The great Amex scam

david_mason

Apologies if this has been covered before.

I have an Amex Cashback card (since February 2012) which charges a £25 annual fee. Yesterday, I came across an ad for an Amex Platinum Cashback credit card with NO annual fee and exactly the same features as my current card. I felt that I was being penalised for my loyalty. I figured the most rational thing to do would be to close down my current Amex account and re-apply for a new Amex Cashback card. That way, I would avoid the £25 fee.

Therefore, I emailed Amex via my online account to clarify how I could close down my account to avoid the £25 fee and redeem my accumulated cashback on my current card (which is currently about £200). Their response was that if I closed down my account before the one year anniversary period, I would effectively be 'forfeiting' my earned cashback! This basically means any old AMEX customer is paying £50 on any cashback they wish to redeem. Suddenly, their cashback rates don't look so good anymore...

Absolutely shocking.

OllyM

You've misread the advert for the free card. The two cards are not identical - the card you have pays 1.25% flat cashback and 2.5% in your anniversary month if you have spent over £10,000 in the previous year.

The free card has tiered cashback, 0.5% from 0-3500, 1% from 3500-7500 and 1.25% >7500.

Depending on how much you spend, you may well be better off with the card with the annual fee.

slyracoon

So its a scam because you didn't read the terms and conditions that you signed up to.... :doh::doh::doh::doh::think::think:

david_mason

Thanks for that OllyM, I missed that.

Regardless, if I do want to close my AMEX account, why should I lose my earned cashback? I have paid £25 annual fee and all my cashback relates to that year, it has nothing to do with the next year (or the next year's annual fee). Why should customers be forced to pay the next year's annual fee to redeem the current year's cashback is beyond me...

I am not happy to pay the £25 as there are so many other credit cards with cashback that does not have any fee attached to them....

slyracoon- I never came across anything in my agreement that explicitly said I MUST renew my membership and pay further annual fees to redeem retrospective cashback earned...

miduck

Cashback will be paid by us during each card anniversary month on the expenditure that
has taken place during the preceding 12 months. Your card anniversary month is the one
month period each year following the date on which your account was opened (for
example, if your account was opened on 10 January, your card anniversary month will
run from 11 January to 10 February each year). Cashback amounts will be rounded down
to the nearest full pence. The total amount of expenditure which is eligible for cashback
in any one month is limited to the amount of the credit limit. Payment of your cashback
balance will be made by crediting your account.

Seems that you need to read the agreement more carefully!

sfax

This doesn't apply after the first year though does it? So if you closed after 23 months and 29 days you could redeem cashback for year 2? I think they're really just discouraging people milking the first year introductory offers and moving on which is fair enough really

_Andy_

As per usual, no 'scam' at all.
And why is it always 'the great..'? There's nothing 'great' about this even if it was a scam.
Must be Friday.

david_mason

miduck wrote: »

Seems that you need to read the agreement more carefully!

this is fair enough, but where does it say anything about the annual fee and that you must renew your membership? your quote applies if a person is happy to carry on beyond 1 year, but if a person is not willing to carry on with amex, what then? surely they must have a clause for that? my main grief is that i have paid membership for a year and i want my cashback for that year, no more, no less. it was really difficult to accumulate the cashback in the 1st place, so many places dont accept amex..

miduck

david_mason wrote: »

this is fair enough, but where does it say anything about the annual fee and that you must renew your membership? your quote applies if a person is happy to carry on beyond 1 year, but if a person is not willing to carry on with amex, what then? surely they must have a clause for that? my main grief is that i have paid membership for a year and i want my cashback for that year, no more, no less. it was really difficult to accumulate the cashback in the 1st place, so many places dont accept amex..

Your "grief" is covered in the quote above - it states that the cashback is paid in your anniversary month, hence it is quite clear that if you are no longer a member at that point, you will not receive any cashback.

If you do not wish to continue past the one year period, you simply cancel once the cashback has been paid. I fail to see what is so difficult for you to understand?

joe134

miduck wrote: »

Your "grief" is covered in the quote above - it states that the cashback is paid in your anniversary month, hence it is quite clear that if you are no longer a member at that point, you will not receive any cashback.

If you do not wish to continue past the one year period, you simply cancel once the cashback has been paid. I fail to see what is so difficult for you to understand?

miduck, spot on;;;I have the free platinum card, had it about 4 years, and I have MBNA amex which I use all the time now, as better cashback for me, as supermarket/petrol are main usage,and Capitalone Mastercard as backup;
Since thisAMEX shopsmall £5 cashback this month, I,ve used my 2 platinums(wifes) and MBNA, aint half give it some welly, £100 cashback this week so far, no problems, 13 transactions yesterday alone.
Phoned Amex yesterday, rejected at one,it was machines fault, Amex were great, carry on shopping.
As I hadn,t used my Plats for ages, I thought they wouldn,t be honoured, but they were.
Cannot fault Amex, I used plats till I received my cashback, then just used mbna amex afterwards.No need to cancel, no fee involved.
Read the print, and choose right, and Amex cannot be beaten in my opinion. Gonna replace Cap 1 with new one to get 5% next,for xmas shopping and backup then back to Mbna,. "Himple"

DpchMd

Quick someone call the police