American Express

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 479 historical complaints about American Express, published between 2000 and 2014. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.

• Very poor servicePublished Jan 29, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation
• American Express Customer service and late feesPublished Jan 29, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation
• American Express late fee - AMEX Gold cardPublished Jan 7, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation
• Promotion offered, then Taken Away - Platinum CardPublished Jan 6, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation
• BlueBird - BLUEBIRDPublished Dec 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Amex travel online charged my son twice for the tickets for his honeymoon - amex travel on linePublished Dec 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• 14 years a loyal customer and never a late paymentPublished Dec 27, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• They will NEVER stand up for youPublished Nov 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Pissed off hardship customer - American Express Blue CardPublished Oct 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Gift Card - $100 Gift CardPublished Oct 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• I just don't get itPublished Oct 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• AMX gift cards and refund for cash redemption policy SUCK. The cards are worthless. - American Express Business Gift CardsPublished Oct 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• AMEX Nothing but Lies - American ExpressPublished Sep 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Amex travel stealing money from members! - airline ticketsPublished Sep 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• An inefficient policy to capture the "good" consumers - American Express Blue Cash EverydayPublished Sep 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• The end of 31 years of a RelationshipPublished Sep 28, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Unintelligent Customer CarePublished Sep 6, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Standard Chartered Bank Notice - AMEX cardPublished Aug 29, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• AMEX billing for COSTCO chargesPublished Aug 16, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• American Express Very unhappy with my treatment... - customer servicesPublished Aug 14, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation

Complaint Themes

Each tag reflects a complaint's single primary theme (not every angle it raised), and complaints outside any problem theme — a positive report, or one later retracted by its author — aren't tagged. Counts may total less than the full complaint count above.

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Contacts

• Official website: https://www.americanexpress.com/
• Personal Cards customer service (24/7): 1-800-528-4800 26 complaints mention this number
• Pay a bill by phone (24/7): 1-800-472-9297 1 complaint mentions this number
• Gift or Travelers Cheques (24/7): 1-800-221-7282
• Gift Cards (8 am-12 am EST): 1-877-297-4438 1 complaint mentions this number
• Contact American Express (phone and mail by product): https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/support/contacts/
• Help Center: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/
• How to dispute a charge: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/faq.dispute-a-charge.html
• How to cancel a Card account: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/customer-service/faq.cancel-card-account.html
• Report fraud and protect your account: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/security-center/
• Small Business Cards customer service (24/7): 1-800-492-3344 1 complaint mentions this number
• Savings customer service (24/7): 1-800-446-6307
• Rewards Checking customer service (24/7): 1-877-221-2639
• Report phishing or a fake Amex site: [email protected]

Locations

American Express complaints and disputes: the company's own channels and outside complaint routes (checked October 6 and 7, 2026)

This page starts with American Express's own channels and the outside complaint routes, then lists the government actions and court cases on the record. The company's contact page and Security Center, the BBB and Trustpilot pages, the CFPB database counts and the court dockets named below were opened on October 7, 2026; the Help Center, Form 10-K and 10-Q, Bluebird and regulator pages were opened on October 6, 2026. The posts on this site linked to this page were written mostly between 2004 and 2013, so the current channels come first.

Phone numbers by product. The company's "Contact American Express" page lists, for Personal Cards, Customer Service "Already a Card Member? Get help with your existing account" at 1-800-528-4800 (24/7; TTY relay: dial 711 and 1-800-528-4800), Make a Payment 1-800-472-9297 (24/7), Apply for a Card 1-888-297-1244 (8 am-11 pm EST), Check Application Status 1-877-239-3491, American Express Serve 1-800-954-0559 (24/7), Gift Cards 1-877-297-4438 (8 am-12 am EST) and Gift or Travelers Cheques 1-800-221-7282 (24/7). The same page lists, under Small Business Cards, Customer Service ("Get help with your existing American Express account") at 1-800-492-3344 (24/7); under Consumer Accounts, Savings customer service at 1-800-446-6307 (24/7) and Rewards Checking customer service at 1-877-221-2639 (24/7); and separate sections for Corporate Cards, Merchant, Travel and Membership Rewards.

