Partially upheld: fraudulent account opening post-mortem complaint against American Express Services Europe Limited

Decision detail

Summary

The estate of Mr Y complained that Amex opened a credit card account in his name after he died on 16 August 2021, with the application approved three days later on 19 August 2021. The estate's representative discovered this in 2025 when contacting Amex about Mr Y's death. The ombudsman upheld the complaint in part, directing Amex to close the account and not pursue the estate for debt, but rejected the claim for compensation on the grounds that Mr Y could not have suffered distress from events occurring after his death and only eligible complainants can receive awards.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while the account was fraudulent, Amex could not reasonably have detected this at the time of application as the applicant possessed sufficient personal information and there was no way for Amex to verify the applicant's death status. The ombudsman rejected the estate's claim for compensation on the grounds that Mr Y, as the only eligible complainant, could not have suffered distress or inconvenience from events occurring after his death, and compensation can only be awarded to eligible complainants.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website