Originally Posted by
bostontraveler
(...) Moral of the story... never trust Amex. (...)
I concur and can attest it.
(...) And I won't be surprised if they take advantage of this new legislation (if indeed this is true) to ask for more financial information. (...).
There is no new legislation. Let me refresh you about an earlier post of mine.
Amex France has been hit with a € 2,000,000 fine by the ACPR (got to their website for the details of their ruling) for allowing shady payments by card holders and for not doing enough to "know their customers".
As a result, they have launched a large clean up operation and have closed many accounts.
Furthermore, they have been asking intrusive information to a lot of their customers.
This is the tricky part. They are supposed to ask for more information in case of suspicion of money laundering or financing of terrorism.
BUT, they are playing it safe and are now applying the same treatment to many if not most of their customers.
In the past, they were balancing the need for asking for too much information and that of losing customers as a result (plus the costs of asking and processing the information).
Now, because of the recent fine, they err on the side of caution and would rather lose card members that take the risk of another fine.
After my cards were suspended for one and cancelled for the other, I wrote to the ACPR (not for help but for information).
They confirmed that suspending the card without notice was illegal (but who would sue them for that unless you ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere and sustained harm because of it), but were entitled to cancel the card in the name of freedom of trade (liberté du commerce).
So, expect this tough behaviour for some time. Remember that behind a company there are people.
Overpaid people, holding jobs in a prestigious company, who'd rather lose customers "who don't comply" than be accused of endangering the company and run the risk of endangering their job.
So you will be asked for personal information, and if you persist in refusing (or answer incompletely), your card will be suspended and then cancelled.
P.S. Remember that there is a life without Amex.
I was initially annoyed to have been unceremoniously kicked out after having held a card for 31 years. Passed the initial frustration, I realised that apart from some obvious perks (such as MR points or FB miles), the rest had quite a bit to do with flattering my ego
. Amex has made me realised that my card did not make me someone special. I am still the same without my Amex Platinum and gold.
So back to square one of this post: don't trust Amex . Ever.