Deluge of American Express Debt Collection Calls Sparks TCPA Suit

American Express inundated San Diego County consumer Joshua Them with debt collection calls made with an automatic telephone dialing system or prerecorded voice, often as much as four times a day, “almost every single day,” in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, alleged a complaint Friday (docket 3:22-cv-01585) in U.S. District Court in San Diego. Them maintained his American Express credit card account in “good standing” until around October 2021, when he “fell on financial hardship and was unable to maintain the regular monthly payments,” it said. He hired a lawyer in July, who sent American Express a cease and desist letter on Them’s behalf, explicitly revoking any prior consent to contact his client “via the use of an automated dialing system phone, text, or other method, including but not limited to calls with a prerecorded or automated voice messages,” it said. But still the calls continued at the same frequency and pace as before the cease and desist letter, it said. Post-letter, Them estimates, American Express called his phone more than 75 times, said the complaint, which also alleges violations of California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. American Express didn’t respond to requests for comment.