Costco credit card snafu: How a senior couple lost their insurance coverage and then got it back

It’s been almost five full months since Costco Wholesale switched from American Express to Citi for its signature Costco Anywhere Visa Card.

But the cutover didn’t exactly go as smoothly as planned. At the time of the transition, we had reports of everything from customer service snafus during the activation period to stories of some customers being wrongly sent cancelation notices.

We even heard from one man who saw his credit score temporarily go into free fall when Costco took its credit card business away from American Express and handed it to Citi.

Now comes this story…

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Insurance policy couple had for 12 years canceled overnight

Using their Costco American Express, Cheryl and Vic Matkovich had been paying $21 a month since 2004 for the Accident Guard Insurance plan. The policy was intended to pay $150,000 to their adult children in the event the Matkovichs died in an accident.

But back in June—just days after Costco’s June 20 cutover from Am Ex to Citi—they received a notice from Am Ex saying the Accident Guard policy had been canceled two days earlier.

When Cheryl called the company to set things straight, she got nowhere. Only by turning to a Sacramento-area TV reporter could she get any resolution.

After being contacted by the reporter, Am Ex reinstated the Matkovichs’ policy and admitted that some customers fell through the cracks when the Costco account left their hands.

This is just the latest in a long list of snafus that has plagued the Costco card transition. Hopefully it’s the last!

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