Upheld: Account administration errors complaint against American Express Services Europe Limited trading as American Express

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P complained that American Express caused distress by telling him his payments were not recorded on his defaulted credit card account when he called in December 2025. Mr P had actually made several payments totalling around £3,000, which he verified through his bank statements and online account within one day of the phone call. American Express confirmed the payments had been recorded in their final response letter. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding an administrative error had occurred, but awarded £50 compensation rather than the requested write-off of the outstanding balance, as Mr P suffered no financial loss and quickly verified the inaccuracy.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman acknowledged that Mr P suffered distress and inconvenience from being told his payments were not recorded when they actually were. However, the ombudsman found this was an administrative error that Mr P was able to verify as inaccurate within a short timeframe (one day after the phone call). Mr P checked his bank statements and his online account on 11 December 2025 and confirmed the payments were recorded, before receiving written confirmation from American Express. No financial loss was incurred. The ombudsman rejected Mr P's request to write off the outstanding balance as compensation, as this would exceed the appropriate level of redress for distress and inconvenience in these circumstances.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website