Mail. The contact page gives P.O. Box 981535, El Paso, TX 79998-1535 for General Inquiries and, for prepaid products, "American Express Global Payment Options, Executive Consumer Relations, 115 W. Towne Ridge Parkway, Sandy, UT 84070". Bill payments go to separate addresses on the same page; billing-error notices should go to the address printed on your statement (the CFPB says that address can differ from the payment address).

Disputing a charge. American Express's Help Center says: "Before you open a dispute, please first contact the merchant directly." It then says to view your transactions, select the transaction, click "Dispute this Charge" and follow the on-screen prompts. The CFPB's page "How to fix mistakes in your credit card bill" says to call the number on your bill or back of the card, then send a written notice "no later than 60 days after the credit card company sent the statement where the error first appeared", that the company has 30 days to confirm receipt and two billing cycles to finish its investigation, and that you do not have to pay the disputed amount while it investigates but must pay the undisputed charges.

Cancelling a card. The Help Center page "How do I cancel my Card account?" says: "Please call us at the number on the back of your Card so we can assist you" (outside the U.S., collect at 1-336-393-1111), and that a Corporate Card may have to be cancelled through the company's Program Administrator. This page did not locate an online cancellation form.

Fraud and unauthorized transactions. The Security Center says: "If you think you've been a victim of fraud, we're here to help. Call us toll free on 1-800-528-4800", or log in and chat live. For phishing, the Security Center says: "If you receive a phishing email or text, or come across a fake AMEX site, report it right away at [email protected]."

Prepaid cards. The Bluebird website, as displayed on October 6, 2026, describes a "Bluebird Bank Account" "established by Pathward, N.A., Member FDIC", run by InComm Payments, and has a separate link for "the Bluebird® American Express® Prepaid Debit Account". This page did not determine whether the older American Express prepaid account is still offered; use the issuer named on your own card agreement.

Outside complaint routes. You can submit a complaint to the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The company's Form 10-K says American Express National Bank is supervised by the OCC and that the CFPB has enforcement and examination authority over the company and its subsidiaries. This page did not verify a response deadline for a complaint filed with a regulator.

Government actions: CFPB, OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC and Justice Department, 2012 to 2026 (status as of October 6, 2026)

The CFPB, the OCC, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the Justice Department have each taken actions involving American Express companies. Each item below is taken from the agency's own page or release, opened on October 6, 2026; dates and amounts are as those documents state them. Allegations are not findings, and an administrative order's terms are quoted, not turned into new claims. The older orders concern subsidiaries named in them; the CFPB pages list their status as "Expired/Terminated/Dismissed".

