Not upheld: Account closure without notice complaint against American Express Payment Services Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr B complained that Amex improperly registered a fraud marker against him after he submitted an allegedly false letter from a retailer during a chargeback dispute over an allegedly empty TV box. Amex had registered the marker after the retailer confirmed the letter was falsified and contained multiple errors. A court had previously dismissed Mr B's claim against the retailer, finding the retailer's evidence credible and Mr B's evidence unconvincing. The ombudsman found that Amex had reasonable grounds to register the marker based on substantial evidence including the retailer's confirmation of forgery, the letter's absence from verified contact logs, multiple errors and inconsistencies, and Mr B's pattern of providing other false correspondence. The complaint was not upheld and the fraud marker remains.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Amex had reasonable grounds to believe Mr B provided false documentation, supported by substantial evidence including: the retailer's confirmation the letter was fake, multiple errors and inconsistencies in the letter, the letter's absence from the retailer's contact logs which a court found credible and reliable, the letter's contradiction of the retailer's established position, Mr B's failure to present the letter in his own court case, Mr B's pattern of providing other false correspondence, and the court's overall finding that the retailer's evidence was credible while Mr B's was not convincing. The ombudsman noted that Amex did not need to prove fraud beyond reasonable doubt but only needed reasonable grounds supported by appropriate evidence, which they had.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website