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Local American Express customers have been left confused once again after receiving a letter saying that accounts must be registered to a UK address – less than a month after the bank admitted a similarly worded email had been sent in error.
The recent letter explains to American Express customers that changes to their card agreement means that "your residential address for your account must be an address in the United Kingdom".
The changes are set to be introduced from 2 October 2023.
Each of the letters sent by American Express to Jersey customers include 'United Kingdom' in the final line of the postal addresses they were sent to – raising the question as to whether Jersey residential addresses will be acceptable under the terms of the new card agreement.
Express has contacted American Express for clarification and is awaiting a response.
The latest confusion comes less than a month after American Express were forced to confirm that there will be "no upcoming changes" for existing Channel Islands customers when an email saying that accounts not registered to a UK address could be closed sparked alarm.
Pictured: Local American Express customers received recently received letters explaining, under changes to the card agreement, the residential address for accounts "must be an address in the United Kingdom".
Just like the recent letter, one of the changes included in the email was that "your residential address for your account must be an address in the United Kingdom".
Channel Island customers who attempted to contact American Express for clarity at the time reported receiving mixed messages from staff.
On an online customer support chat, one islander was told that their "card account will be affected with these updates" whilst another was told that "only new card members moving forward will be affected".
Following a query from Express, a spokesperson fr the bank confirmed: "There are no upcoming changes for our existing Cardmembers living in the Crown Dependencies, who we will continue to support as usual."
A similar error caused panic amongst Barclaycard users in April, resulting in the bank issuing an apology to customers across the Channel Islands.
Recipients were told that Barclaycard accounts without a UK residential address were being closed as the company was "no longer offering accounts to customers living outside of the UK".
However, following questions from Express, a Barclays spokesperson said: "We offer our sincere apologies to any of our Barclaycard customers resident in the Channel Islands that may have been incorrectly informed that their accounts would be closed.
"We can confirm all existing cardholders resident in Jersey and Guernsey will continue to be supported and there will be no change to the service they currently receive.”
Jersey Consumer Council has previously issued warnings about credit-card companies pulling out of Jersey because they cannot check customers’ details on a central register – and that the trend could spread to mortgages, loans and other financial services.
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