• October 1, 2012, CFPB order against American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., American Express Centurion Bank and American Express Bank, FSB (CFPB docket 2012-CFPB-0004 for TRS), coordinated with the FDIC, the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, the Federal Reserve and the OCC: the CFPB release says the orders require refunds of "an estimated $85 million to approximately 250,000 customers for illegal card practices", covering conduct "between 2003 and spring 2012": a "Blue Sky" card program in which consumers who qualified did not receive a promised $300; late fees billed as a percentage of the debt in violation of the Credit CARD Act; a charge-card credit-scoring system that treated applicants differently by age; failure to report consumer disputes to credit bureaus; and misleading statements to consumers about paying old debt. It states civil penalties totaling $27.5 million: the CFPB $14.1 million, the FDIC $3.9 million, the Federal Reserve $9 million and the OCC $500,000. The CFPB page lists an order terminating the consent order.
• December 24, 2013, CFPB order against American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., American Express Centurion Bank and American Express Bank, FSB (docket 2013-CFPB-0013 for TRS): the CFPB page says the Bureau "ordered American Express to refund an estimated $59.5 million to more than 335,000 consumers for illegal credit card practices", including "unfair billing tactics and deceptive marketing with respect to credit card 'add-on products' such as payment protection and credit monitoring", plus "an additional $9.6 million in civil penalties to the CFPB". The same day the OCC assessed a $3 million penalty against American Express Bank, F.S.B. and ordered restitution of approximately $4.5 million, finding that its billing and marketing practices violated Section 5 of the FTC Act; the OCC release says restitution paid under its order also satisfies identical obligations in the CFPB action. The CFPB page lists an order terminating the consent order.
• August 23, 2017, CFPB order against American Express Centurion Bank and American Express Bank, FSB: the CFPB page says the Bureau took action for "discriminating against consumers in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other U.S. territories by providing them with credit and charge card terms that were inferior to those available in the 50 U.S. states" and against certain consumers with Spanish-language preferences; it says more than 200,000 consumers were harmed over at least ten years, that American Express "has paid approximately $95 million in consumer redress", and that the order requires at least another $1 million. The page links an order terminating the consent order.
• July 25, 2023, OCC civil money penalty: the OCC announced a $15 million penalty against American Express National Bank "for failing to govern and oversee a third-party affiliate and for violations of regulations relating to certain efforts to retain small business customers", finding that the bank failed to ensure the affiliate had appropriate call monitoring controls and mechanisms to track customer complaints, and failed to collect required consumer information under Customer Identification Program regulations. The release says the penalty has been paid.
• January 16, 2025, Justice Department resolutions. The Civil Division release says American Express Company "has agreed to pay a $108.7 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it violated the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA)", alleging deceptive marketing of credit cards by an affiliated entity that made sales calls to small businesses in 2014 through 2017 (misrepresenting rewards or fees and whether credit checks would be done without consent, and submitting falsified financial information such as overstated business income), the entry of "dummy" Employer Identification Numbers on small business card accounts in 2015 and the first half of 2016, and deceptive marketing of the Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire products from 2018 through 2021. The release says: "Except for the conduct admitted in connection with the criminal resolution, the claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability." The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York release says American Express entered into a non-prosecution agreement concerning the Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire products, with a criminal fine of $77,696,000 and forfeiture of $60,700,000, a cooperation term of at least 36 months, and that the company terminated approximately 200 employees after an internal investigation that began in early 2021 and discontinued the products in November 2021. The two releases describe overlapping payments (the Civil Division release gives a $30.35 million credit toward the civil penalty if the criminal payments are made in full); they are not added together here.
• Anti-money-laundering matter, 2026: the company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 says: "We have been engaging with regulators in relation to certain aspects of our anti-money laundering programs and as a result, we expect to be subject to enforcement action, which could include civil money penalties and lead to further regulatory inquiries." No order was identified in the sources checked on October 6, 2026; the OCC's enforcement-action search timed out when this page tried to open it, so that database was not checked.

This section covers orders about American Express's consumer and small-business card practices. Enforcement actions outside the United States, and the merchant antitrust cases (see the lawsuits section), are not covered here.

Company background

American Express Company is a New York corporation (incorporated in 1965 as a New York corporation and, in the company's words, "Founded in 1850") with principal executive offices at 200 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10285 (Form 10-K for 2025, filed February 6, 2026). It and its principal operating subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (TRS), are bank holding companies supervised by the Federal Reserve; the 10-K names American Express National Bank (AENB), headquartered in Sandy, Utah, as its U.S. bank subsidiary, supervised by the OCC and, for certain matters, the FDIC. The 10-K says the company had 86.6 million proprietary cards-in-force worldwide and worldwide billed business of $1,670 billion in 2025, and employed approximately 76,800 people at December 31, 2025. Its products include credit and charge cards, banking and deposit products, merchant acquiring and a card network.

The 10-K says the company maintains "direct relationships with Card Members (as a card issuer) and merchants (as an acquirer)" and that, through contractual relationships, it also works with third-party card issuers and merchant acquirers, and designs, cobrands and distributes certain cards with partners. Co-brand cards that appear in older posts (for example Delta SkyMiles and Costco cards) are therefore governed by their own card agreements; read the agreement for the issuer named on your own card.

