MSE News: Amex to cut cashback rates on best buy credit cards from August

MSE_Helen_K

American Express Platinum Everyday and Platinum Cashback cardholders will see cashback rates slashed from 4 August, meaning some could earn £25/yr less on the same level of spending. We round up what's changing...

Read the full story:
'Amex to cut cashback rates and hike minimum spends on best buy credit cards from August'

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jbrassy

This is bad news, but not entirely unsurprising. Since the EU capped interchange fees for Mastercard and Visa, Amex haven't faced much competition for rewards credit cards. The best cashback rate you'll get on a Visa or Mastercard is 0.25%, so what incentive do Amex have to keep cashback rates as high as they were?

ratechaser

Meh, £25 less per year (whatever MSEs table in the article seems to think - it's NOT £50 less), could have been worse...

jbrassy

ratechaser said:

Meh, £25 less per year (whatever MSEs table in the article seems to think - it's NOT £50 less), could have been worse...

You're right, the biggest change is if you spend over £10k on either card, in which case you'll earn £25 less cashback over the year. 

I currently have the card with the £25 fee. At the current rate of cashback, it makes sense to have the £25 fee card if you spend more than £5k over a year. However, from August 2021, it will only make sense to have the £25 fee card if you spend more than £10k per year. In previous years I've been just over the £10k threshold, so will be weighing up my options between now and August.

Ichabod05

There are two big errors in this article. 
In the opening paragraph it says customers on the everyday card will need to spend an additional £5,000 to start earning cashback which isn't true.  A customer must spend £3,000 in a year to be eligible for their cashback to be paid.  This is not changing.
It also states that there is a £25 annual fee on the everyday cashback card which again is not true - does anyone actually proof-read or fact-check these stories?

ratechaser

Ichabod05 said:

There are two big errors in this article. 
In the opening paragraph it says customers on the everyday card will need to spend an additional £5,000 to start earning cashback which isn't true.  A customer must spend £3,000 in a year to be eligible for their cashback to be paid.  This is not changing.
It also states that there is a £25 annual fee on the everyday cashback card which again is not true - does anyone actually proof-read or fact-check these stories?

Yes, that would be us 

keiran

A general question for savvy MSErs  -
If I refer someone for a particular Amex card, but that person is already an Amex customer with another type of Amex card, do we both get a new incentive?

I'd have posted this question in the referral thread, but thought I'd be shouted down by the "no chat/referrals only" police 

eskbanker

keiran said:

A general question for savvy MSErs  -
If I refer someone for a particular Amex card, but that person is already an Amex customer with another type of Amex card, do we both get a new incentive?

I'd have posted this question in the referral thread, but thought I'd be shouted down by the "no chat/referrals only" police 

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/refer-a-friend.html says:

Your friend will not be eligible to receive any welcome bonus offer for:

• The Platinum Charge Card, if they hold or have held any personal Membership Rewards-enrolled American Express Card in the past 24 months.
• The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card, if they hold or have held any personal British Airways American Express Card product in the past 24 months.
• Any other Card, if they hold or have held any personal American Express Cards in the past 24 months.

SamDude

eskbanker said:

keiran said:

A general question for savvy MSErs  -
If I refer someone for a particular Amex card, but that person is already an Amex customer with another type of Amex card, do we both get a new incentive?

I'd have posted this question in the referral thread, but thought I'd be shouted down by the "no chat/referrals only" police 

https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/refer-a-friend.html says:

Your friend will not be eligible to receive any welcome bonus offer for:

• The Platinum Charge Card, if they hold or have held any personal Membership Rewards-enrolled American Express Card in the past 24 months.
• The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card, if they hold or have held any personal British Airways American Express Card product in the past 24 months.
• Any other Card, if they hold or have held any personal American Express Cards in the past 24 months.

Supplementary cardholders are not counted as 'cardholders', my wife has a card on my account (as an additional cardholder) but I was able to refer her as a new 'friend' for an account in her own name. I checked this with Amex CS before I did it and they did pay the £20 incentive.

MSE_Helen_K

Ichabod05 said:

There are two big errors in this article. 
In the opening paragraph it says customers on the everyday card will need to spend an additional £5,000 to start earning cashback which isn't true.  A customer must spend £3,000 in a year to be eligible for their cashback to be paid.  This is not changing.
It also states that there is a £25 annual fee on the everyday cashback card which again is not true - does anyone actually proof-read or fact-check these stories?

Hi there, 
- Thanks for flagging the mistake about the Everyday card - that's now fixed because, as you've highlighted, there is no fee. 
- Thanks also for flagging the point about the additional £5,000 spend - what we'd meant by that is you needed to spend an additional £5,000 to get the highest level (1%) of cashback in future, although I appreciate that wasn't abundantly clear so we've also tweaked. 
Best wishes,
MSE Helen

ratechaser

...the table's still wrong on the £25/year card at the 20k spend level for years 2+ - how can there be a £50 difference between the old and new rates when all that's changing is the first £10k being at 0.75% rather than 1%?