The other day Chris wrote about all the creative ways Amex is doing everything it can to retain folks including the offer to give us $20 per month on non-Delta Amex Platinum cards as well as $10 per month on the Amex Green card for making wireless payments.
I ran an extra $20 charge with my Amex Platinum card on Sprint’s web site on the 1st and as you can see from the above a temporary $1.00 hold charge was placed (it will drop off) as well as the $20 charge itself.
I then repeated the same steps with my Amex Green card and it even included on the Amex home page the notice that I could get the credit till the end of the year.
First off this is really a wise move by Amex. With their 1x lifetime new card bonus offer rule, if they lose customers who drop cards due to COVID and no travel, it will be VERY hard to ever get them back.
Also this is wise because each month I can not use my monthly Amex Platinum card UBER $15 credit (since I am hunkering down at home for the foreseeable future and UBER Eats does not work where I live). I HATE seeing month after month the credits go POOF and it becomes a constant reminder of “just why am I paying the mega annual fee for this card”? This is a way to mitigate that a bit.
Now I will have $240 in credits coming back to offset the painful sting of the card fees.
Having said all of that, Amex RAT teams may be doing more harm than any of the above good will credits. I have not had the nasty flea-infested RATs bite me yet other than a single $8.00 bill from a closed card from years ago (how dumb was that, Amex – sending me a bill for a closed card from years ago).
The other thing you will likely see the month your fee bills (or the month before) is some kind of unsolicited credit. One reader sent me a screenshot of just such a credit to his Delta Amex Business Platinum card.
The question with that is, is it enough. With my Delta Amex Business Reserve card I will be getting the massive large fee toward the end of the year. I am strongly considering downgrading it to a Gold Delta Amex Business card for 2021 (I have already had the Gold Business card new card bonus or I would apply for a new Delta Amex Gold Business card and THEN cancel my old Delta Amex Business Reserve card). Amex had better offer me a LARGE credit before the bill comes to keep me from downgrading!
Bottom line I like that Amex is being proactive to keep me as a customer when I am sure so many are simply dumping cards. Delta had better take notice of this, but that my dear readers is for another post this week! – René
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Can confirm that preloading credit to your Apple ID account qualifies for a streaming services purchase. Tested a $20 credit load on the 1st, saw the statement credit post today on my Platinum account.
@Anonymous: Thanks for the data point!
I got an e-mail saying $100 credit off Reserve bill after renewal and $50 off Platinum (both of them personal cards). Having said that, with the new 4 boosts with Reserve and the lack of travel (and job), it’s unlikely I will be keeping two cards for much longer.
I enrolled in the COVID-19 relief program with Amex, which all seemed to go well until I missed the payment as I was told I could. What they didn’t tell me was that you still have to make the minimum payment. I only found out when my wife suddenly could no longer use the card. I don’t have an issue paying the minimum charge but they should make it crystal clear. Why isn’t that obvious, that you should pay the minimum? Because with Bank of America, they set the minimum to 0. I am just posting this as a warning to anyone else that is taking advantage of this program. I hope you are not, because I hope everyone else has a job.