American Express risks “cutting off” vulnerable cardholders after it announced it would no longer accept cash payments, experts have warned.
The credit card provider emailed customers last week to inform them that they would no longer be able to use cash to pay off their credit card bill.
In the email, the company said it would “phase out” cash payments from January and remove the Giro paying-in slip for all card statements. It refused to say how many customers would be affected.
“This is part of our ongoing commitment to protect the security of your account,” AmEx told customers.
“The simplest way to make a payment in the future is to set up a direct debit, either in your online account or through the American Express app.”
Paying-in slips will no longer be sent with paper statements.
An American Express spokesman said: “Card members can still pay off balances in a wide variety of simple ways including online, in the American Express app, over the phone or by going in to a branch of their bank and arranging a transfer.”
The provider said that removing the option to pay with cash would “protect the security of customers’ accounts”.
However, Telegraph Money understands that this method of payment has never presented a security issue to customers or the provider.
James Daley, of consumer group Fairer Finance, said the move could disproportionately impact elderly and vulnerable customers.
“While it may only be a minority of people who pay off their credit card bills in cash, they are likely to include a large proportion of people who have difficulty accessing, or are unable to access, digital solutions,” he said.
“It is vital that banks don’t cut these customers off until they are confident they have provided them with a viable alternative.”
Mr Daley added it was “disingenuous” of the provider to claim the measure was being put in place to protect customer security.
“It is surely driven by the desire to save costs,” he said. “Let’s hope it will be supporting all customers who are affected, rather than using this as an opportunity to drive them out the door and leave them financially excluded.”
