that this was an investment/security, not the purchase of a service. We don't believe this is a security, as determined by the XXXX test - the accepted legal framework for determining whether something is an investment contract/security or not. But first, I would like to understand how the cardmember agreement explicitly prohibits the use of the AMEX card for investments. The relevant section of the cardmember agreement says : Eligible Purchases Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases do NOT include : fees or interest charges, purchases of traveler 's checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of any cash equivalents, or personto-person transactions. Additional terms and restrictions apply. Since there is no mention of invesments or securities in the eligible purchases section of the agreement, where are these additional terms and restrictions? AMEX must show us that we agreed to not use our card for the purchase of investment contracts. Even if they are able to show us that we were bound to not use the card for investment contracts, we believe this was a service contract. AMEX must demonstrate to us how our contract- which is entitled a contract for services - passes all prongs of the XXXX XXXX. The XXXX Test : " The test [ for an investment contract ] is whether the scheme involves an investment of money in a common enterprise with profits to come solely from the efforts of others. '' We believe our contract fails to meet two prongs of the XXXX test : Those of a common enterprise, and that the profits come solely from the efforts of others. A common enterprise is typically determined by whether there is " horizontal commonality '' which generally requires that investors are told that their funds are pooled together. Horizontal commonality is the tying of each individual investors fortunes to the fortunes of the other investors through the pooling of assets, usually combined with the pro-rata distribution of profits. In the SG case, participants were told that their funds were to be pooled in a single account. We were not. Moreover, we were each told we would be getting different e-commerce stores. In some cases, participants might share an e-commerce store. In my case and in XXXX 's case, we were told we would be getting separate stores and there was no mention of our funds being pooled together. On the requirement about profits coming solely from the efforts of others, we were both involved in the work after paying the merchant the fee. We were asked to optimize our credit profiles and spend hours meeting with banks to obtain credit that we would use to fund the stores. Each of us allocated more than XXXX hours of work to this process. So the effort was not solely on the part of the merchant- we were very involved in the work. AMEX needs to show us exactly how an investment contract violates the cardmember agreement and if they are able to do so, they need to show us exactly how this is an investment contract. They have not done so despite us asking for more than four months. The only argument I have gotten from AMEX as to why this is an investment contract is that the merchant has classified itself on the AMEX system as an investment manager/asset manager. But we don't believe this is a good argument, as we had no idea how the merchant classified itself in the AMEX system. An investment manager could sell all kinds of products and services that are clearly not investments. It's really about the specific purchase we made. That purchase was for predominantly for the creation of an e-commerce store.
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 33138
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-05
Issue: Fees or interest
Subissue: Problem with fees
Consumer Complaint: The XXXX credit service is using deceptive practices! XXXXm contacting the XXXX XXXX XXXX regarding the fact that they negate to give you a monthly summery on all your purchases. By doing that it leaves the consumer in the dark about what they purchased and also an account of the dollar amounts. By grouping the non interest account with the regular purchase amounts you cant figure out what your individual balances are. Every other credit card company gives you a monthly purchase account. Your unable to screen if your cards been tampered with if you cant see the activity. They are scamming many elderly people and women. Woman are the largest consumer group using XXXX. They need to be accountable to these practices! Please join to sue the company!
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 33702
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-05
Issue: Problem when making payments
Subissue: Problem during payment process
Consumer Complaint: Every time I try to pay this bill it's a return fee that keep returning the money this is an ongoing problem I can't seem to get this balance down they are playing tricks with my bank account wait till the last minute and then pull the money out and then charge me a return fee this is an ongoing process what they doing
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 33702
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-05
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Subissue: Other problem
Consumer Complaint: American Express notified me on XX/XX/XXXX that if i didnt pay them {$2800.00} by XXXX they were going to consider cutting my credit limit. I called them immediately and they told me that I " i had to wait till i was cut down and then i could file an appeal. '' I updated my new increased salary on my American Express profile and made a balance transfer of {$1000.00} to reduce my balance on XXXX. On, XX/XX/XXXX, a Sunday, American Express emailed me that they were cutting my limit by XXXX effectively " maxxing out '' this account. They said it was because I " had not been making enough payments '' even though I have made the minimum payment consistently and have been a card holder since XXXX. They effectively will cut my credit score in a week.
