Amex is under investigation by the US Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the Federal Reserve.Meanwhile, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is examining the issuer's overall card selling practices. The investigations come amid claims that Amex is misrepresenting card rewards and blurring information regarding fees to help boost business card sales.
that Amex had implemented aggressive tactics to boost small business sign-ups. Some business owners alleged unethical actions from Amex salespeople, such as forced credit checks and, in extreme cases, unauthorized credit card issuing. of Amex's long-standing lucrative partnership with Costco Wholesale, which didn't accept credit card payments besides those from Amex cardholders for 16 years.
Small- and medium-sized businesses might shy away from Amex, which would be a major blow for its business. of Amex's overall loan mix in Q3 2020—representing a huge customer market for Amex since SMBs typically have several spending needs that they can use a credit card to fund. Even more so, the SMB market offers vast customer potential for Amex, considering there were 31.7 million small businesses in the US in 2020, accounting for nearly 99.