stormie Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Long story short, during the "panic of 08" when many banks were raising interest rates from 4% to 29.99% (they did this to me), American Express decided to put a cap on my spending limit. I was capped from unlimited spending to $1500 a month. Okay, no big deal I thought - I only spend about $500 bucks a month anyway, which I pay off at the end of every month. Well, recently - about 4 months ago, they removed the cap back to unlimited spending. Last month in August I spent 1K on the card, and paid it all off on time, at the end of the month - (August). Today, September 5th, I tried to buy a book from Amazon for about 50 bucks and found out that my card was declined. I called AMEX and they said that because I have an "irregular pattern" on my card - meaning my spending went up from 500 to 1k, that I need to pay a $237 fee! I said, "how does that even make sense?? I already paid off the entire balance last month and nothing is showing that I am passed due on anything!" To make matters worse, my balance online read, "$0.00 amount due". American Express couldn't answer my question - they put me on hold many times. They said, "Your irregular spending caused you to owe us a $237 payment". I just could not believe it. I hung up on them cause I was at work and we kept going in circles and I was very annoyed. About an hour later after my phone call to AMEX and I caught up on some of my work, I logged into my online account and this time, there were red letters saying, "your account is suspended until the $237 fee is paid off". But there is no money due according to my payment schedule! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racecar Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Tell them you would like to mediation to settle the fee issue.The mediator does not decide the claim but helps parties reach agreement.I think by asking for this in writing they will take off the fee.You can use any tools in the credit agreement. http://www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards/agreements/search/?q=american+express your credit agreement is here Most customer concerns can be resolved bycalling our Customer Service Department at thenumber listed on the back of your card. In theevent Customer Service is unable to resolve acomplaint to your satisfaction, this section explainshow claims can be resolved through mediation,arbitration or litigation. It includes an arbitrationprovision. MediationIn mediation, a neutral mediator helps partiesresolve a claim.Before beginning mediation, you or we mustfirst send a claim notice. Within 30 daysafter sending or receiving a claim notice,you or we may submit the claim to JAMS(1-800-352-5267, jamsadr.com) or theAmerican Arbitration Association ("AAA")(1-800-778-7879, adr.org) for mediation. Wewill pay the fees of the mediator.All mediation-related communications areconfidential, inadmissible in court and notsubject to discovery. All applicable statutes oflimitation will be tolled until termination of themediation. Either you or we may terminatethe mediation at any time. The submission orfailure to submit a claim to mediation will notaffect your or our right to elect arbitration Sending a Claim NoticeBefore beginning a lawsuit, mediation orarbitration, you and we agree to send a writtennotice (a claim notice) to each party againstwhom a claim is asserted, in order to providean opportunity to resolve the claim informally orthrough mediation. Go to americanexpress.com/claim for a sample claim notice. The claim noticemust describe the claim and state the specificrelief demanded. Notice to you may be providedby your billing statement or sent to your billingaddress. Notice to us must include your name,address and Account number and be sent to American Express ADR c/o CT CorporationSystem, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011. If theclaim proceeds to arbitration, the amount ofany relief demanded in a claim notice will notbe disclosed to the arbitrator until after thearbitrator rules. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BV80 Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 @stormie I'd get a copy of the current cardmember agreement in order to find out if it includes anything even remotely related to such a fee. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kutuzov Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Probably doesn't they just make it up, but dispute the fee cmrr and chose arbitration with JAMS, after you get the green card back call them and see if they are gonna remove it or you will need to go into arbitration, also ask for the filing fees, many of those contracts say they will pay your filling fees on arbitration. That should calm them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Which of the many flavors of "American Express" card do you have? Just looking over the T&Cs @racecar linked to, I can see a half dozen "gotcha's" hiding in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racecar Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 This is all in the new agreement.Its now loaded with new options or "gotcha's" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted September 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 I have the traditional green card - I used to have Platinum card, but downgraded it faster than they can blink during the "panic of 08" to avoid any crap from these people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willingtocope Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 If I remember correctly, the Green Card REQUIRES you to pay in full each month, but has a yearly fee based on usage. You might want to go to thier web site and read the T&C's completely. I don't know why the people you talked with weren't willing to explain this, but you might actually owe them something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 You ought write some financial reporters and tell them about this. The Consumerist comes to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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