American Express Co. acknowledged on Friday that government agencies, including the Department of Justice, had reviewed the company’s sales practices regarding small business cards.
The company said in a regulatory dossier that it began responding in May to a review of the regulations led by the Office of the Currency Controller and the civil division of the DOJ. AmEx said the review was related to “historical sales practices related to certain small business card sales.”
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that federal investigating officers, including the inspectors’ offices of the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve, investigating AmEx card sales. The investigators investigated whether the company used aggressive and misleading sales tactics to sell tickets to business owners and whether customers were harmed, reports the Journal.
According to the Department of Justice, the departments work with the offices.
The Journal also reported last month that the OCC was investigating the company’s business card sales practices.