July 2019 Complaints Against American Express

Compiled from Public Data by FairShake

If you have an issue with American Express, you’re not alone.

The US government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) collects complaints against financial companies.

In 2019, the CFPB received 2826 complaints against American Express. American Express ranked Number 11 among all financial companies for the most complaints.


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Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 29, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: MI

Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-Product: General-purpose credit card or charge card

Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-Issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Full Complaint:
My Delta SkyMiles Card was approved on XX/XX/XXXX, and I had enrolled in this card to take advantage of promotional offer of XXXX bonus miles during first 3 months of account opening. I am however not able to confirm minimum spend, current offer is {00.00} during first 3 months of account opening.

After a spend of {00.00} during XX/XX/XXXX itself, I had contacted AMEX in XXXX for my bonus miles. However, they are unable to attach a promotional offer to my credit card application and informed they will not be able to disburse promotional bonus miles of XXXX.

1. AMEX Delta Skymiles Card Approval Email.
2. XX/XX/XXXX Statement.
3. Current Delta Skymiles Gold Bonus Offer.

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with explanation


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 29, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: MI

Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-Product: General-purpose credit card or charge card

Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-Issue: Other problem

Full Complaint:
Hello, 1. Due to negative balance, AMEX issued credit balance refund check for {00.00} on XX/XX/2019.

2. Since we are out of USA, we called AMEX customer service to inform that they need to cancel this check and credit the amount to our account. Promptly, AMEX cancelled the check and issued credit for {00.00} on XX/XX/2019.

3. However, due to an error on their side, they issued another credit balance refund check for {00.00} on XX/XX/2019.

4. We again called AMEX customer service to inform that they need to cancel this check and credit the amount to our account.

5. However, as of date, in spite of multiple calls, and after AMEX agreed to cancel the check and issue a credit, AMEX has not done the needful and our account still shows balance of {00.00} + fines and late fees.

6. AMEX has now threatened to report me to credit agencies and also have reduced my spending limit.

Please see attachments : 1. Issue Transactions – Screenshot showing credit balance refund and credit transactions made on my account by AMEX.
2. Interest and Late Fees Charged XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX.
3. Interest and Late Fees Charged XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX.
4. Notification of Credit Limit Reduction.
5. Reporting to Credit Bureaus.

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with monetary relief


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 29, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: PA

Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-Product: Credit reporting

Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-Issue: Information belongs to someone else

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with explanation


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 28, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: FL

Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-Product: Other personal consumer report

Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-Issue: Information that should be on the report is missing

Full Complaint:
American express refused my application for a new card after being a card holder in XXXX and XXXX for over 48 years.

I have only a minuinmal credit report based on 1. no activity and 2. education payment by one of my children AND 3. Just returning to USA after working for years out of the country.

So American express simply rejected my card transfer. OMG after years of good credit with them. And offered no help, no interest, nothing.


There policy is so terrible and the credit report is so so misleading. And they should no interest in check y credit ith them or any one else over the past 40+ years.


That rejection has causes me great embassment and many problems.

I also have great credit with banks in XXXX and XXXX and other credit cards with great credit.

The Amex system is unfair and wrong and misleading. The situation is costing me money and other problems having to use cards regester in other countries.

Complaint Tags: Servicemember

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with explanation


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 29, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: CT

Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-Product: General-purpose credit card or charge card

Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-Issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with monetary relief


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 27, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: TX

Product: Debt collection
Sub-Product: I do not know

Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-Issue: Debt was result of identity theft

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with explanation


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 27, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: PA

Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-Product: General-purpose credit card or charge card

Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-Issue: Problem with customer service

Full Complaint:
Dear Amex, Thank you for your reply. I feel your missing the main point here. My contention is that with adequate internal controls, a scam like this would not be possible. All credit card companies already have similar controls in place to protect against and combat regional charges that are impossible over a short time frame as well other anomalous account activity.

Why can’t American Express implement internal controls to prevent account holders from purchasing exorbanant amounts of gift cards over a short period of time when it’s not even XXXX. Nobody, in good judgment, would buy {00.00} worth of gift cards even at XXXX, unless they were under duress and facing the undue influence of a scammer.

Why can’t American Express understand this concept and recognize the need for internal controls to address this?

Sadly, as I’ve stated before, Senior Citizen cardholders are victims of this type of scam all the time and I feel American Express is not practicing the due diligence needed to protect these Seniors.

I feel this is a complete failure of leadership at American Express to not address this matter with the proper internal controls. But I’m certain after enough people become victims and complain, American Express will eventually address this matter after losing enough customers and in turn enough money! What would share holders think about their investments in a house of cards?

I feel this dire situation should be escalated top management.

In the meantime, I am once again requesting that you implement a series of internal controls to protect American Express customers and I would like these charges that were predicated upon fraud written off from my account balance. I understand such an initiative would be very expensive for AMEX, and I would gratiously settle for these charges to be removed from my account balance.

But make no mistake, I implore AMEX to do the right thing and protect it’s customers with the above mentioned internal controls as I feel the way this has been handled thus far has been a cruel farce!

Clearly Amex has a huge hole in the bucket which needs to be plugged! Please govern your company accordingly.

Thank you,

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with explanation


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 29, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: TX

Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-Product: General-purpose credit card or charge card

Issue: Closing your account
Sub-Issue: Company closed your account

Complaint Tags: Older American

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with explanation


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 28, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: FL

Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-Product: General-purpose credit card or charge card

Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-Issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Full Complaint:
I stopped using my american express card 4 months ago and american express actually you owed me money {0.00} which paid back and they still owe me cash back money. Today I get a balance for {00.00} under ” adjustments ” so I called amex and they could not give me an explanation of what those adjustments were coming from so they gave me a reference ID number XXXX and that it will take up to weeks to resolve this investigation. I have not used this card in 4 months, where are these adjustments coming from? 6 to 8 weeks to resolve what? unacceptable.

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with monetary relief


Complaint Details:

Date of Complaint: July 27, 2019

Company Official Name: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

State: OH

Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-Product: General-purpose credit card or charge card

Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-Issue: Credit card company isn’t resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Company response:

Response Type: Closed with non-monetary relief


FairShake accessed this complaint from the public archives of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). You can file your own complaint with the CFPB here.

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