Reduced AMEX earn rates from April 2019

[Jacques Vert]

...there are other benefits such as the Offers
These can be Local Champion, Spend $400 get $100 back, free premium membership of Qantas Wine etc.

I only made local champion once; the week before I cancelled the card.

 

[kpc]

Membership reward points: 0

 

[kpc]

The travel credit is applied before the fee; you will see the annual fee on your next statement.

If you intend to cancel the card, don't use the travel credit.

Why not?

 

[pauly7]

I find it interesting that in my last week shopping I notice that both Ikea and Chemist Warehouse have accepted Amex. I actually forget now, but I feel both were without surcharge.
Whilst some may only want Amex for the points, there are other benefits such as the Offers.
These can be Local Champion, Spend $400 get $100 back, free premium membership of Qantas Wine etc.

Chemist Warehouse finally? Really? Can’t believe the family behind that dubious business came to an agreement with Amex...

 

[Jacques Vert]

Why not?

As I understand it, once the annual fee is charged to your account, they will refund it if you cancel the card within the next month, provided you have not spent the travel credit.

Of course, the question is what happens if you spend the travel credit as soon as it arrives and then attempt to cancel the card before the annual fee lands at the end of the month.

Would Amex still charge the fee and pursue you for the outstanding $? Presumably they won't cancel a card that has unpaid spending on it so would the fee be treated differently?

I have no direct experience of this but I suspect Amex have come across this situation before; perhaps another member can comment.

 

[kamchatsky]

Membership reward points: 0

"Amex Cards: CANCELLED"

 

[lonewolf]

I find it interesting that in my last week shopping I notice that both Ikea and Chemist Warehouse have accepted Amex. I actually forget now, but I feel both were without surcharge.
Whilst some may only want Amex for the points, there are other benefits such as the Offers.
These can be Local Champion, Spend $400 get $100 back, free premium membership of Qantas Wine etc.

Which Amex cards provide free premium membership to Qantas wines? I havent heard of that from any of my Amex cards.

 

[Saltywings]

Which Amex cards provide free premium membership to Qantas wines? I havent heard of that from any of my Amex cards.

The Qantas Ultimate.

 

[burmans]

Of course, the question is what happens if you spend the travel credit as soon as it arrives and then attempt to cancel the card before the annual fee lands at the end of the month.

Would Amex still charge the fee and pursue you for the outstanding $? Presumably they won't cancel a card that has unpaid spending on it so would the fee be treated differently?

I think you are slightly missing the point hee. At the time you cancel the account the annual fee has not been charged, so essentially you are suggesting that Amex might feel they have the right after you have cancelled the card to charge a fee for a service you won't be using. It possible they might feel they can do this but I strongly suspect the ombudsman wont agree with them and you'd get a refund.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I think you are slightly missing the point hee. At the time you cancel the account the annual fee has not been charged, so essentially you are suggesting that Amex might feel they have the right after you have cancelled the card to charge a fee for a service you won't be using. It possible they might feel they can do this but I strongly suspect the ombudsman wont agree with them and you'd get a refund.

My original comment was in relation to someone cancelling the card after the annual fee has posted to the account (and the travel credit has been used). (I note that in my experience they will refund the fee within the first month after cancelling, unless the travel credit has been used.)

So if someone has been charged the fee and are thinking of cancelling then requesting a refund of the fee, they shouldn't use the travel credit.

OTOH, I'm not suggesting what Amex may feel they can do where the fee hasn't posted to their account, but I'm interested to know if anyone has personal experience of this point.

As to the timing of the transactions: I don't know at what point the fee becomes due. Presumably it's on the anniversary of card activation and perhaps the travel credit is allocated to the account on that date, while the fee doesn't appear on the account until the statement is issued at the end of the month. In that instance, could Amex argue that the fee was in fact due and therefore payable? I don't know, but I do find the "mistiming" of the transactions interesting.

As to the ethics of spending the travel credit and then cancelling the card before the annual fee is charged: I'll leave that to each member to make their own decision.

