All About American Express Lawsuits

In 2016, Amex saw a lawsuits about debt letters. In this case, one customer noted that American Express was sending out debt collection letters even though they did not have a license to operate as a debt collector in the state of Florida. 

In a similar lawsuit American Express settled for $9.2 million over debt collection phone calls. In this case the judge noted that the company violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) through numerous unwanted phone calls about debt collection to unsuspecting customers.

A lawsuit took on the topic of gift card issues. In this case, customers noted that American Express allegedly failed to notify them of the full terms of gift card purchases.

In this lawsuit, a customer claimed that the company violated the TCPA by repeatedly calling her with pre recorded messages in spite of being added to do not call lists. These calls offered low rates with American Express even though she was not a customer with American Express.

In 2014, a settlement was reached in a lawsuit over American Express interest rates. In California, thecompany had to pay $6 million because the company increased fixed interest rates for customers without giving them notification as per the Truth in Lending Act.

In this case, American Express increased the interest rate once cardholders held a balance due on their card. What’s more, they were not warned that their current fixed rate interest rate on the credit card could, according to the fine print, be switched to a variable interest rate at any time.  

In this lawsuit a customer claimed that they were given a deal at the time they signed up for an American Express card which included loyalty points for hotels as a promotion or sign up bonus. Customers in the lawsuit claim that they have made appropriate purchases but never received the corresponding hotel reward points. 

Many customers have joined this lawsuit over the fact that their agreement with a new American Express credit card was in exchange for hotel loyalty points, and after spending the requisite amount of money to gain those points, the points never arrived. 

In this lawsuit from 2011, the Federal government noted that:

“Cardmembers have a reasonable expectation that their spending, consumption, and financial records will be safeguarded against disclosure to the United States or other governments.”

However, the government alleged that American Express had violated these rights by way of using foreign nationals at overseas call centers who could receive and transmit personal records like these without customer permission or knowledge.