Amex Credit Card Complaint

Amex Credit card department,

New York

I am a cardholder with American Express for 12 years. My account has always been fully paid during that time and there have been no previous issues. Out of the blue, I get an email from them that my account is under financial review and that they will cancel it if I do n't respond within several days. There was no prior warning before this email. They also put an immediate hold on our cards, again without warning or explanation, for the length of the review process, which I was later informed could take up to 7 days. So in essence, no credit card use for up to 7 days without warning on a fully paid account in good standing. They also would provide no details about why the review was taking place, why it had to happen now and not at a time of mutual convenience, or why the card could n't be used during the review process. I was able to negotiate an " allowance '' to use the card up to a certain dollar amount, but the representative was very clear that this was unusual and normally the account would be totally locked until the process was


phone. This does not include time spent filing papers with them to support the information I gave them. Again, all this would be potentially be normal if there was some warning, if the account remained useable, and if a reasonable timeframe were provided. As it is, I was under threat of losing my card if I did n't respond ASAP and the card was locked until I responded and until they confirm my information with the IRS. If I had been traveling or the like, all this would have happened without warning and without any opportunity to fix it. They seemed totally unconcerned with the idea that this practice could put their cardholders in serious jeopardy, not to mention the intense inconvenience. To reiterate, I am with American Express for 12 years without issue and they consider this type of action to be completely within their rights. Last point - Amex claims to have tried to reach me by phone before sending the attached email. No phone call or message was received by me or anyone else on the account. Even so, the lock was placed on the account at the beginning of the review process, irrespective of the phone calls.