topic Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program in Credit Cards

NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:46:30 GMT

Posted by The Points Guy, the following changes are coming to Amex, the last change at the end of the page, amex holders will def not be happy about.

Effective immediately, you will not be able to add authorized users and have your authorized users have their own Membership Rewards account (separate from the primary Membership Rewards account).

Starting on Thursday (June 6, 2019), the American Express Gold Card will now earn 4x at restaurants worldwide (instead of just restaurants in the United States) All other card bonus categories and caps remain the same

The Blue for Students Card will no longer earn Membership Rewards Points (I can’t even find any info on this card).You should convert this credit card to an AMEX EveryDay Credit Card

Effective September 1, 2019, your authorized user will need to wait at least 90 days before you can link their airline/hotel loyalty account to the primary Membership Rewards account. I believe this is American Express’s attempt to crack down on members selling their Membership Rewards Points by adding a buyer as an authorized user, then adding their airline/hotel loyalty account to the primary Membership Rewards account and then transferring Membership Rewards Points out of the primary account

Effective September 28, 2019, authorized users that have their own Membership Rewards account will have until October 31, 2019, to redeem their accumulate Membership Rewards Points.  In addition, after September 28, 2019, all purchases made by authorized users will have their points post to the primary Membership Rewards account.

Probably the biggest change is Effective September 1, 2019, you will need to pay your bill by the payment due date, otherwise you may forfeit any Membership Rewards Points earned that period.

updated: On Terms it states "We are changing the Terms and conditions, to we must recieve your pyament of the amount due on your linked account by the payment due date for a biling period instead of by the closing date of the next billing period, in order for you to avoid forfeiting the points that you would have earned for that billing period"

What does everyone think?

Here link to full article
https://thepointsguy.com/news/amex-authorized-user-rules-no-points-late-payments/

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

hawkins — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:31:13 GMT

Seems a little extreme the balance part. They have been pushing the pay it plan it for awhile now and now want balance paid in full? They can’t have both! If indeed this is how or what they are wanting won’t be great for them. I believe in PIF however, there are times you might need an extra month or two if you have a large business expense or what not. No MR points will kill all that.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

kdm31091 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:33:22 GMT

I read it as you just have to make a payment by the due date to receive your points, not that it has to be paid in full. So you won’t get points if your account isn’t paid up to date, but doesn’t mean you have to pay in full. It would make no sense to force that on revolving credit products.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

simplynoir — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:36:03 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
I read it as you just have to make a payment by the due date to receive your points, not that it has to be paid in full. So you won’t get points if your account isn’t paid up to date, but doesn’t mean you have to pay in full. It would make no sense to force that on revolving credit products.

+1 I read it as if you don't meet the minimum payment due you run the risk of forfeiting any points earned during that statement period. I'm assuming those that put large purchases on Plan It for the charge cards for instance the same principle applies so it's really not as big a deal as it sounds unless I'm missing something here.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Physh1 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:37:55 GMT

It doesn't say pay in full...it just says pay your bill. If you don't pay your minimum amount due than you should lose your MR points. Why give benefits to someone who cannot pay their bill? It's a little vague...that will need clarification. None of this impacts me at all...none of it seems out of sorts. The last part will need clarification but beyond that this effects me 0.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Shadowfactor — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:37:56 GMT

Didn’t know that employee cards could have their own MR account.

Only noticeable change IMO is the 90 day rule on AU for point transfers. Amex is likely trying to combat selling miles.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:42:54 GMT

update: i found the term language

https://ibb.co/QnpjkVY

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

imaximous — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:45:02 GMT

"Effective September 28, 2019, authorized users that have their own Membership Rewards account will have until October 31, 2019, to redeem their accumulate Membership Rewards Points.  In addition, after September 28, 2019, all purchases made by authorized users will have their points post to the primary Membership Rewards account."

Can anyone elaborate on this? AFAIK, AUs don't get the points for purchases. They just go to the main account. The account owner can allow an AU to use the points, but I never knew AUs would accumulate points.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:49:44 GMT

Lol, figure someone would find away to abuse AU accounts.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:51:54 GMT

I’m confused, so do AU’s lose their online access?

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Shadowfactor — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:54:55 GMT

@imaximous wrote:
"Effective September 28, 2019, authorized users that have their own Membership Rewards account will have until October 31, 2019, to redeem their accumulate Membership Rewards Points.  In addition, after September 28, 2019, all purchases made by authorized users will have their points post to the primary Membership Rewards account."

