American Express - charges to a closed account

rob_schofield

Has anybody else experienced the problems I am having with American Express even after I have closed both my charge and credit accounts with them?

I'm having great difficulty with AmEx at the moment with both my credit and charge card. I closed both accounts back in September 04 with balances cleared.

Then in December 04 and this month I have received bills from AmEx stating that I had charged to my accounts - strange as I had cut up and returned the cards to them. I have disputed these payments with them but to add insult to injury I am now being charged late payment fees and interest even though I was assured I would not be liable....

I have written to Amex directly but as of yet have received, surprise surprise, no reply.

Am I legally obliged to pay any of this? American Express informs me that they keep the accounts live for another three years after closure of the account - surely as they do this, they should be the ones that are liable to pay the bill not me? I've read through the T's and C's sent with the cards and nowhere does it state that a) they do this and b) I remain liable

Would be very grateful for guidance as to what I should do next?

Thanks all!

Reaper

It depends what the new entries are. If they are from a company you had previous set up a CPA (Continuous Payment Authority) with then canceling your card and cutting it up is not enough to stop it.

Read this article and [thread=256]this thread[/thread].

rob_schofield

Thanks Reaper!

I've checked with American Express and they are not CPA's... anything else I can do??

Reaper

You haven't said what the transactions are. If you don't know yourself then the first step is to find out. Are they genuine transactions which just took a long time to get through? If so you will have to pay them.

If, however, they are fraudulent then you are not liable, and when resolved your account should be backdated to the date of the transaction wiping out the late payment charges.

If you had lost the card you could, in theory, be liable for the first £50. But it is is still in your possesion (even in bits) then you are not liable for anything.

More information on your rights can be found at CardWatch

westernpromise

A few years ago I had my wallet stolen with an old, long-cancelled Amex charge card receipt slip in it (it had a useful phone number on it). The thieves used this to produce a new card.

Got a delighted statement from Amex, saying thank you for using the card again and here are £3,000 worth of charges (30 x £99.99 all at different branches of Debenhams), so cough up.

Their attitude was that I owed the money even though I no longer had a card, and that I should "claim" the fraudulent charges back! The nerve, really!

Went to the police to report it and the police refused to accept the crime report. They argued that if I'd destroyed the card and cancelled the account, I wasn't the victim, Amex were, and Amex should report it.

Relayed this to Amex and the matter went away. Pretty astonishing that a cancelled account could be resurrected and used though.

Find out what the charges are and challenge them if you didn’t incur them.

The trouble with CPAs is that cancelling the card does not necessarily make it impossible to charge things to the card. Amex are evidently keen to have you back as a customer whether you like it or not, so they pay up and bill you.

I have also had mysterious charges appear on MBNA statements which on closer inspection turned out to be annual subscriptions charged to older MBNA accounts.

deemy2004

Its ridiculous !

A cancelled card should be just that CANCELLED !