Complaint Review: American Express

In April 12, 2012, I called American Express because I was having difficulty making my payment. I spoke with a customer service rep named Alex. I told him I had a pymt of $2,197.99 due and I'd made a pymt on 4/7/12 of $1,000 and would not be able to make the rest. I asked if there was a pymt agreement that I could set up to make smaller pymts so that my account wouldn't go into delinquency. He advised me to pay to the balance of the pymt to be automatically withdrawn on 4/27/12 and then a pymt agreement could be set up. I agreed and had the pymt withdrawn on 4/27/12. Once the pymt was withdrawn, I was transfered to another rep from the pymt plan department and I was enrolled in the "Autopay Special Payment Plan" at $640 a month. During that call the rep read off the plan details stating that my acct would not be charged any late fees while enrolled in this plan, if I missed a pymt or was for any reason discontinued the plan that I would have late fees and my interest rate could increase, not interest would be charged during the 1st 6 months and a rate of 9.99% would be charged during the last 6months. She also said if my account was "past due" it would be reported to the credit bureaus. I was not aware that she meant my account was already considered past and even being enrolled in this plan did not change the "past due" status. The pymt was deducted as scheduled in May but my bill still had a late fee of $25 and showed a pymt due of more than the $640. I called Amex and the customer service rep said not to worry, they did see that I was enrolled in the pymt plan and the next bill would not show a late fee. The next bill came and showed a past due balance of $1,974.47 but the pymt of $640 showed with a warning stating my account was past due. I pulled my credit bureau and Amex showed a 30day late. I called and spoke with rep id #stak09 and she explained that my account was considered past due when i entered into the agreement and that even though they are getting the $640 monthly they will continue to report to the credit bureau a late status for the next 12months. They said at the end if the plan i would be able to use my card again. I told them I was under the impression that once a pymt plan is accepted that no furthure action would be reported under the law. She said no they would not send it to a collection agency but they would continue to report me late every month.