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It may give Amex an ‘in’ to suspending them, but they should have notified the primary cardholders that they had taken the action, in the same manner that they suspended my cards, by email and/or letter. In any case, both the kids’ complaints resulted in compo, un-suspension and Amex stating they made an error and should not have suspended the primary cards of those a/cs on which I was a secondary.
It may give Amex an ‘in’ to suspending them, but they should have notified the primary cardholders that they had taken the action, in the same manner that they suspended my cards, by email and/or letter. In any case, both the kids’ complaints resulted in compo, un-suspension and Amex stating they made an error and should not have suspended the primary cards of those a/cs on which I was a secondary.
So glad to hear your kids’ complaints resulted in compo and un-suspension. Well done for sticking with it and sharing so openly, as it may help someone else further down the line.
It certainly has been a weird journey for you and yours.
Latest updates:
I’m wondering whether a balance transfer to pay off Amex may count as a payment not from a personal bank a/c. I’ve done this once or twice.
.What is a balance transfer to pay off Amex ???? It sounds a tad moody
…only the ones they can be legally caught for, by the looks of things. Suspending your kids’ accounts, when those accounts are separate to yours and are their accounts for which they are responsible not you, definitely put them the wrong side of that.
Mitty did say well into this that he was a secondary cardholder on his adult children’s and wife’s account.
The primary card holder is still responsible for the actions etc of the secondary card holder on their accounts which gives AMEX an “in” to suspending these accounts.
My point is @BAFIS, I don’t think it does.
Possibly, in extremis if they had just found out @Metty is an international crime boss wanted in 15 countries by Interpol and only if they also had reason to suspect the separate accountholders of those other separate accounts were also involved in the serious criminal activities of @Metty. But it would have to be that serious, and Amex have already said it wasn’t.
So No, Amex was definitely breaching the rules when they suspended those other different cardholders’ accounts.
It may give Amex an ‘in’ to suspending them, but they should have notified the primary cardholders that they had taken the action, in the same manner that they suspended my cards, by email and/or letter. In any case, both the kids’ complaints resulted in compo, un-suspension and Amex stating they made an error and should not have suspended the primary cards of those a/cs on which I was a secondary.
Well done. Given the circumstances and Amex’s attitude, it sounds like a good compromise.
Latest updates:
I’m wondering whether a balance transfer to pay off Amex may count as a payment not from a personal bank a/c. I’ve done this once or twice.
.What is a balance transfer to pay off Amex ???? It sounds a tad moody
If you don’t know what a balance transfer is perhaps consider googling it.
Latest is that Amex have sent both kids a notice of cancellation and suspended their cards (again). At least they’ve followed procedure.
Unfortunately timed as I won’t be able to benefit from 10% off Franco Manca pizza today. Never mind, I’ll minesweep discarded receipts to get a free pizza instead. (6 codes = 1 free pizza) 😀
@Metty – wow.
Amex really doesn’t want your or your family’s custom 😕
So they’ve now decided that your kids are also customer not worth having?
different address? Have you googled your names just incase you’ve got a similar name to a sanctioned party or something as that is very odd to target you all.
Latest is that Amex have sent both kids a notice of cancellation and suspended their cards (again). At least they’ve followed procedure.
Unfortunately timed as I won’t be able to benefit from 10% off Franco Manca pizza today. Never mind, I’ll minesweep discarded receipts to get a free pizza instead. (6 codes = 1 free pizza) 😀
Sorry to read this, it really has been a long drawn out procedure for you and your family. It makes one feel that Amex don’t seem to know what they are doing 🙁
Good luck with the pizzas 🙂
So they’ve now decided that your kids are also customer not worth having?
different address? Have you googled your names just incase you’ve got a similar name to a sanctioned party or something as that is very odd to target you all.
I don’t think it’s that Amex has decided the OP’s children aren’t worth having as customers, but rather the ‘cross contamination’ effect because of the web of supplementary cards with a customer whose account they have decided to suspend/close.
If OP’s account was closed because they’re no longer seen as a profitable customer, as suggested here a few times, then it is odd they’ve taken this further.
The decision to close the accounts can’t purely be about profitably otherwise why would the target family members possibly at different addresses with completely different personal circumstances etc
If OP’s account was closed because they’re no longer seen as a profitable customer, as suggested here a few times, then it is odd they’ve taken this further.
The decision to close the accounts can’t purely be about profitably otherwise why would the target family members possibly at different addresses with completely different personal circumstances etc
@TGLoyalty – who said it was anything to do with profitability? Over the many pages of this thread, various likely reasons for the closure(s) became apparent, drip by drip, none of which related to profitability.If OP’s account was closed because they’re no longer seen as a profitable customer, as suggested here a few times, then it is odd they’ve taken this further.