BBB's profile lists American Express Financial Advisors, American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc., American Express Centurion Bank, American Express Bank Ltd., AMEX, IDS Mineola and Egencia as alternate names. Posts on this site about similarly named but separate businesses (for example businesses whose names merely contain "Centurion" or "Amex") are not linked here.

Complaint record: USAComplaints posts, CFPB database, BBB and Trustpilot (as displayed October 7, 2026)

Posts on this site. 479 posts on USAComplaints.com name American Express, Amex or one of its card products (for example the Blue, Gold, Platinum, Delta SkyMiles, Costco or Bluebird cards, American Express Travel, travelers cheques or gift cards) in the offender field and are linked to this page as its own complaints; 66 are dated 2007 or earlier, 409 are dated 2008 through 2013, and 4 are dated 2014. Posts that name American Express together with another business in the offender field (for example a collection agency or a retailer) are not linked. These are unverified statements by their authors; American Express's responses to them are not part of the posts.

What these posts mention (keyword matches, not findings). Among the 479 linked posts: 95 mention a charge dispute, unauthorized charge or fraud; 142 mention fees, interest rates or late-payment charges; 182 mention a closed, cancelled or reduced account or credit line; 81 mention rewards points, miles or a rebate; 74 mention travelers cheques, a prepaid or Bluebird card, or a gift card; 73 mention credit reporting or debt collection. One post can match several keyword groups.

CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, as queried on October 7, 2026. For the company name "AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY" the database returned 60,632 complaints through October 5, 2026, of which 11,644 were received since October 7, 2025. The product and company-response breakdowns that follow are from the query of October 6, 2026, which returned 60,532 complaints in total, and are not re-counted. The product categories shown were Credit card (21,136), Credit card or prepaid card (13,942), Credit reporting or other personal consumer reports (7,750), Debt collection (5,543), Prepaid card (5,054), Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports (3,898) and Checking or savings account (2,084). Company responses recorded: Closed with explanation 42,727; Closed with monetary relief 9,148; Closed with non-monetary relief 8,145; Closed without relief 248; In progress 167; Closed with relief 80; Closed 17. The CFPB does not verify the facts in each complaint, and the database lists complaints, not findings.

BBB, as displayed on October 7, 2026. BBB's profile for American Express Company (200 Vesey Street, New York; one of several BBB listings that use the American Express name) says the business "is NOT BBB Accredited", shows a BBB rating of F with the reasons "Failure to respond to 234 complaint(s) filed against business" and "129 complaint(s) filed against business that were not resolved", and shows 4,717 total complaints in the last 3 years and 1,370 complaints closed in the last 12 months. Its reviews tab shows 1.09 /5 stars, an average of 523 customer reviews; BBB says reviews are not used in the letter grade. BBB's page data lists a business-started date of 1850-01-01 and a file-opened date of 1999-04-12. BBB's rating and counts describe BBB's own file and are not combined here with any other number.

Trustpilot, as displayed on October 7, 2026. The page "American Express Global" for www.americanexpress.com shows 1.3 from 5,460 reviews (654 in the last 12 months) and a claimed profile; Trustpilot's notice says the company "hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative" and that it "Hasn't replied to negative reviews". Trustpilot says it does not fact-check reviews, and this page is not limited to U.S. cardholders.

The counts above come from separate sources that count different things (posts on this site, CFPB complaints, BBB complaints, Trustpilot reviews) and are not added together.

Lawsuits and settlements: status as of October 7, 2026

Status is taken from the settlement website, the court filing posted there and American Express's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, which says that the company does not believe it is party to any legal proceeding that would have a material adverse effect on its consolidated financial condition or liquidity, and that the estimated range of reasonably possible loss in excess of accruals is zero to $260 million. The merchant-case entries below combine the 10-Q (as of June 30, 2026) with the First Circuit decision on Justia and the CourtListener docket listings opened on October 7, 2026; the 10-Q's June 2026 statements are not current docket status.

