Episode 51: All This Amex Stuff (Credits and More)

Robert:

Amex has been ratcheting up the complexity on their offers and benefits. Partially due to covid, wanting to retain customers, and wanting to maintain and build engagement. The gamification of Amex is in full swing.

Sam:

These credits are not free money, and they’re definitely not always easy as we’ll discuss today...

For each of these let’s discuss:

• The Promise
• The Problems
• Possible solutions

1:39 Amex Offers: Slow Posting

• Early February credits, across the board/on a number of fronts, were very slow to post
• TPG: “Here’s why you shouldn’t worry” (link)
• Response: Here’s why slow posting credits are worrisome…
• The T&Cs are convoluted, lengthy and full of gotchas. Ex: Home Depot off that was only online (who normally shops at Home Depot online?) and GCs are processed through a 3rd party
• When credits don’t post quickly (when they otherwise have tended to historically) it creates confusion whether fine print was missed.
• All this said: Things seem to have improved more recently across the board after a miserable early Feb stretch.

8:40 PayPal $30/mo on Amex Personal Platinum Through June 2021

• T&Cs
• Early Feb Hiccup-- What to do when credits don’t post? 
• P2P vs merchants
• GC reselling angle?
• Potential Clawbacks for returns
• Seems stackable with things like Saks

13:00 Uber Credits

• T&Cs
• $15/mo for Personal Platinum
• $10/mo credit for Personal Gold
• Combining credits from multiple cards (spousal/friends as well)
• Velocity limits when adding cards
• Moving cards from one Uber account to another

18:31 [Targeted] $200 Amex Travel Platinum Offer Exploration

• We’ve been talking about this a lot lately
• Robert posted the T&C last week (Which don’t show anywhere online) 
• The pages describing this online make it sound like it is offered to all--and not targeted. 
• I set out to test that this week. 
• So I booked a $210 ticket on Amex Travel with my recently renewed Platinum.
• Nothing happened.  (Smoke)
• So I chatted and pointed Amex to the TPG article (link which points to a DoC article that refers back to a rumor article from DoC)
• The missing T&Cs (only visible to those targeted)

24:29 Ongoing Credits

• Keep in mind this all is on top of…
• Dell Credits on Biz Plat
• Saks Credits on Personal Plat
• Airline Travel Credits
• Dining credits on co-branded personal cards
• Wireless credits on co-branded business cards
• Discuss: Do we work for Amex?

Robert: “Thanks for joining us for this week. For a more in-depth discussion about points miles visit us at patreon.com/milenomics. There you’ll get a specia