Retention Offers for Year 3 and onwards

[mkhan1093]

Hi everyone,

I know that asking for/receiving a retention offer on a card with an AF is very common in the second year, especially on those cards whose AF is waived for the first year. But how likely are you to get such an offer in the third year and onwards? Could you indefinitely just get retention offers?

[longtimelurker]

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@mkhan1093 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I know that asking for/receiving a retention offer on a card with an AF is very common in the second year, especially on those cards whose AF is waived for the first year. But how likely are you to get such an offer in the third year and onwards? Could you indefinitely just get retention offers?

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Yes, you certainly can, it was/is common on Citi AA cards, for example, to get a retention offer that made up for the AF every year.   But obviously the relationship needs to make sense from the issuers viewpoint as well, if you spend very little, get a retention, and then continue to spend very little, it's possible the next retention offer won't materialize, or be less generous.

[K-in-Boston]

Since I just made my first-ever retention call with Amex after being with them for over 15 years, I researched retention offers quite a bit.  My PRG is essentially useless to me now, but this was my 16th annual fee on the card (it was a "Gold Card with Membership Rewards" for most of its life) and it was my daily driver for about 14 years, so I'm a little sentimental. You could certainly get offers indefinitely, provided your overall relationship with Amex is very good, your spending is enough to support it, and/or the length of the account being opened.

My card was seeing between $50-75k of annual spend until I abruptly cut it off about a year ago.  Both the Platinum CSR and the retention person I spoke with agreed there wasn't much of a reason for me to use the card (although retention did mention I could get double Delta SkyMiles on supermarket, fuel, and restaurant purchases by using it if I wanted to go that route instead of Starpoints).  I got offered a $150 statement credit for $1500 spend (or as she stated it, "after the $100 airline credit, we're basically paying you $60 to keep the card for another year") or 20,000 MRs for $3000 spend - since I'd prefer Starpoints (or SkyMiles as a consolation prize), I took the MRs.  Not a bad offer considering the card saw almost no spend for the year, and they knew that beyond the $3k in spend to get the retention bonus, I'm unlikely to use it all for the next year save the airline credit.  With my personal points valuations, I'll get around $500 or so of value from that offer so it's enough for me to not even bother to ask for an offer next year and gives me a chance to see what happens with the Starwood-Marriott loyalty programs and cards.  If those don't go favorably for me, then I will certainly need to take a look at my rewards strategies and may have really regretted closing a well-aged Amex card.

[mkhan1093]

Awesome, thanks for the super informative answers! It'll still be a while before Year 3 on pretty much all my cards but good to know that I should keep up spend if I'd like a retention offer.

[wasCB14]

The likelihood of retention (at any point, not specifically the third year) also depends on the issuer and product.

Most people favor CSR over Prestige these days (frequent 4th nighters being the main exception). Citi seems to understand, and it's a lot easier to get retention offers on Prestige than CSR.