The decision to close the accounts can’t purely be about profitably otherwise why would the target family members possibly at different addresses with completely different personal circumstances etc
As has been mentioned several times Metty has (had!) supplementary cards on his adult children (let’s stop calling them kids) accounts as well as his own cards.
It’s clear AMEX want nothing more – rightly or wrongly – to do with this family.
“ It’s clear AMEX want nothing more – rightly or wrongly – to do with this family.”
Because he had a few dormant supp cards between them that he used an offer on a few times … it’s decided the whole family is trouble?
If that’s it then cool.
Btw the person who “abused” small shop is back with Amex and he will freely admit it was a couple days of full on small shop abuse. Using an offer across 2/3 supp cards isn’t abuse on that level at all
Amex with periodically encourage you to give family a supplementary card and even incentivises you to do it. If they didn’t want people using the offers then they could quite easily make all supp cards excluded from offers.
Because he had a few dormant supp cards between them that he used an offer on a few times … it’s decided the whole family is trouble?
We don’t know how the family were operating their cards and accounts and how many supplementary cards were involved.
Given the time taken for some of the details involved to emerge I’m very much of the opinion that there is a heck of a lot we aren’t being told.
The way an account is operated even if within the t&c’s can raise red flags, e.g. the OP I think said he was chasing the tier points on the BAPP, which likely involves a big spend in a short time out of the normal pattern. However it does seem to me that Amex has swung from being pretty permissive in their doling of cards to having a period of regret and now being really quite trigger happy.
The problem to me is that any decisions aren’t transparent and they hide behind legislation designed to tackle criminality. So if a mistake has been made it’s virtually impossible to challenge it.@HampshireHog – Amex is only hiding behind ordinary consumer legislation – Consumer Credit Act 1974. There isn’t really a question of any mistake being made – Amex can close any account for any reason which doesn’t have to be disclosed (for obvious reasons) save to regulators etc. Any mistake is usually the process of closure, not the actuality.
@BA Flyer IHG Stayer if there was something that I’m not sharing, I wouldn’t be daft enough to be on here talking about it.
Amex clearly don’t like us for a reason that I genuinely cannot fathom. @JDB and others may be correct in thinking it’s a combination of factors; it just seems a little extreme.
Regarding family’s operation of our cards, I had an Amex 30? years ago but the BA cards for 23? years and every year we’ve triggered Companion Vouchers (at our peak 8-10 years ago, 4 per year). More recently just 3. It’s been the same spend profile all that time i.e. trigger voucher, move on to next Amex or Virgin and none of us have churned for SUBs during that time. The TP challenge is the only thing that I can think of which is different.
If it looks suspicious that things are revealed over time that’s because they either have appeared in my DSAR or (like balance transfers) it’s something that I’ve remembered that I’ve done at some stage.
It’s almost as if there is a vendetta by Amex. I mean, seriously, they suspended family menber cards – i.e. different people at a different address with their own different profile and history…. Then Oops sorry you are unsuspended, apologies here’s £50 so they don’t go to the Ombudsman and cost Amex somthing like £750 each instead….
And shortly after : Nope you misheard. These accounts of separate family members at different addresses that their principal target Metty doesn’t control and isn’t responsible for….These same other people’s accounts are suddenly suspended again and a notice of closure sent to each.
Make up your mind Amex, this is looking like a nasty vendetta run by processes or people that have lost … what? reasonableness? competence?
@Lady London just for clarity, we’re all at the same address. And we are just a ‘normal’ middle class family, no convictions, sanctions etc.
So far have only done FOS for myself, will report back if I get anything.
Sorry to jump into this conversation but what is a middle class family in the UK? The current middle income is about £35k I believe. Would that be enough to have multiple lines of credit?
Sorry to jump into this conversation but what is a middle class family in the UK? The current middle income is about £35k I believe. Would that be enough to have multiple lines of credit?
Easily – if a bank is willing to lend, it’s willing to lend. Depends on what one’s outgoings are too – 35k income with no home loan or rent payment is still a comfortable disposable income; as for with home loan/rent, it depends on how stretched one is.
Sorry to jump into this conversation but what is a middle class family in the UK? The current middle income is about £35k I believe. Would that be enough to have multiple lines of credit?
In the UK, middle class used to mean professional people, so not white/blue collar workers, but nowadays it seems to cover almost anyone. Hyacinth Bucket aspired to greater things. It’s a pretty meaningless term.
@HampshireHog – Amex is only hiding behind ordinary consumer legislation – Consumer Credit Act 1974. There isn’t really a question of any mistake being made – Amex can close any account for any reason which doesn’t have to be disclosed (for obvious reasons) save to regulators etc. Any mistake is usually the process of closure, not the actuality.
A mistake can obviously be made if incorrect data or facts were used in making the decision which presumably is evidence based on some defined criteria rather than arbitrary. In other spheres of life we expect the rule of law to govern our lives rather than the application of diktat.
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