Company Response:
State: IL
Zip: 60077
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-05
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: I was given an American Express prepaid gift card from my employer, as a gift for my 5 years at the company. The envelope and card state {$200.00} I followed the instructions on card & went to the Amex website to activate my card. This is also how you view the balance and manage your card. My card shows Active Status and a balance of {$200.00}. I tried to do a LOT with this card and I failed everytime because the card was DECLINED. -used on XXXX to buy XXXX : card was declined ( yet on amex website, it shows that door dash charged me some odd amount of cents? MAKES ZERO SENSE SINCE IT WAS CLAIMED TO BE DECLINED YET OBVIOUSLY THEY WERE ABLE TO TAKE FUNDS!!! -used on my XXXX XXXX account by trying to add to my wallet ( meaning the Amex card would be an option when purchasing items moving forward ). But, again, the card was declined access to being added to my wallet account. -used to pay for an actual purchase that in on my XXXX account ( the amount was for roughly {$15.00} - I have a balance of about {$190.00} on my Amex card ). Again, CARD WAS DECLINED. -used to make a purchase on XXXX , XXXX , XXXX and a few others. Each transaction was declined. The same error message appeared on each decline : the billing address is incorrect. THAT MAKES NO SENSE. there is nooooooooo billing address associated with the Amex gift card bc it doesnt NEED a billing address. Even on the Amex prepaid cards website, it says, in the case that an address is asked for, put your own billing address. I was told the SAME thing from customer service. Well, thats not only hilariously WRONG but beyond frustrating. I cant purchase necessary items like food on my table. I cant purchase a want, like a nice shirt or earrings. What is the point of this card? To answer this question : THERE IS NO POINT. A. American Exp should either have a generic billing address for us to use when we purchase something with the prepaid gift card B. They should have a specific list of places we CAN use the card at where a billing address is not necessary and PROVIDE THE CARD HOLDER W THAT LIST OR C. Not sell these cards at all!!!!!!! Not only did my employer purchase this gift card and WASTE {$200.00}, but they buy a ton of these Amex prepaid cards throughout the year for employees as a thank-you. It should be absolutely illegal to sell misleading info/cards when you CANT USE THEM. I will be speaking with our CEO & CFO regarding our relationship with American Exp because we should not have a partnership with a company that quite literally steals our money and gives us NOTHING in return. I will gladly provide anyone at your office with my specific Amex gift card info ( number, exp, code, etc ) should you need any of it for further investigation. I am absolutely appalled. You know, when I originally XXXX this challenge, I was STUNNED to see how many others ( throughout YEARS ) who have and are experiencing the same thing and are unable to use their funds on the card. I just cant believe its trueXXXX, what I THOUGHT, was a reputable company, could charge innocent people money in exchange for a prepaid gift card, when in reality, the card can not be used. Thus, is worth {$0.00}. The cards are USELESS.
Company Response:
State: MI
Zip: 48446
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-05
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-06
Issue: Trouble using the card
Subissue: Trouble using the card to spend money in a store or online
Consumer Complaint: Got a American Express gift card for {$500.00} on XX/XX/2023. Tried using it at several on-line and in-store purchases and they all have been declined. The balance is now showing {$490.00} due to a couple fees charged. Reading many posts about others having the same on-going issues now for years.
