Banned from AMEX

[MJ-san]

You may want to look at the terms and conditions, I recall that authorized users can be held responsible for charges they made, so if your mom burned them, and some of those charges were yours, you might be blacklisted.

if you didn't make any charges on that account and we're just using it to build your own credit, you could make the case to Amex that you had nothing to do with it. That will take some explaining I'm sure, so you'll wanna find the back door numbers and plead your case. Good luck.

[simoncww]

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@MJ-san wrote:

You may want to look at the terms and conditions, I recall that authorized users can be held responsible for charges they made, so if your mom burned them, and some of those charges were yours, you might be blacklisted.

if you didn't make any charges on that account and we're just using it to build your own credit, you could make the case to Amex that you had nothing to do with it. That will take some explaining I'm sure, so you'll wanna find the back door numbers and plead your case. Good luck.

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@MJ-san, unfortunately I used the card to get gas when I was in college so I'm sure there are balances. Though I'm not sure how much it was. Come to think of it, I don't recall she ever filed for bankruptcy so the debt never got discharged (I think). She just ghosted them and changed her phone number. I'm surprised that there wasn't any lawsuit for that. She's in her 70's now and according to my siblings, she uses cash on everything so I'm sure she doesn't care about settling the dept anymore. Here I am getting stuck in the middle of this mess. smh. Anyway, thanks for the information. I'm sure I'm not the only AU who got stuck in AMEX BL. Thanks for the information.

[Anonymous]

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@MJ-san wrote:

You may want to look at the terms and conditions, I recall that authorized users can be held responsible for charges they made, so if your mom burned them, and some of those charges were yours, you might be blacklisted.

i

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No, only the basic member (or whatever Amex calls the main cardholder) is responsible for payment, legally.  An issuer can certainly suggest that an AU pays, and attempt to point out which charges are theirs (easy with cards like Amex that have different numbers) but there is no legal obligation

[MJ-san]

Yeah I know legally there's no responsibility today, but I do remember way back in the day there was language to the AU "if the primary card member fails to pay, you may be liable for any charges you made on your card" - definitely not there any longer.

[Anonymous]

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@MJ-san wrote:

Yeah I know legally there's no responsibility today, but I do remember way back in the day there was language to the AU "if the primary card member fails to pay, you may be liable for any charges you made on your card" - definitely not there any longer.

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How far back in the day?   I really don't remember that from the 1980s.   I guess it's just possible as a condition of signing and using the card but in many cases an AU has no contact with the issuer, the primary just gives them the card.

[Thomas_Thumb]

Back in the day there were accounts with joint card holders. In those cases both parties were liable. I don't recall that being the case with AUs.

[simoncww]

@Thomas_Thumb @Anonymous @MJ-san @Anonymous @coldfusion 

I managed to get a hold of AMEX customer service. The first question I asked was why I can't get a pre-approval. He looked it up and said it's due to the account being canceled. He can't give me more information as I'm not the account holder. He told me to get a hold of my mom to call them back. Later in the day, I called my sister to talk about this, and she confirmed that my mom never filed for bankruptcy and is not interested in settling with AMEX. Guess I'll just move on. Thanks again for all the input. I definitely learned a lot in this discussion.

[Anonymous]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

Back in the day there were accounts with joint card holders. In those cases both parties were liable. I don't recall that being the case with AUs.

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Joint is still available with some issuers, I have two joint credit card accounts with US Bank, and one with US Alliance (leading to the obvious conclusion that all issuers that begin with "US " offer joint accounts!)  And as you suggest, each party is responsible for the full balance, i.e. they can go after either or both.

[sjt]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

Back in the day there were accounts with joint card holders. In those cases both parties were liable. I don't recall that being the case with AUs.

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I don't recall Amex ever having joint accounts, just AU. The AU was responsible for the charges in the event of the account owner's default.They changed that policy year's ago.

[visionsdivine]

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@MJ-san wrote:

Yeah I know legally there's no responsibility today, but I do remember way back in the day there was language to the AU "if the primary card member fails to pay, you may be liable for any charges you made on your card" - definitely not there any longer.

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This is the case with their corporate cards for sure. If the company you work for bellies up and you have a corporate card with a balance, you're on the hook for that balance. 

Amex is my favorite card, but even I think this is s*** behavior.