Negative Amex Avios card

Henny9

Hi,

I have an Amex Avios card which I was using for some bookings a couple months ago. I finally earned quite a lot of Avios and took a flight with them. Since then, my plans have changed and I cancelled the bookings which earnt me the Avios, so nothing owing on the card but I was given and spent the points.

My Amex account now says I have a negative Avios balance of 25000... What exactly will happen as a result of this? Can my credit rating be affected? I am not likely to spend this much on the card again and I don't have any Avios to give back as I spent them all. Will they try and charge me a load of money?

At this stage I want to just zero my balance and get rid of the card, as it has a high yearly fee and I won't exactly be gaining anything by spending on it.

Thanks for your advice,

-h

grumbler

Henny9 wrote: »

At this stage I want to just zero my balance and get rid of the card, as it has a high yearly fee and I won't exactly be gaining anything by spending on it.

I don't understand all this business with points, but if you have a credit balance in ££, just close the card account and they with pay it to you by a cheque or by other means.

Henny9

I don't have a credit balance, my credit balance is zero.

However I am in debt to them to the value of 25000 points. And I don't have enough points in my Avios account to pay them back.

How will this be resolved if I don't spend on the card to clear down my points?

reclusive46

You will be charged for the points if you do not spend on it to make a positive balance.

Henny9

reclusive46 wrote: »

You will be charged for the points if you do not spend on it to make a positive balance.

At what rate - how much is a point worth? Isn't that a bit arbitrary?

reclusive46

Henny9 wrote: »

At what rate - how much is a point worth? Isn't that a bit arbitrary?

I have no idea off the top of my head. If its the same as membership reward points it'll be about quarter of a pence per point.

withabix

I think is is 2.5 cents per point, so $625 or about £390-£400.

Henny9

I'd this in the terms & conditions? I couldn't see anything, surely it is not right that they are effectively selling me points?

withabix

Amex paid for the Avios which you bought with MR points.

They will therefore either require you to pay for those MR points or spend enough on your Amex to bring your balance back to zero MR points.

reclusive46

Henny9 wrote: »

I'd this in the terms & conditions? I couldn't see anything, surely it is not right that they are effectively selling me points?

Perfect fine for them to do it. They've rewarded you by taking a percentage out of their transaction fee. Now you've got a refund they haven't got any money out of it. So they are basically out of pocket.

Plus if they didn't do it this way. People would just buy something really expensive , use the points and then get a refund.

Henny9

I can see these terms in americanexpress.com/lacidc/en/mr/tc.shtml - but that is for a different card. Mine is an Avios (not Membership Rewards) card and doesn't have terms about points advances or paying back unsatisfied advances on closure, or even a value for the Avios.

And I'd surely only be liable for the amount by which they are GENUINELY out of pocket, which they would need to subtantiate, rather than some arbitrary amount, given that I haven't agreed with them (in terms and conditions) an arbitrary monetary value for the Avios. And I'd be very surprised if they'd want to reveal exactly what they pay Avios for their points, since that is highly competitive information. All of which means they are a little bit stuck?