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Having applied and been approved for an Amex Preferred Gold Rewards card in June, my account was promptly suspended without notice. Days later I received an email from the credit review team asking me to forward my two most recent current account statements. This I did and heard nothing. When I called I was told the statements were unacceptable as they were not “direct downloads” from my banking app (?). I tried again and again heard nothing. On 17/7 I called for an update and after an age on hold I was told that Amex “had taken a business decision on 14/7 to close my account”. I ask why and was stonewalled. I was told I’d receive a letter explaining the situation in a few days.
On 19/7 I received a Notice of Default letter dated 12/7 despite the fact that my statement amount is not due (let alone overdue) until the end of July and I have no other Amex accounts/cards.
I have checked my Equifax credit file and there is nothing on there that would provide cause for concern to a lender.
The only issue I can think of is that when I completed my application I gave my salary figure as my contractual/substantive salary rather than my actual salary at this time. I’m currently on sick leave from work and being paid 50% of my contractual salary. Once I return to duty, I will once again receive 100% of my contractual salary. When I spoke to the credit review team I explained this in full though I got the impression they didn’t want to know.
The receipt of the Notice of Default (with its various assertions and threats) has caused me great distress particularly as I don’t currently owe Amex a single penny and from the point of approval, a direct debit has been in place to take the full statement amount as it falls due.
I gather my experience is an increasingly frequent one and from reading the threads on here I realise now that I probably ought to have been more careful in completing my application. It was a genuine error and I believe a reasonable one.
Closure now appears to be a foregone conclusion which is regrettable but my main concern is Amex’s threat of reporting my “default” to credit reference agencies where it will remain on my record for years. This is ridiculous – there is no default!
You’ve stated your mistake but be patient. No point drawing conclusions. You will lose access to Amex but can try in a year or two.
There are a couple of long threads on the subject of Amex closures, with a few people reporting similar experiences.
I wonder if the proposed changes to the banking rules about having to inform the customer of the reason for the closure will extend to credit card providers too.
I wonder if the proposed changes to the banking rules about having to inform the customer of the reason for the closure will extend to credit card providers too.
In respect of credit cards, this is already provided for in statute if a provider closes an account without the required two months notice when an “objectively justified” reason might need to be provided. Credit cards are considered differently to bank accounts which are considered to be essential utilities that a person needs for their day to day lives whereas many people operate fine without credit cards.
@PoloSee – ‘default notices’ are not very well named because they don’t necessarily mean you are in default of payment. It is simply the statutory notice that the credit card provider must send advising you of the termination of the credit agreement and for payment of any outstanding sums, even if they aren’t overdue.
P2 here also had the rather unpleasant “notice of default” but monitoring of credit reference agency files has shown nothing untoward filed by Amex as a result.
She put her signature to a formal complaint to Amex which did produce a written assurance that nothing defamatory had been or would be recorded about her as a result of their decision to close the account.
FWIW I also had the “account review” rigmarole for my Amex plat but it was adequately handled. The “statements must be machine-generated PDF files and not scans” requirement is peculiar and not required by law; it’s much easier to undetectably modify a PDF without security measures than it is a paper document or scan of one!
In my case they *were* prepared to hear me when I explained my true income was much greater than the historical payslips suggested, inspect other evidence of income, and accept money resting (Father Ted style) in my ltd’s account rather than being dividended or PAYE’d to me & subject to ruinous taxation.
Thanks all for your thoughts. I submitted a formal complaint to AmEx in Brighton some weeks now and have since had two holding replies advising me that the matter is being investigated. I’ll update once I receive a final response from them. In the interim my account has been definitively closed.
it’s much easier to undetectably modify a PDF without security measures than it is a paper document or scan of one!
Not that much harder, just print out your modified PDF and scan it…
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While I’m sure it doesn’t relate to the OP, and hopefully no other HfP reader, when one reads these reports of account reviews and closures, there’s often more than meets the eye as with this FOS case just published. Can’t think why he thought it was a good idea to complain.
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4132822.pdf
@JDB thanks for posting that. I agree with the ombudsman’s decision, it is clear Mr A tried to hide facts from Amex and modified his bank statements. It makes no sense why anyone would do that and just shows that it doesn’t help your case if you’re not open and honest with Amex or anyone.
While I’m sure it doesn’t relate to the OP, and hopefully no other HfP reader, when one reads these reports of account reviews and closures, there’s often more than meets the eye as with this FOS case just published. Can’t think why he thought it was a good idea to complain.
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4132822.pdf
agreed. some people definitely appear to be a couple of mints short of a full packet…
This kind of thing is astonishingly common. We had a case some years ago where a young man had suffered a broken jaw and extensive facial bruising and gave a statement saying he had been set upon and robbed late at night. He then proceeded to make an application for compensation for criminal injuries. Unfortunately for him, his career as an amateur cage fighter was well documented on the internet, including the bout during which he sustained the broken jaw and other injuries. He got a Fixed Penalty Notice for wasting police time!
@NL that’s fantastic.
Reminds me of a former neighbour when I lived in a block of flats in West London. We had underground car parking and one day my neighbour tried to make a claim on the building insurance that someone in the building had crashed into his car in the garage about 4 weeks previously.
Questioned why he had only raised the issue now he claimed he had been away on business in the interim.
Unfortunately for him the building had cctv and after reviewing it going back 5 weeks it was clear that he had gone out one day and had damaged the car at some point during the day. The cctv showed the neighbour driving the car leaving the building with no damage and then at 1am he is seen driving back in with the front of the car clearly damaged.
When presented with the evidence he then proceeded to ask how long the cctv footage was stored for. He plainly thought if he left it 5 weeks then all cctv footage would have been wiped from the system….
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