Company Response:
State: PA
Zip: 160XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-06
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with monetary relief
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem
Subissue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Consumer Complaint: XX/XX/2022 - I opened an Amex XXXX XXXX card with " no limit '' at the advice of the Amex rep, who stated this was the perfect card for a small business owner who was in the initial phases of the startup. I was clear that I did not yet have revenue, and that for the first year to two years, i would be using the card to fund my expenses and get me to my revenue streams. XXXX XXXX - I was shocked to find out that my Amex XXXX XXXX card with " no limit '' was shut down. I immediately began to attempt to understand, and according to them at this point, they had told me falsities about the credit line, and that an imaginary line of {$20000.00} usd had been crossed. While i found this insane, my only goal was to contain the issue and maintain my XXXX credit score. As a new business owner, this had the potential to destroy me and i made it clear we should discuss a better card for me, if that was their issue, and that I would be happy to pay right away, the amount above XXXX. This was when the XXXX began in XXXX. XX/XX/2022 - No longer able to have meaningful discussions with ANY rep from Amex, I was put thru the purposely setup " overcompartmentalization '' these companies put in place to ensure we, the consumer, are not able to EVER make any progress, and that they can continue to employ harder and harder bullying, and squeezing of us. I was never provided a reason why this occurred, they never accepted or even entertained the idea that they should be with any blame. In the end XXXX dont believe the reasoning i was provided is even true, i believe American Express Card Services knowingly creates whatever they wish for each individual case, and then as they wish, destroys those same people thru their decisions and the follow thru being 'No cooperation ever ' with the former client they are now at odds with. XXXXXXXX XXXX - Losing my mind with the setup listed above, I asked for and eventually was connected with some department that contains " executive '' in their title. I was assigned someone who made promises, befriended me, then carried thru with absolutely none of her promises, and threw a dagger into my financial heart in the immediate days following the XXXX XXXX XXXX that was XXXX. I live in the federally declared disaster zone so this is yet another major, i think, legal issue, this company created with their " promises of Hurricane Ian Hardship assistance '', and then NEVER EVER sharing any details to this supposed program, which to this day, I still do not know if it ever existed. The executive amex rep is named XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX : As i tried to rebuild my life in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, keep my daughter and I safe, and keep my new fledgling Business alive, i continued to maintain contact with the, now once again, overcompartmentalized setup and its various groups of very guilty employees. The executive team that had told me point blank not to worry, not to stress at all, not to even take any action, as they were reviewing everything and would provide a solution that worked for all, that team would no longer even take my call, or an internal escalation. I should mention that shortly after my Biz Platinum card was frozen, i was sent a threatening email from within Amex, stating that if I did not pay the entire balance on my Business card, they would suspend and then revoke the " privileges '' on my personal cards. They followed thru rather quickly with this threat, and froze the remaining Amex cards I had which included a XXXX XXXX and a XXXX XXXX Amex XXXX I was under the impression being an XXXX would protect me from this type of action but it certainly did not even stall Amex. I still want to know what the XXXX with all that. Back to later 2022 - I was paying from a depleted group of funds to all my long frozen cards, to keep my " perfect on time credit payment history '' in tact, but this was becoming very difficult as the Hurricane created an overwhelming pile of expenses that were urgent in nature. It was becoming clear XXXX XXXX would be a long one, and many things would need to be paid out of my pockets with the hope of reimbursement later on from Insurance, or FEMA or an SBA situation. The latter two are a joke but thats another story. I asked Amex repeatedly what they were offering those of us in Florida so that we could focus on the Catastrophe and i was told there was a program and I was in it, but no one at all could tell me what it was. Nothing at all changed with what they wanted each month, at what time, and for all the useless cards they had frozen. In XXXX, to save my sanity, i finally saw I had absolutely no protection, no ally, and if I wanted to attempt to save whatever was left of my credit ( score now XXXX from XXXX ), I had to enter an agreement with them, despite my hands and legs being tied up, and the insanity of the entire picture going into its XXXX month. XX/XX/2022 - I purposely did not pay what I had been all along, on the XXXX XXXX Amex. This was my only leg to stand on when it came to getting their attention. It worked, and between XXXX or more calls with the Phillipines and XXXX ( American Express ) , i accepted an agreement where I would pay around {$1200.00} per month on the four cards in one lump sum payment each month. Obviously this was done under diress and without any assistance from their side or the ability to secure an attorney as i could not afford to put money in that