Amex "I'm going to cancel my card" - bonus points given thread.

[kookaburra75]

Has anyone recently done the cancellation song and dance with Amex?

Just did it a couple of days ago, as I was looking to trim down the number of cards. I had been using my Qantas AMEX Platinum for work related expenses until a few months ago. After speaking to the call centre for a few minutes, explaining it wasn't them, I was just trimming down on the number of cards I had, the operator offered 25,000 Qantas points straight up to keep me on. Not to knock back a good offer I said yes - they said it would take a few days for them to appear in my account. I'll let you know when they appear.

 

[tlam]

Have moved significant spend on Explorer since Citi devalued its prestige. Say around half a mil. Was asked for Centurion straight away and said the invite was mailed out!!! - but I declined anyway.
Apparently the annual fee is due when they issue the card and not the date we made the application. So in effect the explorer's fee isn't due until Dec - and was therefore asked to ring back around then. He did say he was happy to put me on a fee free card - but I declined.

Thanks, Are you a Plat card holder? I thought they only send the invitation to the Plat card holder, I just want to have some data point.

 

[Kimster]

Thanks, Are you a Plat card holder? I thought they only send the invitation to the Plat card holder, I just want to have some data point.

Nope I have the vanilla Explorer and Plat Edge. The Plat charge card does not make sense for me due to its points cap

 

[imipenam]

Just rang to cancel platinum edge .... Ave spend 300-500/mth on it. Got offered 50k to keep. Annual fee due in Dec.

Wonder if its because I recently got the charge and not qualified for the bonus.

 

[imipenam]

Nope I have the vanilla Explorer and Plat Edge. The Plat charge card does not make sense for me due to its points cap

You get a free platinum reserve cc with the charge card - it has the exactly the same point earning rate and no points cap ... so that overcomes the plat charge point cap.

 

[Kimster]

You get a free platinum reserve cc with the charge card - it has the exactly the same point earning rate and no points cap ... so that overcomes the plat charge point cap.

Great... I was not aware of that. Thanks. Now I just need to make my mind up about paying that huge Annual Fee!!!

 

[imipenam]

Great... I was not aware of that. Thanks. Now I just need to make my mind up about paying that huge Annual Fee!!!

Took me a while to take the plunge. If you have a professional association (accountant, engineer, legal etc) the fee is 1200. Get 450 travel credit with charge, and 400 credit with the free reserve plus a whole heap of perks. I am now off topic so won’t write about it anymore. Feel free to check the relevant thread or message me. Try pointhacks also for more info. Good luck!

 

[Bell21]

Great... I was not aware of that. Thanks. Now I just need to make my mind up about paying that huge Annual Fee!!!

I've never thought the points cap was overly relevant on the charge card if you have other amex cards since you can transfer your points between reward programs

 

[Kimster]

I've never thought the points cap was overly relevant on the charge card if you have other amex cards since you can transfer your points between reward programs

Its not the transfer between accounts but the earn that affects me. The Charge has a max of 300K point earn per year - which is not a hard yard to cross. The free reserve with the travel credit may swing it in favour, assuming the earn from reserve does not contribute to the 300K point limit. Thanks for all the advice - just need to find out when my 18 month limit expires before I apply to receive the bonus points.

 

[albyd]

My understanding is that the earn on bonus categories is capped at 300k points pa thereafter all spend categories earn 1ppd.

 

[DC3]

ive read that if you have a high points balance, there is less chance of getting bonus points offer

I made another attempt for a retention bonus today... no dice

My points balance is sitting at ~200k at the moment which probably didn't help

At my renewal last January, I accepted the offer of 70,000 points and had 650K in the MR Account. Go figure?

Edit: Probably put less than $60K through the card in the previous 12 months

 

[albyd]

Not sure if I’m posting this in the right place. Just called the Platinum charge line originally to ask for any retention offers on my account and there was a menu option about information on ‘changes to your rewards program’ so I asked the operator I spoke with about it. He played a straight bat but said there will be some changes announced on 15 November. I’m thinking these won’t be positive.

Whilst not admitting a devaluation was on the cards, did mention RBA changes were partly to blame which I disagree with as they only affected banks that issued Amex cards to get around the fee cap regulations previously.

Wel’ll wait and see.

 

[mini2]

Called, got offered 10k for my Edge and Platinum Chargecard, got nothing last year perhaps I'd be better off doing a Dr Ralph which is what I said to them.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Called, got offered 10k for my Edge and Platinum Chargecard, got nothing last year perhaps I'd be better off doing a Dr Ralph which is what I said to them.

Hopefully you said 'I'd be better off doing a Dr Ralph'

 

[blacksultan]

Called, got offered 10k for my Edge and Platinum Chargecard, got nothing last year perhaps I'd be better off doing a Dr Ralph which is what I said to them.

What exactly is ‘doing a Dr Ralph ‘?

 

[DC3]

What exactly is ‘doing a Dr Ralph ‘?

LOL. Rhetorical question?

 

[sevenfourtyseven]

This thread will get interesting in the coming months in light of the changes ahead!

 

[foggy]

I will get to "cancel" all my cards before the change on april 15th. Get all the points banked into a FF program and then see how we go, so far the statement credits have been > than the fees.

 

[Dr Ralph]

so far the statement credits have been > than the fees.

But only if you actually need them and use them all.

I found that I was forcing myself to use many of them to convince myself that the card was worth hanging onto.

Apart from small shop and a small number of other cash back offers, I really haven't missed having an Amex for the last 9 months.

 

[lilkid28]

I hope consevatively 1 in 2 cancels all their Amex cards, that ought to get Amex to rethink their strategy in the future.