Anyone with name suffix have Amex issues?

Anonymous · ‎12-15-2016

So I've been going back and forth with Amex for months now and finally got an answer regarding my issue from the executive office. Basically I'm being told that when your name has a suffix outside of something simple like Jr. or Sr. that the Amex software sees your suffix as your last name. My suffix is "V" for those that are unaware. As a result, my account has never reported to Experian (but has to the other 2B) and is never soft pulled (since they SP EX) so my EX FICO 08 score on their site has never changed since I opened the account.

I asked why when I applied I was able to get an approval rather than a denial since they were able to access my EX report then and I was told that different software is used when opening accounts rather than the software used to maintain accounts.

The guy from the executive office removed my suffix from my account but made note that it should be there, just to see if this will allow the account to report and if they can then SP me. I'll report back on that progress in the next few weeks.

Anyway I was just curious if anyone else with a suffix experienced something similar with Amex, or if you didn't have any issues with it?

Anonymous · ‎12-15-2016

Sorry to hear that happened but glad that ECT was able to diagnose the issue. We do have a dedicated field for suffixes and I've never seen issues with them. Being that New Accounts does use a different system, I wonder if they "typed" it into your last name field rather than using said suffix field. You should see the history of your account publish to your reports a few days after your next cycle closing date.

Anonymous · ‎12-16-2016

My suffix "III" has given me a small amount of problems over the years. When sites do not have a Suffix box I usually put it in the last name field with my last name. Most times its seperated with a space but some sites don't allow a 'space' so it's seperated with a dash in some instances. The only issue I've had with my Suffix is linking accounts with AmEx. Like SPG and Delta would not link properly because everyone had my suffix in different spots. I called AmEx and SPG and got that all straightened out so I'm good now. Never to the point of Credit Pull issues though as I put my suffix on EVERYTHING. I get mad when people leave it off.

Now if I can only get my suffix on my Cap One Venture card so Enterprise Car Rental will let me use it

Anonymous · ‎12-16-2016

Yeah I use my suffix on everything as well. Sometimes drop-down suffix selection boxes only allow up to III, sometimes IV (like credit check total for example) but rarely have I seen V. In these situations I usually place the suffix in my last name field following a space after my last name. 9 times out of 10 this works just fine. The biggest issue I have is that when people are keying in my data they usually assume I messed up and that the "V" is actually a middle initial, so many times my name is represented as First Name V Last Name. I actually sent letters recently to the 3B asking for this variation to be removed from my credit reports as it is present on all of them.

The person I spoke with from Amex said that he's working with the tech team on a permanent solution to this so that I (and others) can use a suffix and not have a problem. My next closng date is in 2 days and usually Amex reports right away and I can see my updates within 2 days of that, so by the middle of next week I will see if the account shows up on EX or not. I'm hoping so as my available credit on EX is $30k less than the other 2B due to the lack of this account.

newhis · ‎12-16-2016

No suffix issue with Amex but space between words on last name.

DW has several words in last name with spaces between them. When she tried to link Amex card with Plenti, she had trouble. The system sent the last name as 1 word and Plenti has the last name with few words spaces. At the end, she needed to contact Plenti for them to remove the spaces to be able to link the accounts.

Some sites do not take spaces, others do not take dashes.

Her credit reports show several names reported, a few combinations from her name and 1 or more words from the last name. She sometimes get 2 credit card offers the same day from same lender to a slightly different name combination.

Anonymous · ‎12-16-2016

Name variations can be quite frustrating at times. You'd think software would go more off of SS# since that's unique and finite (no variations) but I get that it needs to verify the name to go along with that number. Because of all the BS I've dealt with throughout my life, I did not name my son after me; there will not be a VI

Anonymous · ‎12-16-2016

I was thinking about this the other week since some of my cards have my suffix and some don't. My Amex one has my suffix and I have had no issues with it.

@Anonymous wrote:

Now if I can only get my suffix on my Cap One Venture card so Enterprise Car Rental will let me use it

@Sidenote @Anonymous: IME, I haven't had that issue with Enterprise. I wonder if it's because my middle initial is on my CC and it matches my ID...or if they just haven't noticed that my cc doesn't have my suffix...lol.

UncleB · ‎12-16-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Name variations can be quite frustrating at times. You'd think software would go more off of SS# since that's unique and finite (no variations) but I get that it needs to verify the name to go along with that number. Because of all the BS I've dealt with throughout my life, I did not name my son after me; there will not be a VI

As we've discussed before my own suffix has been a nightmare from hell as well... I also wouldn't dare saddle my own offspring with such a headache.

Back to your topic, with Amex my 'Jr' has never caused a problem, likely since it's a bit more common than 'V'. With other creditors if there's not a field (that seems to be about 50/50) I just do "last name <space> Jr" and that usually works OK, although sometimes with odd results. For the handful of sites that don't allow a space I simply omit the suffix, but I'm never happy about it (LOL).

One odd-ball I'll call out here is Synchrony, their customer-facing online systems display it a little weird (last name is lower-case, suffix is upper-case) but functionally it works OK (and is correct on my card and statement). I'll add that this odd display has never caused a problem... so far.

@Anonymous wrote:
My suffix "III" has given me a small amount of problems over the years. When sites do not have a Suffix box I usually put it in the last name field with my last name. Most times its seperated with a space but some sites don't allow a 'space' so it's seperated with a dash in some instances. The only issue I've had with my Suffix is linking accounts with AmEx. Like SPG and Delta would not link properly because everyone had my suffix in different spots. I called AmEx and SPG and got that all straightened out so I'm good now. Never to the point of Credit Pull issues though as I put my suffix on EVERYTHING. I get mad when people leave it off.

Now if I can only get my suffix on my Cap One Venture card so Enterprise Car Rental will let me use it

I understand this completely.

Oddly, the only card I've had an issue with lately is my NFCU card... the suffix is on my statement but strangely missing from my card.

In the past I would have been all over that to have them send out a new card with the "correct" name but I guess after all these years I'm getting more mellow, since this time I just shrugged my shoulders and put it in the SD (note that if it wasn't primarily used for BTs (and thus rarely in my wallet) I might give it more attention).

Side note: You've had a problem using a card missing the suffix while renting a car?

rmduhon · ‎12-17-2016

That sounds odd regarding Enterprise. Granted, I don't have a suffix but my CC's don't have my middle name or even initial and my license does. You'd think that they'd treat a suffix similarly.

UncleB · ‎12-17-2016

@rmduhon wrote:
That sounds odd regarding Enterprise. Granted, I don't have a suffix but my CC's don't have my middle name or even initial and my license does. You'd think that they'd treat a suffix similarly.

+1

I've never had a problem with a car rental (or any other purchase) due to my suffix, but even as laid-back as I am I would make sure the person giving me a hard time earned every penny of their money that day, and I would escalate the situation all the way to God if necessary to get it resolved.

I'm particular about having the suffix on my 'official' documents, but it's a bit obnoxious for a car rental agency to have an issue if it's missing from either my credit card or driver's license (yep, in a different state I've even had my suffix missing from my DL). I know there are 'rules', but if State Farm and even the DMV can 'take it or leave it' then certainly a rental agency can as well.