• Moskowitz (formerly Oliver) v. American Express Co. and American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (E.D.N.Y. No. 1:19-cv-00566): a putative class action by holders of Visa, Mastercard or Discover cards (not American Express cards) alleging that the anti-steering provisions in American Express's merchant agreements raised prices. The settlement website says the trial concluded on August 28, 2025, that the jury found American Express violated Illinois law but not the laws of the other states with certified classes, and that only the Illinois non-rewards credit card class was found to be damaged; American Express "denies these claims and that it did anything wrong". The settlement fund is $17.5 million; the claim deadline for the Illinois non-rewards credit card class was May 19, 2026 and has passed; the opt-out deadline has also passed. The 10-Q says the settlement "was approved by the court on July 7, 2026", and a final approval order dated July 7, 2026 is posted on the settlement website (that posted copy is headed "[PROPOSED]"). Settlement administrator contact: 1-877-315-0587, [email protected].
• Merchant anti-steering antitrust cases: Pizza Hazel, Inc., et al. v. American Express Co. (D. Mass., filed September 30, 2024) and 5-Star General Store aka Bento LLC, et al. v. American Express Co. (D.R.I., filed March 21, 2024). The 10-Q says the courts rejected American Express's motions to compel arbitration and that the company appealed both decisions to the First Circuit. In 5-Star (D.R.I. No. 1:24-cv-00106; First Circuit No. 25-1023), the First Circuit decided the appeal on August 19, 2026 (Justia notes an August 26, 2026 revision of the opinion): Justia's summary says the court held that American Express's "deliberate refusal to pay arbitration fees, despite repeated warnings, constituted waiver and default" and "affirmed the district court's denial of the motion to stay and compel arbitration"; CourtListener lists the appeal as argued September 9, 2025 and terminated August 19, 2026. That ruling concerned whether the case goes to arbitration; the antitrust claims were not decided. For Pizza Hazel, CourtListener lists First Circuit No. 25-2007 (filed October 27, 2025; argued September 15, 2026) with no termination date shown on October 7, 2026. These cases are brought by merchants, not cardholders.
• B&R Supermarket, Inc., et al. v. Visa Inc., et al. (E.D.N.Y. No. 1:17-cv-02738, filed in N.D. Cal. March 8, 2016; CourtListener lists the E.D.N.Y. docket as terminated April 28, 2026): merchants allege that card networks and issuers shifted liability for fraudulent chip-card transactions to merchants. The 10-Q says American Express reached an agreement to settle with the class representatives on March 31, 2025, "which was approved by the court on April 27, 2026".
• KServicing Wind Down Corp, et al. v. American Express Kabbage Inc. and American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (Bankr. D. Del., filed October 16, 2025): the 10-Q says the wind-down estate of Kabbage seeks to recover up to approximately $746 million, alleging that American Express's acquisition of Kabbage's lending platform and other assets included a fraudulent transfer. The company's filing does not say the claims are resolved; CourtListener lists the adversary proceeding as No. 25-52371 (filed October 16, 2025; nature of suit: recovery of money or property, fraudulent transfer), and this page did not read its entries.

The 10-Q also describes an ERISA putative class action by participants in the company's retirement savings plan (Rivetti v. American Express Company, S.D.N.Y., filed May 15, 2026) and value-added-tax disputes in several countries; neither concerns cardholders' accounts. This page did not search for every open consumer class-action claim deadline against American Express; the settlement website of any case that affects you states its own deadlines.

Is American Express Legitimate?

Identity facts from the company's own filings: the Form 10-K for 2025 (filed February 6, 2026) gives the registrant as American Express Company, a New York corporation incorporated in 1965 with principal executive offices at 200 Vesey Street, New York, and lists its shares on the NYSE under AXP. The same filing names American Express National Bank, in Sandy, Utah, as the U.S. bank subsidiary supervised by the OCC. The CFPB, OCC and Justice Department matters described earlier include orders that the CFPB now lists as terminated, as well as a 2025 civil penalty and non-prosecution agreement, and the 10-Q describes an expected anti-money-laundering enforcement action. This page applies no rating or verdict; the dated documents and counts above are the record.

Court & Public Records

Company Relationships

• Affiliated with: American Express National Bank
• Affiliated with: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.
• Affiliated with: American Express Kabbage Inc.

Frequently Asked Questions