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AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

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sperrin
Valued Member

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

Same thing happened to me in 2018.  Moved to another state and switched banks -- had autopay set up on my Delta Platinum and the payment was denied.  Amex canceled my account and refused to reinstate it.  Sent in countless documents showing funds being transferred from one checking account to the other and how one account was closed -- still refused.  No call, no email.  The only reason I found out was from an alert on my Apple Pay that a card had been removed.  

 

I didn't receive any negative remarks on my CR, as my account never went 30 days late.. but it still shows "closed my creditor" on my report.  Kind of crazy considering it was my go-to card at the time and I also hold a gold card.  Never a late payment and always paid in full.  Totally bizarre on their end.  

Message 11 of 24
sjt
Senior Contributor

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

Call Amex and explain the situation.

American Express: Platinum Charge, Optima, Business Gold, Delta Business Reserve, Business Cash, Business Plus
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Citibank: AAdvantage Platinum WEMC
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Credit Union: Cash Back Visa Signature
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Message 12 of 24
TheBoondocks
Established Contributor

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

That's odd, I've been with AMEX for 4 years now and I've been doing a lot of refunds recently but never had they closed my account. Maybe cause I have the 3rd party issue me the refund but I know the lenders don't like refunds so I don't think it would help either way. But, I think maybe because of spend rate is too high, not sure.

Message 13 of 24
K-in-Boston
Credit Mentor

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?


@TheBoondocks wrote:

That's odd, I've been with AMEX for 4 years now and I've been doing a lot of refunds recently but never had they closed my account. Maybe cause I have the 3rd party issue me the refund but I know the lenders don't like refunds so I don't think it would help either way. But, I think maybe because of spend rate is too high, not sure.


OP had payments returned because the bank account set up for autopay was either closed or had insufficient funds to cover the payments as they had changed banks.  Merchant refunds won't typically be an issue unless they are excessive and rewards fraud or money laundering is suspected.

Message 14 of 24
TheBoondocks
Established Contributor

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

Oh okay, yeah I heard like if you have a bounced check regardless of whether you know or not, they could close your account but this isn't about that either, that sucks tho. I usually do manual payments anyway.

Message 15 of 24
CreditobsessedinFL
Established Contributor

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?


@Remedios wrote:
No lender likes a returned payment. It could be an honest mistake or insufficient funds.
Bigger issue with this is that your available balance with Amex is restored immediately, so you could in theory do even more damage if fraud was the intent.

With that said, at least with them there is a possibility of restoring accounts. I would not have them wait for their money too long.

My dyslexia primarily manifests with transposing numbers. I'm capable of transposing a single digit 😐
I hit a snag once because of it, my account was not closed by the lender, but I was certainly put in a naughty chair for a while.

I've never manually entered account numbers since (copy and paste from banking website only), and being as absent minded as I am, I only keep one payment account per card.

@Remedios , thank you for your honesty and full disclosure above. I also read a response from @Gmood1 some time ago regarding a similar issue and it made me feel so much better.  If it can happen to seasoned credit warriors, then  it can happen to us newbies as well. 
I accidentally transposed one of the numerals in my checking account number for my BB+T card  payment a month or so ago and thankfully they didn't AA me for it (so far) AND they still allowed me to receive the second card I was approved for, just days before,  in spite of it. Their system requires you to enter the account number EACH and every time, so I am never doing it again and I am not allowed to call in a payment for 90 days because of it as well. I have autopay set up, but I jumped the gun, at 1130pm and tried to enter the payment manually instead.
Lesson learned, I will push the payment or continue to pay cash at the drive thru; trying to just keep a VERY low profile for a long time.
I didn't even try to get the $27.00 late fee taken off, which occurred because even though I paid well in advance, it took their system that long to return the payment which then caused the late charge, for that same day, but I didn't want to draw any more attention to the issue by disputing it. 
thank goodness for Truebill, it alerted me as soon as the late fee hit!

 

Message 16 of 24
sperrin
Valued Member

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

Called amex and went through multiple channels. Sent over documentation about the closed bank account and the new account along with the transferring of funds. They still denied the reopening. 

It's absolutely my fault for not realizing I hadn't changed my autopay over. Just unfortunate that after all the trouble, phone calls, documentation being faxed over from both banks with their letter head, etc that they wouldn't do something to resolve the issue and reinstate the account. Ended up just reapplying a month or so later for the same card -- new history, new tradeline.


Needless to say, like others have mentioned, American Express does not take lightly to returned or denied payments and won't email you or contact you if there are issues --No matter what your history or current standing with other accounts is. 

 

Message 17 of 24
sperrin
Valued Member

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

The issue was never refunds. 

Message 18 of 24
Trikoret
Contributor

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

I'm surprised they closed your account from one bad payment especially if you had an excellent payment history. It's like closing someone's account for forgetting to make a payment. I remember my cousin payment bounced cause he forgot to update Amex with new bank account. One call to Amex and it got fixed. He's still using his business card. He puts anywhere between 200k-300k a month. 

Message 19 of 24
sperrin
Valued Member

Re: AMEX Cards Canceled - Reinstatement?

Ha. Maybe it's because I'm not putting around $3.5M through my personal card annually 😂. But yes, it's unfortunate. 

Message 20 of 24
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