Amex Gold to Rewards Card Downgrade

jondave · 7 October 2020 at 2:02PM

Hi All
New to Amex and looking to get the Gold card so I get £0 fee for first year and welcome bonus, at the end of the first year I will downgrade the card to the Rewards card to avoid the £140 fee, is it a hassle to downgrade Amex cards or is it a smooth process are there any extra checks etc?
Thanks

Ngozi · 7 October 2020 at 2:20PM

Smooth enough process, simple way is to set up the other Amex card before you plan to downgrade it,then just cancel the gold card. Easily done online.

dr_adidas01 · 7 October 2020 at 2:50PM

Ngozi said:

Smooth enough process, simple way is to set up the other Amex card before you plan to downgrade it,then just cancel the gold card. Easily done online.

This is the complicated way to do it the easier way is to give them a call and ask if you can change to the card you want, No need for a credit search and no need to open another account.

jondave · 7 October 2020 at 7:04PM

Thanks guys I read somewhere that Amex can take back the welcome bonus if you cancel / downgrade too soon, I would assume downgrading a week or so before the end of the first year would be fine?

D3xt3r5L4b · 7 October 2020 at 7:41PM

Will you be making the £15k spend for the year for the extra 10k points?

adamp87 · 7 October 2020 at 8:15PM

dr_adidas01 said:

Ngozi said:

Smooth enough process, simple way is to set up the other Amex card before you plan to downgrade it,then just cancel the gold card. Easily done online.

This is the complicated way to do it the easier way is to give them a call and ask if you can change to the card you want, No need for a credit search and no need to open another account.

I’m certain Amex only do internal searches if you are already a member. Some cards they won’t let you downgrade either

[Deleted User] · 7 October 2020 at 9:38PM

adamp87 said:

dr_adidas01 said:

Ngozi said:

Smooth enough process, simple way is to set up the other Amex card before you plan to downgrade it,then just cancel the gold card. Easily done online.

This is the complicated way to do it the easier way is to give them a call and ask if you can change to the card you want, No need for a credit search and no need to open another account.

I’m certain Amex only do internal searches if you are already a member. Some cards they won’t let you downgrade either

Why would they do only an internal search if it's a new credit application?

jondave · 7 October 2020 at 10:33PM

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Will you be making the £15k spend for the year for the extra 10k points?

Probably not.

D3xt3r5L4b · 7 October 2020 at 10:46PM

Sometimes you can upgrade/downgrade between cards (you can with the BA ones) and others you can’t.

You can’t however “swap” from a credit card to a charge card and vice versa.

If you call up ask to speak to the Brighton call centre staff as they are more understanding on switching between cards than the USA based team.

If you have to make a new application, make sure you get the Reward card first, then request the credit limit from your Gold card be consolidated to the Rewards card, and then close the Gold card down.

dr_adidas01 · 7 October 2020 at 11:28PM

adamp87 said:

dr_adidas01 said:

Ngozi said:

Smooth enough process, simple way is to set up the other Amex card before you plan to downgrade it,then just cancel the gold card. Easily done online.

This is the complicated way to do it the easier way is to give them a call and ask if you can change to the card you want, No need for a credit search and no need to open another account.

I’m certain Amex only do internal searches if you are already a member. Some cards they won’t let you downgrade either

They would certainly do a credit check as you would be applying for a new product and not changing your card to a different one.

Yes they will only let you change cards to similar ones within the card range you originally have. For example they wouldn’t let you change your charge card to say the rewards credit card as they are entirely different products.

jondave · 9 October 2020 at 11:06AM

Thanks for the replys has anyone managed to change from the Gold card to the Rewards card or do you have to open a new card and close the old, either way looks a simple process to do.
Don't see why they wouldn't downgrade these cards as they do up/downgrade between the Platinum and Gold cards and between the different BA cards.

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