direction recovering from the disaster. I hoped this would stabalize the issue long enough for me to focus on my other pressing needs, stop their complete and utter harrassment of me thru phone calls, texts, threats on the calls, and threats thru the mail, mail that came every day, sometimes multple times. This company is out of control and clearly no one is policing them. They reported to the Credit bureaus for XXXX being late, and destroyed my credit score, as i mentioned above. I tried until i was blue in the face to get anyone to reverse that. They would not, they see themselves as an untouchable XXXX, and from what it appears they are. XXXX XXXX XXXX : I paid the agreement month after month, on-time, even when they tried almost right from the gate to sabotage me ( by taking the lump sum payment and moving it to four separate payments spaced all throughout the month ). I began to not even think about the XXXX this company caused me, except that, this monthly expense is up there, and with four frozen cards, its basically money set afire. This was confirmed for certain when it became clear they were not even reporting the agreement or the fact i was paying at all, let alone, on time each month - to any of the credit bureaus. THey had th best of both worlds, they destroyed my credit, and were also getting me to pay them each month. Every time i advised them, they must follow their end of the agreement and report my payments, removing the default status or the agreement we were operating under would be invalidated- they just gave lip and no action. Finally, at the behest of an attorney and one of the banks i work with, I headed their advise and stopped paying this extortion in XXXX. Immediately the harrassment has returned. I made clear initially and repeatedly since, to Amex, that they simply need to report the payments and we can discuss a return to the agreement. While they say they understand and will be taking action to meet this request, they have done nothing. This is where we stand now. I have little confidence that anyone will ever help me here, or that anyone actually holds American Express accountable. American Express employees exhibit a XXXX confidence that makes it clear they feel no threat for any of their disgusting actions. Best-
Company Response:
State: FL
Zip: 339XX
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem
Subissue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Consumer Complaint: American Express responded to CFPB complaints XXXX and XXXX claiming they were furnishing accurate information for an account to the CRAs. American Express alleges the account was charged-off on or around XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. However, my XXXX and XXXX credit fils show no such annotations. While AMEX contends the account was reported as a " satisfactory account, '' for XX/XX/XXXX, AMEX alleges no data was provided to the CRAs for the months XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX : " There was no reporting submitted for XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, this differs from your correspondence which claims your account was reporting as 'Paid as Agreed ' until XX/XX/XXXX. '' Yet, the account/tradeline payment history from both XXXX and XXXX show AMEX provided data showing the account was in a " satisfactory account '' status for those months. If AMEX alleges the account was charged-off on or around XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, then that would imply the account had a date of first delinquency that existed prior to the date of charge-off and the account continued to report delinquent for the nominal payment until charged-off on or around XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. No such date of first delinquency exists for the account/tradeline as reported by both XXXX and XXXX. According to XXXX, AMEX furnished data indicating the date of first delinquency was XXXX of XXXX, which is nearly XXXX ( XXXX ) year after the account was alleged to be charged-off. Moreover, the date of first delinquency as reported corresponds to a month in which the account is reported as a " satisfactory account '' by AMEX. AMEX claims the reason no charge-off status is being reported to date ( nearly two years after alleged charge-off ) was because of enrollment in a financial relief program : " It is important to know, this charge off status was never reported to the credit bureaus due to the accounts status as participating in a financial relief plan, '' ( see XXXX XX/XX/XXXX AMEX response ). However, the XXXX XX/XX/XXXX response says " Please know, we were unable locate any XXXX relief request from you, '' ( see XXXX XX/XX/XXXX response ). What is dubious about the information AMEX is providing to the CRAs is that the past-due balance increases each month as though I am being billed monthly, nearly two ( 2 ) years after the account was alleged to have been charged-off. Moreover, the payment history as reported by both XXXX and XXXX is identical, lending credence to the errors for this account stemming from the information furnished by American Express to the CRAs ( see attached snippets from XXXX and XXXX ). Finally the XXXX XX/XX/XXXX response from AMEX states " Additionally, the reporting of your account will update after XX/XX/XXXX to reflect as charge off. But, the impact to the credit score occurs from the date of first delinquency and decays with time from that date. That is AMEX continues to try and fix error after error after error stemming from negligence on its part in XXXX. Yet, I am bearing the brunt of this negligence as a consumer nearly two ( 2 ) years later. It is clear the account/tradeline is unreconcileable and needs to be removed from my XXXX and XXXX credit files.
