SPG Amex worthwhile even if I don't stay/spend at hotels?

[Anonymous]

I am looking to get an Amex for backdating (mostly) and I am been looking at the SPG Amex because it has a 30000 promotion right now. I am going to redeem it for air miles. My current card is using the Chase Freedom/CSP/Checking combo, which has been awesome for me. SPG is a bit lacking in terms of earning power, since I don't spend at hotels at all. 

Does anyone use the SPG and doesn't spend at hotels? And is the annual fee waiveable after first year?

Thanks!

[Open123]

Amex isn't known for waiving fees, though I'm sure it does happen once in a while.  

The people for whom they waive fees spend a considerable amount of money.  However, in some cases, they do offer points as a form of renumeration for some who threaten to cancel the card.

If you never stay at hotels, the SPG is at best a 1.25% frequent flyer card.  It's not bad, but there are better options for rewards spending.  With the 30k bonus, it is definitely worth it.  Currently, the best way to maximize rewards is not to stay loyal to a single card, but allocate your spending towards meeting spending requirements for all the sign up bonuses.  

From that perspective, I think the 30K SPG represents considerable value, even if you never plan to stay or spend at Starwood properties.

Good luck!

[gettnthere]

alot of diffrent Credit card companies don't mind waiving annual fee's ive had it done a few times but only because they were low limit cards with no cli's, but with that being said i just dont think AMEx would be too willing honestly. i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

[Open123]

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gettnthere wrote:i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

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In my view, the best thing about Amex is that if you use the card as intended and fit within the scope of their preferred demographic, they're loyalty to you--the cardmember--will exceed that of any other issuer.  

Conversely, if they think you're "yanking" them around, such as churing their cards and creating transactions with pseudo spending (mint, amazon payments, and all that other stuff), they can be downright nasty and vindictive. 

But, that isn't different form any other person or company.  

[gettnthere]

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@Open123 wrote:

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gettnthere wrote:i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

---

In my view, the best thing about Amex is that if you use the card as intended and fit within the scope of their preferred demographic, they're loyalty to you--the cardmember--will exceed that of any other issuer.  

Conversely, if they think you're "yanking" them around, such as churing their cards and creating transactions with pseudo spending (mint, amazon payments, and all that other stuff), they can be downright nasty and vindictive. 

But, that isn't different form any other person or company.  

---

OPEN123, if its alright, will you elaborate on that a little more? i use my Zync on Amazon Payments just to pay my rent every month but i just got in with AMEX in June and i dont want them to start frowning upon me. but i also use my card for alot of my other monthly expenses too. Am i doing the wrong thing by using Amazon payments to pay rent with? i really want to have a great relationship with AMEX so i dont want to do anything dumb to mess that up. id really like to hear your thoughts on this?

[Open123]

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@gettnthere wrote:

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@Open123 wrote:

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gettnthere wrote:i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

---

In my view, the best thing about Amex is that if you use the card as intended and fit within the scope of their preferred demographic, they're loyalty to you--the cardmember--will exceed that of any other issuer.  

Conversely, if they think you're "yanking" them around, such as churing their cards and creating transactions with pseudo spending (mint, amazon payments, and all that other stuff), they can be downright nasty and vindictive. 

But, that isn't different form any other person or company.  

---

OPEN123, if its alright, will you elaborate on that a little more? i use my Zync on Amazon Payments just to pay my rent every month but i just got in with AMEX in June and i dont want them to start frowning upon me. but i also use my card for alot of my other monthly expenses too. Am i doing the wrong thing by using Amazon payments to pay rent with? i really want to have a great relationship with AMEX so i dont want to do anything dumb to mess that up. id really like to hear your thoughts on this?

---

If you're making amazon payments to your landlord, then I think it's fine.  

I doubt it'll happen, but some (the most extreme abusers) are requested by Amazon and/or Amex to show invoices and transactions detailing to whom amazon payments have gone to.  In your case, I think you are using amazon payments as intended.

I think Amex has much less concern when charge cards are used for amazon payments.  They're concern would rise when it's with a revolver or SPG where it either appears to be circumventing cash advance fees or pseudo spending to amass points or meet spend requirements.

[gettnthere]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@gettnthere wrote:

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@Open123 wrote:

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gettnthere wrote:i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

---

In my view, the best thing about Amex is that if you use the card as intended and fit within the scope of their preferred demographic, they're loyalty to you--the cardmember--will exceed that of any other issuer.  

Conversely, if they think you're "yanking" them around, such as churing their cards and creating transactions with pseudo spending (mint, amazon payments, and all that other stuff), they can be downright nasty and vindictive. 

But, that isn't different form any other person or company.  

---

OPEN123, if its alright, will you elaborate on that a little more? i use my Zync on Amazon Payments just to pay my rent every month but i just got in with AMEX in June and i dont want them to start frowning upon me. but i also use my card for alot of my other monthly expenses too. Am i doing the wrong thing by using Amazon payments to pay rent with? i really want to have a great relationship with AMEX so i dont want to do anything dumb to mess that up. id really like to hear your thoughts on this?

