Comments on: How I Got Amex to Remove Late Fees and Finance Charges

By: Joyce

Joyce — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:01:28 +0000

I have an interesting problem with American Express. I just got an American Express card and I don’t have any payment history with them. I paid my bill on time, using my bank’s online bank payment system, according to my bank and their records. I called twice and talked to two different people and they both said that American Express received the payment on the “Payment Due Date”. However, American Express charged me a late fee. I paid the late fee while the issue was in discussion, but it arrived 1 day late, according to my bank, and I believe that to be true. American Express then applied a late fee on the late fee that I was disputing. American Express then explained to me that their section that says “Payment Due Date” really means their processing date. Although my payment might arrive on time, they can take up to two days to process the payment, which will make it late. I can’t find anywhere in the literature where it says “Payment Due Date” is defined as the day they get it processed and that we need to pay up to two days early to give them time to process it by the posted “Payment Due Date”. They did say that as a courtesy they would waive the late fee on the late fee I’m disputing, but they would not waive the late fee on the payment that arrived to them on time, as I had not allowed for their two day processing time. I’ve cancelled the card and can’t believe American Express has a good reputation with tactics like this.

By: Michael from Georgia

Michael from Georgia — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:41:55 +0000

I had a similar late fee problem with Wells Fargo. I’ve never been late before and they wouldn’t waive the late fee. Their answers were that your account was not qualified but they didn’t know why it was not qualified. After 2 attempts of talking to the customer representatives and their managers, I decided to go straight to manager’s manager for the answer – escalate higher. However, the third time was a charm. The customer representative’s manager was able to over-ride and waived the late fee. Don’t know why the first 2 managers didn’t do that. Do take a “no” for an answer.

By: B from Idaho

B from Idaho — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:48:03 +0000

Just got back from vacaction and noticed my AMEX account said it was overdue. I am made a payment before I left that cleared a week before the due date but it was $17 short of the minimum. So they charged me $39 late fee. I paid the short payment and the next payment plus $100 extra called customer service and asked for a waiver of the late fee for a 3 year good record. After 60 seconds, they came back on and so “Sorry, I can not waive the fee.” I asked why and the rep said she did not know. Just they could not offer the waiver at this time. Anyway, I know it was my fault, but a 3 year good payment record was not good enough for them. I will be finding another card!

By: beatit

beatit — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:28:50 +0000

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.

By: Betsy

Betsy — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:11:56 +0000

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.

By: major

major — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:13:02 +0000

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!

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:29:19 +0000

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.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:41:45 +0000

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.

By: Franc

Franc — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:57:20 +0000

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.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:31:11 +0000

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…