 

[ric_melb]

Which Amex cards provide free premium membership to Qantas wines? I havent heard of that from any of my Amex cards.

Qantas Amex Premium Card is the one that gives me premium membership to Qantas Wine.
I understand the Qantas Amex Ultimate card also gives you membership.

 

[Mr He]

Chemist Warehouse finally? Really? Can’t believe the family behind that dubious business came to an agreement with Amex...

Yes, since later March, which is great. CW finally began to accept AMEX, but unlike most of the big merchants who would launch some kind of promotion (e.g., IKEA's recent $150-30 offer) rightly after accepting AMEX, or advertise somewhere, in print or online, CW apparently wants to keep low-key regarding its Amex acceptance, lol.

 

[Mr He]

Welcome to the Club!
I've done it already - no more Amex Cards in my wallet, no begging for compensation for something that SHOULD NOT have taken place!
37 years of membership (1982) - one of the founding members of Amex in Australia and only now I have learned what this company has now become. It is all about money. Or, rather about money grabbing.
It is no coincidence they are reluctant to double membership points for members who collected a large amount of those. The membership rewards are MONEY!
According to the simple calculation,1M points is worth $10-20K, well, how much is worth 3M quoted above? Pointy Bird's 12M points is a small fortune! And all his efforts to be treated as valuable Amex member brought no results.
It is obvious any business in the world would fight for customers with such spending power!
Any - except for Amex! They have decided to resist it counting on a massive gain by grabbing as much as they can right now, in a very short time, without waiting for the commission from sales which would take many years to bring similar financial results.
With this plan we all became disposable.
The outcome of the "new brilliant business plan's" calculation was simple: It is not worth to keep them if they wanted to leave, especially with no place to run knowing of the three-year points spending limitation at the airline partners that makes the process of a decision making much harder and will force many to stay.
The risk worth taking with the assumption some of the Amex members will stay pretending nothing has happened. And they will be ready to pay new ridiculous annual fees for the privilege compensating for the ones who have decided to go their own way.
I was sad, really sad by all the sudden and unexpected development of my almost four-decades-long relationship with Amex, but with time passing I got used to it, and it helped me with my decision: I do not want to be any part of such a shonky business with no ethics. I will not support it.
"Don't leave home without it?". Oh no, I am staying, it is Amex that is gone.
And I feel much better making this decision.
Good luck to all

Member Since 1982, wow. Really keen to hear more stories from Amex cardmembers like you.Your years with Amex are impressively long, probably longer than the age of most of the AFFers here?

 

[Mr He]

Is it really worth it? I was wondering. For the money spent on the annual fee of Amex Platinum Charge, you can fly to Europe return every year and still have some money left in your pocket.
Apart from that, Amex travel credit is worth about half in a real life.
Recently I was trying to arrange a car rental booking in Barcelona in July this year using Amex travel credit. The cheapest option for 2 weeks rental (insurance and unlimited km included) was AUD 435. A few minutes later I found at least three different options asking between AUD 216 to AUD 265 for exactly the same car model with all inclusions.
Included travel insurance? Voted as one of the worst around. Many bank-issued Platinum Visa or Mastercard accounts offering travel insurance protects you way better.
I am sorry but in my opinion, there is no justification for spending almost AUD 1.5K for a credit card just for the sake of having it.

Anyone who gets the hang of it will say IT IS REALLY WORTH IT. It's actually well worth it and the seemingly hefty annual fee can be easily justified. We all hate devaluations like this, but believe it or not, the local competitors are just too weak, even after halving the value of its MR points (Platinum is an exception; it's actually the only one winner after 15 April), Amex is still the most rewarding one Down Under. Which is one reason why Amex dares to devalue its MR program like this. My advice? Dig deeper to the card game, and ready yourself at all times. There're always new ways to play actually.

 

[Bell21]

I couldn't agree more Jiong both re the Plat card and looking for new ways 'to play'. I've had premium cards for years, but only really seriously got 'into points' about 18 months ago and at the time, I chuckled at the thought of spending $1450 on an annual card fee, but when I did a break-down of the benefits, I saw that even without sign-on bonus points, I'd still be in-front based on the value of the easy-to-see benefits on the card.

