Closed AMEX Account / GC Services / Credit Reporting

[Anonymous]

I had a business AMEX Platinum account that was closed in June and the debt was to be collected by GC Services. When AMEX closed this account, they proceeded to close two other personal AMEX accounts I had. One with $0 balance and another with a balance. GC Services informed me that they are not collecting payments for the personal account that was closed. I've made payments to the personal account each month and it's being reported on my credit under a Closed Account with on-time payments. 

I've since made payments for the closed Platinum with GC Services by agreeing to a payment plan each month. Once my payments have been completed for that account, I was told that all 3 of my accounts can be reinstated back to good standing and reopened. I've had on-time payments for the previous months. In June, July, and August, I paid each month through GC Services. I have one final payment left to make this month (September). I noticed on my credit reports that I don't have any reported accounts under Collections, but the account is listed under Closed Accounts. However, under each credit report, there are a few differences -

Transunion

Account Type

Open account

Account Status

Closed

Payment Status

Collection account

Status Updated

Aug 2019

Balance

$3,130

Balance Updated

Aug 13, 2019

Past Due Amount

$0

No payment history reported

Equifax

Account Type

Open Account

Account Status

Closed

Payment Status

-

Status Updated

Aug 2019

Balance

$3,130

Balance Updated

Aug 13, 2019

Past Due Amount

-

Your Statement

COLLECTION ACCOUNTACCOUNT CLOSED BY CREDIT GRANTOR

Comments

COLLECTION ACCOUNT

ACCOUNT CLOSED BY CREDIT GRANTOR

FP - Failed Payment reported for June and July

Experian

Account Type

Credit Card - Revolving Terms

Account Status

Closed

Payment Status

Seriously past due date / assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor's internal collection department

Status Updated

Jun 2019

Balance

$3,130

Balance Updated

Aug 13, 2019

Past Due Amount

-

Comments

Credit line closed-grantor request-reported by subscriber

FP - Failed Payment reported for June, July, and August.

My questions are -

1. Is this account supposed to be listed under Collections? / Will it be?

2. Are my monthly payments via GC Services not considered as payments being made?

3. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on whether the FPs are going to be removed once the balance has been paid off? The account is supposed to be put back in good standing and reopened...

Thanks in advance!

[hawkins]

Why was the card closed in the first place?

[Anonymous]

I couldn’t pay the full amount that was due on the statement. Since balances aren’t supposed to carry over, the account became delinquent.

[hawkins]

Was there not pay over time on the card?

[Anonymous]

A portion of the balance qualified for pay over time (higher purchases) but not all

[hawkins]

You had a lot of charges below $100 I guess then. Did Amex not try to make a deal with you at all before closing it and transferring it?

[Anonymous]

Since you mentioned the Pay Over Time balance, I looked back at an old statement and it looks like my limit was $5,700. 

AMEX did actually offer a payment plan and I asked them when I would need to make the payment/decision to move forward by, and the AMEX rep was vague and said "whenever you'd like". I thought that was odd so I asked if he meant before the next month/statement and he said that would be fine. I told him I just needed to talk it over with my business partner but that I wanted to move forward with payment within the next week or two and he was nice and said it was no problem. I called them back two weeks later and that's when I was informed that GC Services was now handling our account. I would've sorted things out sooner had I known that it was going to be transferred over to them that quickly instead of the 3-4 week time frame.

[hawkins]

Well I guess it does not really matter at this point but I am curious as too how much of your balance fell under POT and how much did not. If the biz platinum is anything like the biz gold which I have any charge over $100 goes automatically in POT. Anything below that amount of course must be paid in full.

[Anonymous]

I don't have the BIZ version, but that's how my Gold works as well. Initially it confused me because teh differnce between total balance and payment due on the mian page. You have to dig deeper to find out what's really going on. I always pay the full amount anyways just to be safe and not incurr fees. But I do see how it could confuse someone at first glance, leading them to underpay. 

Considering the $3K balance, you must have had several purchases over $100. Otherwise you drink entirely too much coffee all day, or visit too many food stops.  Also sounds like you possibly let spending get ahead of your wallet. Which is one reason I use a Charge card sparingly, and only for stuff I'd normaly buy.  I definitely wouldn't have let $3K spoil my relationship with Amex, or sully my CR for that matter. 

Also, if I knew that I wasn't going to be able to pay it, I would have BT'd it to another card. 

Whether it will report as collection IDK, but I assume it's not going to be anything positive to your CR.  I'm surprised Amex outsourced it so quickly though, I would haev though they would have handles it in house for at least 60 days. Though I guess Charge Cards work differntly than revolvers. 

[Anonymous]

Well it wasn’t just $3k lol this is the current balance. It was significantly higher.