American Express has agreed to pay $230 million to settle charges for alleged deceptive sales of credit card and wire transfer products to small business customers.
The payments giant agreed to a settlement of $138.4 million, with an additional $108 million in fines to end criminal and civil probes by the US Department of Justice, along with the separate agreement with the Federal Reserve set to be finalised in coming weeks.
The alleged deceptive sales practices took place from 2014 to 2021. From 2014 to 2017, American Express is accused of submitting false financial information for prospective customers, misrepresenting card rewards and fees, and performing credit checks without customer consent.
From 2018 to 2021, the company allegedly misled customers in sales of wire transfer products Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire. Employees reportedly called the latter product “very questionable”.
The Department of Justice also accused American Express for using false employer identification numbers when opening small business credit cards to replace discontinued co-branded cards.
In November 2024, American Express forged an deal with MX Technologies to develop an API-powered data access agreement.