American Express Credit Card Cashback - A Heads Up

Seanybhoy68

I want to buy a new kitchen from B&Q. I thought it best to have Section 75 protection and I intended to pay the debt in full immediately. I looked at this forum to see what the best deals were. Also, cashback was an incentive. 

This site advertised American Express as  "Get 5% cashback for the first three months, then ongoing cashback of up to 1%" 

I settled on American Express which gives you 5% cashback (up to £100). Not a huge amount but better than nothing. 

I received my card yesterday, downloaded their app and registered. I noticed my credit limit was only £1k so I called them to increase it. I was informed this was not possible as all new members receive a £1k limit for the first 3 months. I don't recall this ever being mentioned and I certainly never read anything about this. So in real terms, the cashback amount is only £5 for the first three months and then your limit may or not be increased. 

This is not good for me as B&Q have an offer just now that expires on 9th October. I cancelled the card and raised a complaint as I don't believe American Express were forthcoming in their credit card limits. I've also asked that the credit search be removed from my credit file. 

For those who are interested I have an excellent credit history. I think my last credit score was around the 980 mark. I have no other credit cards and only have a £170 bank loan for my car which is due to expire in the next few months. I earn over £50k pa

I think the American Express card should be removed from your best buys or at least the credit limit should be explained. Don't get me wrong I'm not blaming MSE it's American Express's fault in my opinion. 

stuartp2000

Hi Sean

Unless something has changed in the last few months i don’t think you was given the right advise from the person you spoke with.
I joined Amex in May / June purely for the 5% as my annual holiday payment was due. I was given a credit limit much higher than this and more than enough to cover the holiday payment.

Major downside to these cards is the cashback is payable in 1 year rather so it’s a long wait just for my £100 quid.

Seanybhoy68

stuartp2000 said:

Hi Sean

Unless something has changed in the last few months i don’t think you was given the right advise from the person you spoke with.
I joined Amex in May / June purely for the 5% as my annual holiday payment was due. I was given a credit limit much higher than this and more than enough to cover the holiday payment.

Major downside to these cards is the cashback is payable in 1 year rather so it’s a long wait just for my £100 quid.

I called their customer services to raise a complaint and they told me the same so maybe it's changed. I have a Chase account so I'm just going to pay with that and get my 1% which I believe is capped at £15. Hardly worth it to be honest. 

I guess I'm just !!!!!! that I feel American Express have wasted my time

born_again

Don't think you will get anywhere with a complaint.
As card providers are free to set your credit limit at whatever they feel is in their risk appetite.

Your only grounds would be if they had told you your limit would be £2000 on application & then downgraded it to less.

th081

With AE being your only credit card and no other debt apart from £170 pounds you have a thin credit file. Maybe that is why they gave you a limit of £1000 pounds. 

p00hsticks

stuartp2000 said:

Major downside to these cards is the cashback is payable in 1 year rather so it’s a long wait just for my £100 quid.

Also if the cashback accumulated on your anniversary date is less than a certain amount (£25 ?) you don;t get it creditted - it simply gets wiped out. 

Seanybhoy68

th081 said:

With AE being your only credit card and no other debt apart from £170 pounds you have a thin credit file. Maybe that is why they gave you a limit of £1000 pounds. 

I've only recently paid off other credit cards and as I said my credit rating is something like 980 out of 1000. Plus the fact the chap at Amex told me everyone gets £1k limit to begin with but I'm beginning to suspect this is incorrect.

Jami74

Maybe what the chap at Amex should have said is that no-one gets an increase in the first 3 months.

The credit rating isn't really indicative of what limits lenders will give, Amex would not have based their decision on that number. Mine was probably around 700 when I got my American Express card.

Pity you closed it, if you'd used it for part of the payment to B&Q and for your usual spending you would have earnt some cashback and after a few months been able to increase the limits. There are 'tricks' to increase spending to get the bonuses.

daivid

This seems very odd and sounds like something has been 'lost in translation'. Amex actively seek high spending customers for which a £1k limit would be near useless, my Amex Platinum Everyday card carries a limit of over 10x that and I'm neither a high earner nor spender. Technically OP you can still get to your £100 cashback; spend £1k for £50 CB then clear the balance to spend the next £1k, if you ask B&Q might split the invoice into multiple payments or at least deposit by CC then final payment by whatever means necessary. Even if you only pay the deposit by CC you get section 75 on the whole purchase.

WillPS

Can you use B&Q gift cards? If so you could potentially buy £1000 worth, then clear your balance with a manual payment, buy another £1000 etc until you are down to less than £1000, then settle that last bit on your Amex directly so that you benefit from Section 75.

Very much doubt Amex are limiting all new cardmembers to £1k. A new customer signing up for The Platinum Card would have over half of that wiped out by the annual fee; or more likely end up massively overlimit. I presume something on your credit report has put you in the manual review queue, and the £1k is a placeholder limit until it's reviewed. Barclaycard do similar although I think it's a tiny credit limit they offer - £200/£400 IIRC.

Seanybhoy68

To be honest I'd rather not give Amex my business now. I feel like they've been sneaky with me so I'm just going to pay it in full.