American Express - Notice of default sums

Dorset_Guy

I'm an Amex customer and spend quite a lot of money each month via their card (shopping, petrol, clothes, etc) and put all my business expenses on the card as well (flights, hotels, meals) so my monthly bill is usually quite high.

On 19th Feb they sent me a statement with a due date of 3rd March - My main customer had failed to pay me on time (one of the approvers for my invoice was on a two week holiday and there was no substitute who could authorise payment) so I was late in paying the bill. I got my money from my customer on 21st March and went about electronically paying all my bills, including American Express.

A couple of days later (23rd March) I received a default sums notice advising that I had also been charged an additional £12.

I called them and was told that because they had created another bill before they had recieved my payment they had automatically generated the notice of default sums. I was also told that my credit file (previously pretty much perfect) had now been updated to reflect the late payment - this would not be removed unless Amex had made a mistake.

I was pretty miffed by all this - Amex regularly send me uninspiring "special" offers by e-mail - surely as a valued customer they could have e-mailed me asking me to put my account in order before they took action that would damage my credit file?

I asked to be transferred to cancellations and was put through - The person I spoke to said that he didn't want to lose a valued customer of 16 years and that he would contact their specialist team to ensure that my credit file was not adversely affected - he'd get back to me early the following week.

Needless to say nobody got back to me.

I sent an e-mail on 28th March asking why no response and what had been done in the meantime. I received a response back 4 days later from their e-mail servicing team saying that they hadn't received any payment against my account for my February balance (not true - I have a receipt for the transfer on 21st March and the money shows in my Amex account on 22nd March) - They say the account therefore went 30 days past due and the default sum was issued - my maths says that 21st March less 3rd March is not 30 days.

I was invited to contact any one of a number of credit reference agencies (for quite what purpose I don't know).

I'm quite upset by all this - I have an offer on my house and have been looking to move home - a blot on my credit file is not going to be viewed favourably by any mortgage companies.

So my question is - Where do I stand and what can I do about it?

Dabooka

If it is a true and accurate reflection of what happened, then there really isn't much you can do about it.

Did you contact them regarding the difficulties in paying? Do you clear in full each month and could you have made a minimum payment?

If this is the only problem you have, then don't worry too much about it, and I'd think twice about quitting Amex. It wouldn't make any difference to your credit history, and there is an argument to say that having a generally well maintained account for 16 years would "look" better.

One late payment marker, although not good, isn't the end of the world. Just make sure it doesn't happen again, and plan for late invoices etc by having a reserve for such events.

OllyM

Dorset_Guy wrote: »

So my question is - Where do I stand and what can I do about it?

This probably isn't what you want to hear but you paid three weeks late so what do you expect them to do? They have marked your credit file with a true indication of what happened.

If you are in the process of buying a house I'm surprised that you don't have savings available to pay the card off.

Dorset_Guy

Dabooka wrote: »

If it is a true and accurate reflection of what happened, then there really isn't much you can do about it.

Did you contact them regarding the difficulties in paying? Do you clear in full each month and could you have made a minimum payment?

If this is the only problem you have, then don't worry too much about it, and I'd think twice about quitting Amex. It wouldn't make any difference to your credit history, and there is an argument to say that having a generally well maintained account for 16 years would "look" better.

One late payment marker, although not good, isn't the end of the world. Just make sure it doesn't happen again, and plan for late invoices etc by having a reserve for such events.

It is a charge card so no minimum payment - the bill was about £4000 and yes I had money in other accounts but would have had to transfer money around in order to make the payment (and that would have involved a trip to town - Wish i'd done it now).

Eonel

Is it the right thing to have a charge card if you depend on your customers paying you before you can pay it? If you used a credit card you would at least have the option of making minimum payment and not incurring a late payment marker.

Coincidentally I was a week late paying my Amex charge card this month - complete oversight as it was a relatively small amount due. I made the payment and then telephoned them to apologise. They were nice & said there would be no late charges or impact to my credit record. So they do have some flexibility.

If you can not get them to agree, a single one month late marker will not have a big impact on your credit record. It's significance will soon fade as anyone can forget to make a card payment as a one-off

Dorset_Guy

Hi Eonel,

Yes, you are right - I have other cards that have a direct debit set up for the minimum monthly amount - in future I will make sure I use these in preference. The main benefit for me in having the Amex has been the travel insurance and priority pass (useful when you have a couple of hours to kill in an airport somewhere) - if I decide to continue with Amex I'll limit it's use to just the purchase of flights.

My gripe is basically that they could have forewarned me (though I accept it is my responsibility to make the payment in time). I have been naive in thinking that paying a high membership fee and spending a lot of money through them warranted a level of customer service over and above that offered elsewhere but the reality is that you are still just a number and all they want is your money.

OllyM

Dorset_Guy wrote: »

My gripe is basically that they could have forewarned me (though I accept it is my responsibility to make the payment in time). I have been naive in thinking that paying a high membership fee and spending a lot of money through them warranted a level of customer service over and above that offered elsewhere but the reality is that you are still just a number and all they want is your money.

But they DID forewarn you - they sent you a statement telling you what was due and when the due date was.

Bravehearted_2

Dorsetguy

Don't take my word for it but I'm 99.99% certain that Amex don't report on the charge cards to CRAs.

I have one for work as well, spent tons on it and ran it v well but it wasnt reported.

I now use a private cashback card for work which is reported.

So don't worry too much.

OllyM

Bravehearted wrote: »

Dorsetguy

Don't take my word for it but I'm 99.99% certain that Amex don't report on the charge cards to CRAs.

I have one for work as well, spent tons on it and ran it v well but it wasnt reported.

I now use a private cashback card for work which is reported.

So don't worry too much.

Corporate charge cards won't appear on your personal credit report but personal charge cards certainly do!

giblet10

Sorry to hear this story - but when I had AMEX they were great until I hit difficulties and then they really changed - I held Amex Plat, Amex Gold CC and Amex BA Premium CC, prior to IVA. As soon as I missed just one payment on Amex Platinum they were hounding me - they were the first to get a DCA involved, the first to threaten legal action and were absolutely horrible to deal with..

I've since recovered my life and CRA files and do have credit cards again but will never have AMEX again - not that'd they have me of course!

Bravehearted_2

Well OP did you take it out as personal or corporate card?