Credit card or prepaid card -- Fees or interest -- Complaint #7155747

Complaint Overview

Complaint ID: 7155747

Company: American Express Company

Product: Credit card or prepaid card

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

Issue: Fees or interest

Sub-Issue: Charged too much interest

State: Washington

ZIP Code: 98033

Date Received: 2023-06-22T12:00:00-05:00

Date Sent to Company: 2023-06-22T12:00:00-05:00

Company Response: Closed with explanation

Timely Response: Yes

Consumer Disputed: N/A

Submitted Via: Web

Consumer Narrative

On XX/XX/2023, I opened a credit card as a promotional offer for new purchases at 0 % interest in conjunction with purchasing a timeshare interest through XXXX XXXX. The American Express card being offer was co-branded with XXXX. After the intial " purchase '' balance was set ( $ XXXX on XX/XX/2023 ), there was a subsequent {$250.00} charge on XX/XX/2023 for the annual membership fee. There was billing for a minimum payment being due each month - charged in the amount of {$840.00}. It wasn't clear based on the promotional materials that any minimum monthly charge would be required, but I paid it to avoid any negative consequences. It was also surprising on the first bill that there was a {$5.00} interest charge despite the promotion indicating there was no interest to be charged. Since the amount seemed small and I was very busy at the time, I paid the interest. For the second statement in XXXX, the interest charge was {$5.00}. I then called American Express to inquire why there was interest when their promotional materials ( and the contract ) indicated zero interest for this. The representative told me they were charging interest for the annual membership fee. I asked how we could avoid this going forward and they indicated that by advancing a payment of {$250.00} this would clear all future interest charges. I questioned whether interest could be charged on fee, but since the amount was minimal, again, I paid the total of {$250.00} plus the {$570.00} monthly payment. For the third statement in XX/XX/2023 another interest charge appeared, this one being {$5.00}. I called and launched a dispute. The customer service representative couldn't help me, only informed me that I should follow up with them and mentioned that their systems were not able to separately track payment down of specific balances so there was a possibility that these interest charges would continue to appear for the life of the account until I pay it off. In XXXX I paid the {$810.00} payment and noticed a new interest charge for {$6.00}. They reversed this charge. But they also increased my total outstanding principal balance. I question the accounting on this entire credit account, am fearful they are charging illegal interest on fees and that this entire promotional offer program wasn't rolled out with the proper underlying technology to manage the accounting. It might only be {$23.00} in interest for 2023 charged on my account, but if there was a review of this program across their entire customer base, I wouldn't be surprised if these amounts were much larger in the aggregate. AMEX seemed unwilling to really address the issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Disclaimer

This analysis is AI-generated based on publicly available CFPB complaint data. It does not constitute financial or legal advice.

Related Pages

• American Express Company Company Profile
• Credit card or prepaid card Complaints
• Fees or interest Complaints
• Washington Complaints
• Company Rankings
• Company Directory
• Search Complaints