American Express Services Europe Limited · DRN-6274424

The complaint The estate of Mr Y complains about American Express Services Europe Limited’s (AMEX) handling of a credit card account in Mr Y’s name taken out after he passed away. The estate has used a representative, Mr C, to help with the complaint. What happened The detailed background to this complaint is well known to both parties. So, I’ll only provide an overview of some of the key events here. On 19 August 2021 Amex received and approved a credit card application in Mr Y’s name. The account was later closed in 2022. In 2025 the late Mr Y’s representative, Mr C, called Amex and explained that Mr Y had passed away on 16 August 2021. He says the family had only recently become aware of this as they believed Mr Y was missing for a number of years. A complaint was made on behalf of the estate that Amex had opened the account after Mr Y’s passing. Amex’s complaint response included that they were still investigating and the matter was referred to our service. One of our Investigators recommended the complaint should be upheld in part. He said Amex should close the account (if they haven’t already done so). As well as write off all interest and charges and not pursue the estate for any debt in relation to this account. He also thought that Amex should remove any markers applied to Mr Y’s file in relation to this account. Amex accepted this outcome and confirmed that what our Investigator had recommended was all in hand. There was no reporting about Mr Y to the credit reference agencies, the account was closed, and they were not pursuing the estate for the debt. Mr C didn’t accept this outcome. He believes that compensation is due to the estate. Our Investigator said that it wasn’t appropriate to make an award here and as things couldn’t be resolved, the complaint was passed to me to decide. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. Having done so, I’ve reached the same outcome as our Investigator and for largely the same reasons. I’ll explain why. Firstly, there no longer seems to be any dispute that this account was fraudulent, having been opened after Mr Y had passed. But I don’t think this is something Amex reasonably could’ve known at the time, and whoever was impersonating Mr Y during the online

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application had sufficient information to allow it to proceed. So, I don’t find there were failings by Amex in opening the account. I don’t agree with Mr C’s suggestion that the difference between an ‘er’ and an ‘or’ in part of the spelling of Mr Y’s name, means that the application shouldn’t have gone through. Mr C would also like compensation to be paid to the estate of Mr Y. In cases brought on behalf of an estate, the estate does so on behalf of the deceased. Mr Y would have been the eligible complainant, who had the required relationship with the business – and we can only make awards to eligible complainants, not necessarily those representing them. And here, as all the events complained about (the application and later, the service provided) took place after Mr Y had passed away, he can’t have suffered distress, inconvenience or similar as a result of any alleged failing by Amex. And so it follows that I don’t think it would be fair and reasonable to make a compensation award in the circumstances of this complaint. That being said, whilst I appreciate Amex have already taken many of the actions I’m going to direct them to do below, I’m still going to make the directions to give closure to the estate of Mr Y in relation to this matter. My final decision For the reasons outlined above, my final decision is that I uphold this complaint in part. Unless they’ve already done so, American Express Services Europe Limited must: • Close the account in Mr Y’s name. • Agree to not pursue the estate of Mr Y for any outstanding debt arising from this account. • Not report to the Credit Reference Agencies about this account. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask the estate of Mr Y to accept or reject my decision before 26 May 2026. Richard Annandale Ombudsman

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