Credit Cards

I am in the process of closing out both my American

Express Cards, due to poor customer service. Here is

a gist of my complaint.

I got a "check" that indicated that I could borrow

money for 1.9% for a year. I wrote the check to

myself and then paid a debtor of mine. I assumed that

the rate will be 1.9% - it was not, I was being

charged upwards of 25%. When I called to complain,

all they told me was "it was treated like a cash

advance" (perhaps it was somewhere in very small

print, I definitely did not understand that to be the

fact). If I had written the check DIRECTLY to the

debtor, I may have (MAY HAVE) been charged 1.9%.

This is deceptive marketing and a means to confuse

borrowers. I did not think it was a cash advance and

they refused to change the rate back. Worse, the

attitude of the people at customer service was

despicable and it almost seemed like I was talking to

a machine - with preprogrammed answers.

In length email exchanges, I got replies back from

different people everytime. It became clear to me

that my emails were being answered by some computer

program somewhere. There is no such thing as

"consumer service".

AmEx may stand their ground and claim that what they

have done is "legal" and "above board". I would like

readers to listen to Prof. Elizabeth Warren of Harvard

Law school about how Credit Card companies use

deceptive and difficult wording to even the most

sophisticated consumers and extract money from them.

I tried my best to have AmEx remove the exorbitant

charges, they refused. I have since paid off the

entire amount (including past balances) by drawing on

other sources.

I'd recommend that consumers contact lawmakers to

demand that the conditions under which loans are made

are clear to the average (and the not-so-average)

consumer in normal print. Shame on American Express

for how they treated a long time customer. It made no

difference to them as to how long I have been a

customer.

I am now worried they will demand ALL of my balances

on one additional card that I carry from AmEx - as

retaliation for my complaints. Prof. Warren of

Harvard reads agreements that way - they can demand

the money anytime they want. Wish me luck.

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