American Express Co. acknowledged Friday that government agencies, including the Department of Justice, have overhauled the company’s sales practices with regard to small business cards.
The company said in a regulatory filing that it began responding in May to a regulatory review led by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the DOJ’s civil division. AmEx said the review was related to “historical sales practices related to the sale of certain small business cards.”
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that federal detectives, including inspectors general offices of the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve investigated the sale of AmEx cards. The researchers examined whether the company used aggressive and deceptive sales tactics to sell cards to business owners and whether customers were harmed, the Journal reported.
Justice is partnering with those offices, say people familiar with the case.
The Journal also reported last month that the OCC was investigating the company’s business card sales practices.