Not upheld: account closure and forfeiture of accrued cashback complaint against American Express Services Europe Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs S complained that American Express unfairly closed her account without clear reason and forfeited £1,389.25 in accrued cashback. Amex had requested verification information following third party payments, temporarily suspended the account, and after Mrs S failed to provide the required information despite multiple calls and written notice, closed the account. The ombudsman found that Amex acted within its contractual rights and that the account terms clearly permitted both the closure and forfeiture of cashback in these circumstances. The complaint was not upheld, though the ombudsman arranged for a small credit balance to be transferred to Mrs S.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Amex was entitled to close the account based on Mrs S's failure to provide required verification information despite clear notice and multiple follow-up attempts. The terms and conditions explicitly permitted account closure in these circumstances and provided that accrued cashback would be forfeited upon closure. Since the account closure was not unfair, the forfeiture of cashback was also justified as a contractual consequence.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website