Can anyone elaborate on this? AFAIK, AUs don't get the points for purchases. They just go to the main account. The account owner can allow an AU to use the points, but I never knew AUs would accumulate points.

Based on the two articles I read. Both authors seemed surprised about the ability of this.

It was also stated this is ONLY for Non-corporate business accounts who had employee AU cards.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

MrDisco99 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 18:03:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Starting on Thursday (June 6, 2019), the American Express Gold Card will now earn 4x at restaurants worldwide (instead of just restaurants in the United States) All other card bonus categories and caps remain the same

Nice!

Now they just need to get international restaurants to accept Amex cards!

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

CreditInspired — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 12:11:41 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
I read it as you just have to make a payment by the due date to receive your points, not that it has to be paid in full. So you won’t get points if your account isn’t paid up to date, but doesn’t mean you have to pay in full. It would make no sense to force that on revolving credit products.

This is what I took it to mean too.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 19:10:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Effective immediately, you will not be able to add authorized users and have your authorized users have their own Membership Rewards account (separate from the primary Membership Rewards account).

This is interesting, I recently added an AU to my ED for an extra 1500 MRs. But when the account was created, no points were available to the AU. So I assumed that AU card usage would be seprate, this was as before the 6th though. So maybe it will change.

Personally I prefer the points to pool in the main account, i ony added the AU to get the 1500 bonus points anyways. Once the SUb is met, the AU card will be SD'd.

Though to some people it probably is going to be a major blow. However, as long as AU's are still able to redeem points Then it shouldn't be an issue?

@Shadowfactor wrote:
Only noticeable change IMO is the 90 day rule on AU for point transfers. Amex is likely trying to combat selling miles.

While it never really occured to me to do so, i did hear about this option. So I did look into selling my miles as I couldn't find a desent redemption from PDX. At least not to my liking. However, the miles I'd lose in the conversion just weren't worth it. Plus I really didn'tr want to get on Amex's bad side.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

red259 — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 04:33:27 GMT

The AU stuff was because some people were abusing the system and selling points etc. Don't really care they shut that loophole down although it may impact some legitimate users. I'd rather they just shutdown the accounts of the people who were doing that and blacklist them, but again it doesn't really matter to me since its not a feature I use.

The change of the language to paying the bill on time otherwise points are forfeited is a bunch of BS. Tonight I just discovered that my payment on a card that was due two days ago didn't go through for some reason so I just paid it in full plus a late fee and there will obviously be interest. Under these new rules not only will this two day delay result in all the things I just mentioned but now they want to deny all the points I earned that cycle as well even though I did PIF within 48 hours for the first time in years or maybe ever with amex? Give me a break. It takes Amex soo long to credit you the frickin points in the first place that its not like people were getting away with anything before.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 15:35:07 GMT

None of these are significant changes. Unless you are eating at a Chain hotel good luck getting a restaurant in Europe to accept Amex. The pay by due date seems wrong but I pay by the due date so it doesn't affect me. I am guessing if you have never been late before they will give you the points back if you call in. Maybe this is a way to curtail people who wait just before the statement close date to pay.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 18:54:38 GMT

I dunno, that "change" sounds like it's just a clarification of the existing terms I have on my BCP except they are replacing due date for statement closing date. Correct me if I am wrong in this.

"You will not earn reward dollars for eligible
purchases posted to your Card Account during a
billing period if the Minimum Payment Due shown
on the statement for that billing period is not paid by
the Closing Date of the next billing period. "

So, if I am reading this correctly, and we simplify the "billing period" language to mean a period starting and ending with each month, a charge made in January (billing period 1) will not be eligible for points if the statement sent out in February (statement for billing period 1) is not paid by the end of billing period 2 (which started Feb 1). I mean, I guess that gives a few days post statement due date, but not really a huge difference.

"updated: On Terms it states "We are changing the Terms and conditions, to we must recieve your pyament of the amount due on your linked account by the payment due date for a biling period instead of by the closing date of the next billing period, in order for you to avoid forfeiting the points that you would have earned for that billing period""

If I am reading this correctly, it states that if you make a charge in January (billing period), you have to make the payment by the end of February (next billing period).

It sounds like mostly the same thing just worded more clearly.

Re: NEW Changes coming to Amex Card Program

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 02:53:35 GMT

But are there really that many people not paying their minimums by the due date?

I don't get what could have happend for them to address this particular issue.

I always pay more than the minimum anyways, or the statement balance if on the Gold by the due date.