Company Response:
State: MI
Zip: 48104
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A
Date Received: 2023-11-04
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Subissue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Consumer Complaint: On XX/XX/XXXX I received a pop-up in my online Amex account offering a first-six-month bonus earn of " XXXX points at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets '' with a Platinum Card. I applied on the spot through this link and was approved for the card. After the account was opened, I saw that I was only being credited the standard 1 point per $ at restaurants. I contacted customer support on XX/XX/XXXX providing a screenshot of the offer I responded to, and was told I would hear back within about 10 business days. Since then I have called every couple of weeks ( on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX ) to try to get to the bottom of this ( they never sent the written communications they promised ) and have been told that the " backend team '' reviewed my account and found that a " different offer '' without the bonus earn was attached to my account when it was opened, and that they would not honor the one I applied through. They claimed at various points XXXX XXXX XXXX that just because someone received a certain sign-up offer doesn't mean that others are eligible for the same offer. I said sure, but I was personally targeted and provided the screenshot as evidence. - ... that just because I was eligible for a certain sign-up offer doesn't mean I applied through the right link. ( See above- I clicked the " Go Platinum '' link in the screenshot to apply and took that screenshot precisely because I had already previously tried to apply with a different offer link through an affiliate ( XXXX ) - I was told I was ineligible for that previous one and that I could withdraw the application without any impact on my credit history or offer eligibility. So when I was targeted with the pop-up just a few days later I was pleasantly surprised, but also wary, and took the screenshot in case I ran into trouble with the welcome bonus later, then applied directly through the pop-up. ) - ... that while I might have applied by responding to a certain offer ( the one with the XXXX bonus earn ), a " different offer '' was applied by their systems when I submitted the application, and that they were " legally bound '' by the offer that was applied by their system. I said, why even bother having a file upload tool on the website for welcome offer mistakes, and ask me to submit a screenshot if they don't have the ability to retroactively apply another offer? - ... that sometimes their systems will have a " glitch '' which can cause a different offer to be applied by their systems from the one that was shown to the customer- ... that they had no ability to credit the supposed offer of XXXX bonus points on selected categories in the first six months of the account. But when I spoke to a different phone agent on XX/XX/XXXX they talked specifically about " incremental points '' which is apparently their internal name for these first-six-months bonus earn rates and mentioned that there was no incremental points offer on my account. - ... that the reason they have that screenshot upload tool on their website is that they do retroactively change the offer applied if the investigation by their backend team shows the wrong offer was applied to the account vs what was shown to the customer, but that in my case they determined the correct offer was applied. But this isn't even a case of my word against theirs - the whole point of the screenshot is that the wrong offer was applied! It seems pretty clear from piecing all of this together that they did in fact have the specific offer that was shown to me ( XXXX points + the XXXX incremental points for restaurants and US supermarkets in the first 6 months ), and that a glitch in their backend systems caused a discrepancy between the offer that was targeted to me and the one that was " applied '' to the account upon application approval. Whether they showed me the offer past the date it was intended to be shown, or targeted the wrong customer segment entirely, I have no idea. Regardless, their choosing not to honor the offer because of their own error is a business decision, not some sort of legal requirement for them. I've been a XXXX customer for a long time and was prepared to make the switch for all of my credit card spend, not just travel, because of Amex 's reputation in customer service, but this is ridiculous. It's misleading, it's wrong, and it's something people should know about.
Company Response:
State: NY
Zip: 10003
Submitted Via: Web
Date Sent: 2023-11-04
Company Response to Consumer: Closed with explanation
Timely Response: Yes
Consumer Disputed: N/A