Membership rewards fee on closed account

[aschmid]

I had the strangest thing happen to me today. I closed an account on a AMEX Credit Card a year ago and today they send me an account statement with a $80 charge on it for Ascent membership rewards. I have a letter from them a year ago confirming the account was closed!

I called them and was told the we are very sorry story, this should not have happened, your account is closed, we will reverse the charge and send you a new statement. This all was just a SYSTEM ERROR ...

I am wondering if anybody out there knows what "closing an account" really means and how long they will leave the account and my personal data hanging around in their systems?

Is it legal for them to keep my personal data, which they obviously did as they had my address etc. once I close my account for 1 year plus? How long can they keep or when are they required to delete it?

Does anybody know what needs to be done to really CLOSE an account - with that I mean the account is closed, does not anymore exist and they can't add any chargest to it. What do i need to do to get myself of their systems?

Thanks for any advise.

 

[Cyberdog100]

Don't quote me on this, but from what i've heard accounts don't get deleted, they are simply "disabled" as such, or to users they are "closed". Therefore they may keep sending you marketing material or special offers to entice you back unless you've specifically opted out of marketing.

 

[serfty]

Don't quote me on this, but from what i've heard accounts don't get deleted, they are simply "disabled" as such, or to users they are "closed". ...

This is also in case a transaction with your card number comes through. This can be for reasons as simple as a retailer submitting a voucher for payment some months after the event or as bad as fraud.

In either of these cases the account will be reactivated and you will be sent a statement.

 

[dajop]

This is also in case a transaction with your card number comes through. This can be for reasons as simple as a retailer submitting a voucher for payment some months after the event or as bad as fraud.

Taxis are a classic example - those that have processed a payment manually can take months to submit their voucher for payment.

 

[oz_mark]

Is it legal for them to keep my personal data, which they obviously did as they had my address etc. once I close my account for 1 year plus? How long can they keep or when are they required to delete it?

Does anybody know what needs to be done to really CLOSE an account - with that I mean the account is closed, does not anymore exist and they can't add any chargest to it. What do i need to do to get myself of their systems?

Not only are they permitted to keep the information, they are legally obliged to keep account information for at least seven years.

 

[Cyberdog100]

7 years! By then i'll have probably had an account with every bank and financial institution in the country, what a trail or information that'll be