American Express announced Friday that several federal agencies are investigating their sales practices for small business credit cards and consumer cards.
The company said in a regulatory submission that in January it received a subpoena from the jury of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York regarding its credit card sales practices for small businesses.
It also received a request for civil investigations from the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) to seek information on sales practices related to consumers, according to the submission.
The company also said it began responding in May to a regulatory review led by the Office of the Mint Management Company (OCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on “historical sales practices related to certain small business card sales.”
The company said it was cooperating with all of these inquiries and continued to improve our control over our sales practices.
“We do not believe this case will have a material adverse effect on our business or the results of our operations,” he added.
The DOJ did not comment, and the CFPB said it did not comment on pending enforcement work, including the confirmation or denial of pending cases.
The OCC did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that several U.S. financial agencies are investigating the company’s card sales practices, citing people familiar with the matter. These agencies were the OCC, along with Inspectors-General of the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Federal Reserve.
Several current and former employees told the newspaper earlier that some salespeople were misleading small businesses or heavily armed to sign cards to promote sales.
Updated: 9:30 p.m.