Amex PRG no retention offers

[Anonymous]

Well, since I got the 15K upgrade bonus I will probably apply it toward a flight next year and use the airline credit to hang out at a lounge (I don't drink) and buy some food and check my bags.  I'll check out the United/Amazon GC thing but it confuses me a bit.  AMEX is giving me 45 days to try out the card before hitting me with the $195 AF.  I'll probably have the required 1K spend by then.  Thanks for the help, Uncle B-and the kudo.

[mattmyFIC0]

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@austinguy907 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
You knew about the AF before you applied for the card. Amex isn't known for giving everyone retention offers for no reason. If you don't feel like you're getting value out of the card, close it.

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In addition you have 6 others right behind it.  It might be time to sit down and compare them side by side and see what rolls into what and what can be trimmed back.  Not to mention some diversity would be advised in case something goes south with AMEX and they shut everything down or dramatically reduce their exposure in the future.

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@12velectronics Yea I knew about the annual fee but the airline credit and 50K MR made it worth it for the first year for sure. I'm just undecided on year 2.

I do have 6 others behind it BUT some of those are business cards. I'm currently torn between cash back and points. That has to do with all my cards actually and I'm working on a strategy. Also I have plenty of diversity so I'm not concerned with that.

[Anonymous]

How did you ask for the retention offers? If you ask directly, they will usually say no - you have to ask to cancel the card for them to take it seriously. Having a reason helps (hard to justify the fee, switching to a different company's card, etc)

[mattmyFIC0]

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@Anonymous wrote:

How did you ask for the retention offers? If you ask directly, they will usually say no - you have to ask to cancel the card for them to take it seriously. Having a reason helps (hard to justify the fee, switching to a different company's card, etc)

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I told them that with the annual fee coming up I wasn't sure if I could justify keeping the card open. I asked if they had any offers available that could help offset the fee so I could keep it open longer.

[mattmyFIC0]

Quick update: after the AF posted a few days ago I called retention again and was once again told that there were no offers so I closed the card. I was told the AF would be refunded in 24-48hrs. I really don't blame them for having no offers since I use my other amex cards quite a bit more than this one. It was just an interesting experience.