Alice

I have received the same treatment from American Express and their henchmen called Total credit recovery out of Canada. They have broken the law at least twice and I will be reporting it to all the necessary organisations. Never get American Express.

This is what they do, they try to scare you into doing something stupid, and so they get their money and then they move on to the next victim. In this case knowledge is power. They can't force you to pay something you can't afford. The worse they can do is sue you and get some sort of lien on your house or assets which they can only collect when the house is sold or when you die. If they are rude, just hang up on them.