xolinlevh

So last friday i got a call from amex saying my balance on my Plat card was too high (40k) and they wanted me to pay right away. I said I could next week when several payments where going to hit my account. So they froze my account pending that. Over the weekend i put in 15k in payments, and Monday another 2500. So 17.5k paid of the 40 over the weekend. Was going to pay the remainder tomorrow. Just got a call from amex informing me that they were canceling my plat card and my delta reserve card. According to them when they went to my bank to get the funds the last 3 times they (my bank) told Amex there were insufficient funds in my account so they had to wait a day try again and then they were able to get the money.


Now I'm horribly confused and pissed. I'm looking at my bank account showing when the payments were taken out, and each time i have consistently had MANY times more in my account then the amount paid. There was NEVER too low funds in my account. While im about to get on the phone with my banker to try to figure out why they told amex i didnt have the money....do I have any recourse with amex to get my accounts back? Are my MR points gone? I have about 200k sitting there i was trying to figure out how to use.

mlad1101

I believe a few people assumed this was going to be the outcome one way or another when you said you were charging way more than income substantiated on personal cards.

xolinlevh

lol. well, i had the money. Called the bank and what they said happened was there was a huge check that went in, but was still on 'hold' till it cleared. And when i checked my acct summary it showed my balance including the check even though part of it was on hold, so when i paid amex, they tried taking part of the held funds which didnt go through. Oh hold with amex now while they put through the remainder of the balance, out of the now-open funds and see if they can give me my cards back. We are scaling back the use of my card for business charges as this is a bit more ridiculous then i had envisioned.

mlad1101

If you can get your points out, I would do it now. I assume its going to turn into a sort of FR and when they find out that is was your companies business expenses, risk management probably won't be too content with it.

xolinlevh

Yea im moving them to delta now, still able to get onto my acct page online. See they knew they were business charges for the last ~3 months, ive been charging and paying off between 40-60k a month and havent had a problem till this.

DavidAL

It seems you stay on Am Ex's radar. You should probably try and cool your jets a little. You're definitely going to get closed and banned from Am Ex at the rate you're going.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post18588195

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post18448538

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post18448342

mia

For information this is called "uncollected funds" rather than "insufficient funds", and the stories are consistent. I think you have a legitimate grievance with your bank, not for holding the funds, but for showing them as available before they cleared. They should speak with American Express on your behalf.

Nonetheless, American Express has seen that you depend on reimbursements to pay, and may well question why your employer is expecting you to layout money on this scale.

xolinlevh

=/ Well I just got off the phone with amex, paid off the card, moved all my MR points to airline miles. And was told that despite being paid off, they cant re-open my account and i would have to apply for a new one. which i dont think ill do. I've gotten a number of calls from amex over the past couple months asking about my charges, each time ive explained to them that they are business charges, and each time they have been satisfied with me. If they had said not to charge so much, or only use it for personal charges, id have been fine with that. Just seems dumb to me that they would cancel me totally over a snafu with the bank even when they STILL got all their money.

akcae

Most banks I've dealt with display two types of balances when checking your account online:

Current balance: net of all credits and debits to the account, in full amounts, regardless of what has actually cleared or made available. This can also show your actual balance as of beginning of the current business day (so-called hard-posted balance);
Available balance: net of all credits and debits to the account, showing only actually available funds. Most banks will "hold" a deposit until it clears the issuing bank (about 24hrs) but by law must make the first $100 of any deposit made out of checks (and ALL of cash) available immediately.

Knowing the difference between these will save you from bouncing checks or having your electronic payments returned.

xolinlevh

I feel like a giant idiot because i knew this, I've had funds held before, its nothing new to me. But when i log into my account the home page just shows the total current balance and you have to click into each account to see the available/current, I didnt even think to go in and check pending funds, i was kinda frazzled by having my cards frozen I just wanted to get them paid and re-opened it just slipped my mind.

SteveT

Quick frankly it was an honest mistake.

Whether you want to regain membership or not, I would contact the Executive Offices and explain the situation. I would also contact your banker and see if he/she can make a call or write to Amex explaining the situation.

xolinlevh

ive been googling around for a higher up contact phone number, not sure how much i trust these websites I'm finding. Honestly if they open my card back up and cut my limit by like 50% id be fine....just sorta stunned they closed it all over a little mix up

SteveT

Here are the numbers:

Executive Office: 1-800-297-6197
Account Services: 1-800-230-1284
Closed Accounts: 1-800-700-7619

Be prepared to explain the following:

The bank account situation
How you handle the account (business expenses)
Know your credit history and be prepared to explain anything that they may question

Good luck and keep us posted on the outcome!

xolinlevh

thanks for that, any advice on which one to call first? im partial to going as high up as i can, executives

SteveT

I would call the Executive Offices. Also get their Fax number and/or an email address. You might want to follow up with a letter as well.

Good Luck and remember to keep us posted.