mia

Problem is, the additional cardholder does not have an account with American Express. You do, and you are fully responsible for all the activity on the account. Have you applied for a new card, as American Express suggested?

GUWonder

1P

You still haven't given us any clue as to who your AU's might be. Work colleagues, family members, good friends? (Perhaps not so good now!) It makes a difference.

GeezerCouple

Ah, I was just going to return to this.

Importantly, is there a known, genuine relationship between you and any of the AU's (current for former)?
Have you had other AU's? Many of them? This could flag a particular problem...
And if not family, why not have separate accounts for them, perhaps guaranteed (even so, that is also risky in more than one way, with Amex and with your own credit).

The fact that you have not disclosed any hints about your relationship with the AU's (and the history there) makes me think there is indeed some sort of problem there, at least from the Amex perspective.
These could be very important factors...

GC

lost_perspicacity

pretty obvious OP is running some kind of scam, collecting reward points/miles by getting cards on behalf of others who couldn't qualify on their own and adding them as authorized users

GUWonder

GeezerCouple

See the post above yours.

And that is only *one* type of "scam" that might be going on...
If the AU's are really all people who are truly well known to OP and have a genuine relationship, other than the desire to be or to have AU relationship, then that is fine, EXCEPT for the fact that at lest one AU was not really trustworthy.
(I also have a bit of trouble with each AU paying "own" amex bills. Does Amex actually credit the account that way?)

GC

RedSun

Well, I'm not sure even if the OP is genuine, or some kind of troll.

This is a brand new account and the OP has been very good with FT posting. He is trying to hide something.

I won't post to this thread any more.

FriscoHeavy

To the OP,

You know what solves this issue 100% of the time? Using a debit card, with money you (and others) actually have. You wouldn't be in this mess using a debit card.

GeezerCouple

Or use Amex as the type of card it originally was: A CHARGE card, *not* a "credit" card... meaning you paid off the entire amount each month. Not interest charges, no ongoing "credit", other than during the "current month" until that bill was paid in full.

And of course, one can treat ANY "credit" card that way, too, and thus save the very hefty interest charged on consumer credit cards.



GC

mia

Please do not speculate about Mark Kazakov's authenticity or motivations. Post only if you have something helpful to add.

pallhedge

Let me also clarify, because you still don't seem to understand. What you've described above is you (this is your account, you are responsible for it) paying your Amex bill with a 3rd party check and it bounced. That's how Amex sees it because that's how it is, and it's a really big deal to banks. Again, this is where the disconnect lies in your thinking.

roadtriper

I can't get past a Secondary Authorized user charging a Quarter of a MILLION dollars a year to the Op's Amex, for Personal Reasons??? that's some High Finance to this Ol' Roadtriper

Happy

OP,

The bounced check is the last straw. Even on very normal accounts AMEX is VERY SENSITIVE on payment being honored each time, a bounced payment would be a serious red flag in its system. It is the only issuer demanding payments first before posting its own currency Membership Reward points to the account, in the 2nd statement until the very recent change.

The fact that your AU cannot meet payment because one check they received is bounced causing insufficient fund - signals your AU relying on incoming funds to cover outgoing funds - that their financial health may not be robust - and you dont seem to be stay on top of such? given you being the primary account owner ALWAYS are responsible on everything charged on the account?

Having "interesting" AUs have long raised red flags in AMEX system when the AUs have unusual behaviors - in your case, excessive disputes. Then on one of your cards it is the AU primarily using said card, to the tune of 20 to 25K a month - why can't the AUs get their own cards and have to go thru you? They are not US residents? They have credit issues that they cannot get their own cards? Why would the AUs pay their own balances and NOT you? Why you have NO overseeing on how your AUs behave? What are the nature of these AUs?

A lot of questions can be asked by the reviewers each and every time your accounts are being flagged. The bounced payment is just the last straw.

The only thing you could do now is to immediately pay off all outstanding balances, then write a concise and honest letter to the Executive Office and hope for the best.

Happy

Yes, AMEX allows AUs to pay the balances on their AU cards. We are AUs to each other in our household - under our own log in we can see the ability to pay the balance on the cards that we are the AUs. Though we always pay from the primary accounts, using the pull method from AMEX side. But the ability is there.