---

If you're making amazon payments to your landlord, then I think it's fine.  

I doubt it'll happen, but some (the most extreme abusers) are requested by Amazon and/or Amex to show invoices and transactions detailing to whom amazon payments have gone to.  In your case, I think you are using amazon payments as intended.

I think Amex has much less concern when charge cards are used for amazon payments.  They're concern would rise when it's with a revolver or SPG where it either appears to be circumventing cash advance fees or pseudo spending to amass points or meet spend requirements.

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ahhh ok i completely understand what your saying now lol i just didnt want to be makin a mistake. thanks for explaining that to me. also, if someone doesn't mind, can someone please explain what the concept of "churning" cards is and why somone would do that?

[CreditScholar]

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@Open123 wrote:

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@gettnthere wrote:

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@Open123 wrote:

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gettnthere wrote:i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

---

In my view, the best thing about Amex is that if you use the card as intended and fit within the scope of their preferred demographic, they're loyalty to you--the cardmember--will exceed that of any other issuer.  

Conversely, if they think you're "yanking" them around, such as churing their cards and creating transactions with pseudo spending (mint, amazon payments, and all that other stuff), they can be downright nasty and vindictive. 

But, that isn't different form any other person or company.  

---

OPEN123, if its alright, will you elaborate on that a little more? i use my Zync on Amazon Payments just to pay my rent every month but i just got in with AMEX in June and i dont want them to start frowning upon me. but i also use my card for alot of my other monthly expenses too. Am i doing the wrong thing by using Amazon payments to pay rent with? i really want to have a great relationship with AMEX so i dont want to do anything dumb to mess that up. id really like to hear your thoughts on this?

---

If you're making amazon payments to your landlord, then I think it's fine.  

I doubt it'll happen, but some (the most extreme abusers) are requested by Amazon and/or Amex to show invoices and transactions detailing to whom amazon payments have gone to.  In your case, I think you are using amazon payments as intended.

I think Amex has much less concern when charge cards are used for amazon payments.  They're concern would rise when it's with a revolver or SPG where it either appears to be circumventing cash advance fees or pseudo spending to amass points or meet spend requirements.

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There were cases of people using their cards to purchase $1 coins from the US mint. Normally it wouldn't matter if it was only a few for collecting purposes, but some people did it by the hundreds of thousands. Needless to say they got FRed/AAed quite quickly.

[Crashem]

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@gettnthere wrote:

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@Open123 wrote:

---

gettnthere wrote:i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

---

In my view, the best thing about Amex is that if you use the card as intended and fit within the scope of their preferred demographic, they're loyalty to you--the cardmember--will exceed that of any other issuer.  

Conversely, if they think you're "yanking" them around, such as churing their cards and creating transactions with pseudo spending (mint, amazon payments, and all that other stuff), they can be downright nasty and vindictive. 

But, that isn't different form any other person or company.  

---

OPEN123, if its alright, will you elaborate on that a little more? i use my Zync on Amazon Payments just to pay my rent every month but i just got in with AMEX in June and i dont want them to start frowning upon me. but i also use my card for alot of my other monthly expenses too. Am i doing the wrong thing by using Amazon payments to pay rent with? i really want to have a great relationship with AMEX so i dont want to do anything dumb to mess that up. id really like to hear your thoughts on this?

---

interesting.  Do you know what fees on amazon payments?  Cant seem to find any fees.  If so, might be the holy grail of being able to pay rent via credit card without additional costs.

[Open123]

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@Crashem wrote:

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@gettnthere wrote:

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@Open123 wrote:

---

gettnthere wrote:i dont even think i would feel right asking them considering the loyalty they show cardmembers and the unparalleled benefits that come with their cards. i mean which other CC company do you know that is willing to TRIPLE a members CL after only 61 days and soft pull CLI's and not to mention the way they mostly ALWAYS take the cardmembers side in a dispute. i can just see AMEX looking at that kind of request as an insult lol.

---

In my view, the best thing about Amex is that if you use the card as intended and fit within the scope of their preferred demographic, they're loyalty to you--the cardmember--will exceed that of any other issuer.  

Conversely, if they think you're "yanking" them around, such as churing their cards and creating transactions with pseudo spending (mint, amazon payments, and all that other stuff), they can be downright nasty and vindictive. 

But, that isn't different form any other person or company.  

---

OPEN123, if its alright, will you elaborate on that a little more? i use my Zync on Amazon Payments just to pay my rent every month but i just got in with AMEX in June and i dont want them to start frowning upon me. but i also use my card for alot of my other monthly expenses too. Am i doing the wrong thing by using Amazon payments to pay rent with? i really want to have a great relationship with AMEX so i dont want to do anything dumb to mess that up. id really like to hear your thoughts on this?

---

interesting.  Do you know what fees on amazon payments?  Cant seem to find any fees.  If so, might be the holy grail of being able to pay rent via credit card without additional costs.

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Currently, no fees on amazon payments.  However, there is a limit of $1,000 per month when using a credit card.