What I didn't realise is just how valuable it would be --- things I didn't rate at all on sign-up, like gold status with the hotels have proved more valuable than I thought (not just standard perks, but the extra things hotels will do at times - eg, I had $200 worth of parking given to me complimentary without asking, 15%+ reduction off meals I wasn't expecting with a large family etc), plus Fine Hotels saved another $250 or so off a night away etc. There are also things that are hard to value but helpful like the ability to transfer to QF + the other airlines and whilst it's understandably unpopular with those without the card, the bonus of having points protected at a time like this. Lastly, as a 'collector', it's just fun working with all the perks the card gives you. I was thinking of creating a post to show all the value I've had from the card after my first 12 months in a few months, although I'm sometime unclear whether more experienced members think it's clever to be that open (given wide access to the forums)

 

[Bell21]

although to Valdek's points, my other AMEX cards are going the way of the dodo...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I couldn't agree more Jiong both re the Plat card and looking for new ways 'to play'. I've had premium cards for years, but only really seriously got 'into points' about 18 months ago and at the time, I chuckled at the thought of spending $1450 on an annual card fee, but when I did a break-down of the benefits, I saw that even without sign-on bonus points, I'd still be in-front based on the value of the easy-to-see benefits on the card.

What I didn't realise is just how valuable it would be --- things I didn't rate at all on sign-up, like gold status with the hotels have proved more valuable than I thought (not just standard perks, but the extra things hotels will do at times - eg, I had $200 worth of parking given to me complimentary without asking, 15%+ reduction off meals I wasn't expecting with a large family etc), plus Fine Hotels saved another $250 or so off a night away etc. There are also things that are hard to value but helpful like the ability to transfer to QF + the other airlines and whilst it's understandably unpopular with those without the card, the bonus of having points protected at a time like this. Lastly, as a 'collector', it's just fun working with all the perks the card gives you. I was thinking of creating a post to show all the value I've had from the card after my first 12 months in a few months, although I'm sometime unclear whether more experienced members think it's clever to be that open (given wide access to the forums)

The benefit derived varies by the individual though.

For this particular Amex my trouble is that I prefer to in the main not stay at the chain hotels.

Food and drink wise they are way overpriced and the food is often so so, and so 15% would still mean paying more for fora poorer result.

Internationally unless it is a short hop (ie within Europe) I am always in J or F (I don't buy and only redeem) and so the lounge benefits are not at all useful for me.

For point earning I still prefer other Amex Cards, plus the Dragon for non-Amex and ANZ Traveller for international transactions as you get a lot more $AUS per overseas currency.


I used to have the card for many years, many years ago. Back then it had genuine free travel insurance (just having the card activated and no spend required) including for any Supp cardholders travelling on their own trips. Used to get $500 reduced off a much lower fee too.

 

[Bell21]

Yes indeed - it's definitely YMMV and I'm possibly in the small minority who gets value out of so many benefits on the card. I've just been quite surprised with the unexpected benefits which have been quite varied and tangible (I've even found their concierge and travel services especially helpful at times from a service perspective).

I think (other than Centurion and Plat Edge in supermarkets / petrol), it will also now become somewhat one of the better value AMEX rewards cards points-wise, which adds some further value

Even without lounge benefits, the travel credits ($850) and the car insurance rental knock two-thirds off the fee before any other fee, but of course, you'd want to be well in front overall given the upfront investment each year for the card.

ANZ traveller is a good tip, which I'll look into - thank you for that - and I've just switched to Dragon, as it will be relatively more competitive.

 

[amaroo]

For those of us that didn't need to transfer points..... don't forget to take a screenshot of your point balance. Will come in handy to verify the double points when they land sometime between now and mid June.

 

[coriander]

Just checked my Ascent rewards on Explorer: I put through $6k of invoices (to a supplier and one to RewardPay on Sunday 14th afternoon) and whilst both were pending till today I see both were paid at the old 2:1 rate.