How I Got Amex to Remove Late Fees and Finance Charges
by Mr Credit CardLast week, I while checking my online statements and my Amex Platinum Card bill, I realize that I had not sent any online payments to my Blue Cash account.
I quickly looked through my files but could find the March bill. I called Blue Cash immediately (this was late at night) and spoke to a customer service rep. This was how the conversation went.
Mr Credit Card : Hi – this is Mr Credit Card (my real name off course). I was just checking my Amex Platinum Card bill and my online banking account and realize that I have not got my March Bill for my Blue Cash card and I may have missed paying my bill. Can you please check.
Customer Rep : Let me check sir. (After about 20 seconds) Sir, you have not paid your March bill, which is $1066.
Mr Credit Card : I did not get my March bill in the mail and I did not mean to be late on the bill. I will pay the bill right this moment from my online banking account. Could you please waive the late charges and any finance fees?
Customer Rep : Let me see here. Yes, you have a finance charge of $22.16 (or something like that) and a late fee of $35. I’ll waive it for you. Just give me a second. (After a few seconds) Alright Mr Credit Card, I have waived both the late fees and the finance charges. You have been a very good customer and your payment record is great. That will not be a problem.
Mr Credit Card : Thank you very much. Can you please send me a copy of my March Statements just for my records. And also, is this late payment reported to the credit bureaus?
Customer Rep : Sure, I will send you a copy of your March statement. No, we do not report to the credit bureaus unless you are overdue by 60 to 90 days.
Mr Credit Card : Thanks once again.
Customer Rep : (Doing the upsell) Mr Credit Card, before you go, I just wanted to let you know that we have a new offer that allows you to get a $500,000 (or something like that) travel insurance when you use your Blue Cash card to buy any airline ticket. Would you be interested?
Mr Credit Card : No thank you. I use my Platinum Card for travel. Bye, and have a good day.
Phew! Simple as that. Just ask Amex to remove your finance charges and late fees and it was done. Nice friendly customer rep as well (not the Indian reps you get on some night calls from other credit cards). I guess I get away with this because I have been an American Express cardholder since 1994. I have mostly paid in full on my Gold Card and Blue Cash Card. If you a record of late payments, you may not get away with it. But you can see why I am such a fan of American Express.
April 14th, 2007 at 13:12
Great information. You did a good job.
I haven’t thought I can do this. Because I have two American Express Cards and I alway confuse with different billing periods, I missed March bill for one of them with “purchase finance charge” of over 100 bucks.
Before I called them, I google what “purchase finance charge is for.
Thank you for you post, then I followed your step. They did waive.
April 17th, 2007 at 02:00
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April 18th, 2007 at 22:08
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January 23rd, 2008 at 00:17
I just called AMEX about a finance charge on my account. There were charges in two consecutive months. Since I pay my entire new balance on the due date every month, I should never have a finance charge. They said that they charge everyone that ever gets a cash advance a finance charge because “people that get cash advances usually dont pay their entire blance each month”. They removed the charges.
Something seem fishy here? I smell class action…
November 20th, 2008 at 00:31
I was also able to wave an American express late fee (form my Clear credit care). This was the first time that I missed a payment, and I noticed a week after the payment was due that I forgot to pay it. So I payed it online, and then directly called Amex… I told them that I wanted to set up automatic payments to avoid any more late fees and they removed my late fee and sent me papers to setup automatic payments…. I have a good credit score that I don’t want to ruin, but really I just didn’t want to pay the extra money… We don’t have much as it is…
March 9th, 2009 at 02:57
I just noticed that American Express charged me a late fee. I paid my bill on 2/23 via online bill pay. It was due on 2/26 and payment usually get posted two business days after I send them. American Express reports receiving the payment on 3/2 (10 days after it was sent!). These people are crooks and are trying to steal money from card members. Watch you statements very closely.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:41
I pay my amex every two weeks because I worry about being late and I still got a purchase finance charge even though my balance was $0.
I am in the process of finding out what the fee was for.
August 5th, 2009 at 16:29
I also discovered that my online bank payments have been arriving much later than they should be. The very Indian customer service representative did remove my late fee, but nothing was done with the finance charge which was incredibly high for such a low balance. The Blue card has some fishy fine print so I will be switching.
December 17th, 2009 at 00:13
I have a costco American Express card since 2005. I always pay my account in full and on time each month through B of A online bill pay. This last month, I paid one day before the payment was due, and the payment did not post until one day after it was due. American xpress billed my account $39 late fee. I called American xpress to see if they could remove the charges. They told me my account did not qualify for waiving the late charges. I asked them if they could explain why my account did not qualify. They said the reasons could not be shared with the customer. I asked if one of the reasons was because I had not been a customer long enough, and they said yes, that was one of the reasons. I asked if another reason was because I always paid my account every month on time, which means I did not pay any finance charges and American express did not make any money from me, and they said yes. I told them to cancel my card and I did not want to do anymore business with them. Today I received another statement from American express which included additional $19 late fee and $6.50 in finance charge for the $39 late charge from last month for a total of $64.50. I have always liked costco and the way they do business, but I can’t believe they are affiliated with insatiable greedy company like American Express!
June 9th, 2010 at 12:11
Just had a similar experience with American Express with a Costco card. We’ve been a Costco and AX customer for years and always paid on-time and in full. We were a week late last month due to my mistake in entering the due date wrong on-line with the bank and AX refused to remove the $39 late fee and $4.10 interest on a bill that was less than $400! I hope it was worth it as I will never charge a dime on a personal AX card again. Since Costco only takes AX, we may also opt to shop elsewhere if circumstances warrant.
July 19th, 2010 at 15:28
I was charged late fee too, and I have never been late before. They refused to waive the fee. So I applied another card, giving me $75 after spending $500 in first 3 month. I think it is good enough to cover the loss. And I will stop using the card, may cancel it soon. AMEX current behavior is really unacceptable for my personal view of point.