topic Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire in Credit Cards

Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Gmoney144 — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 20:45:59 GMT

Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Red1Blue — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 21:04:34 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.

Can you PC to a product that does not have AF ?

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 21:08:03 GMT

It's generally seen as bad karma to change out before the fee posts. Let it post, then PC/cancel and they will refund it.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

wasCB14 — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 21:44:53 GMT

I'd wait for the AF to post and then (if you plan to occasionally stay there in the future) PC to the no-AF Hilton.

Hilton points can expire without activity. I lost a few thousand points earlier this year.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

K-in-Boston — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 01:34:52 GMT

Amex definitely frowns upon closing or downgrading a card prior to a year. The agreement you consented to also states that you understand that they may recoup any Welcome Offers given on the card if you close or downgrade it prior to a year. Even after a year, it may impact your eligibility to receive future Welcome Offers on other cards. Once the AF posts (usually on the date that the statement is generated), you have 30 days to contact them to close it or downgrade it, provided they don't give you a juicy enough retention offer to keep it.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Gmoney144 — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 04:32:11 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Amex definitely frowns upon closing or downgrading a card prior to a year. The agreement you consented to also states that you understand that they may recoup any Welcome Offers given on the card if you close or downgrade it prior to a year. Even after a year, it may impact your eligibility to receive future Welcome Offers on other cards. Once the AF posts (usually on the date that the statement is generated), you have 30 days to contact them to close it or downgrade it, provided they don't give you a juicy enough retention offer to keep it.

Do I have to lay the annual fee before I downgrade ?

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

staticvoidmain — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 09:37:54 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote: Even after a year, it may impact your eligibility to receive future Welcome Offers on other cards. Once the AF posts (usually on the date that the statement is generated), you have 30 days to contact them to close it or downgrade it, provided they don't give you a juicy enough retention offer to keep it.

Now, I am anxious. I just closed my Hilton Surpass after asking for opinions here. Opened September 2019. Paid AF in my last statement (early November). Is this still considered frown-able?

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

wasCB14 — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:32:16 GMT

@staticvoidmain wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote: Even after a year, it may impact your eligibility to receive future Welcome Offers on other cards. Once the AF posts (usually on the date that the statement is generated), you have 30 days to contact them to close it or downgrade it, provided they don't give you a juicy enough retention offer to keep it.
Now, I am anxious. I just closed my Hilton Surpass after asking for opinions here. Opened September 2019. Paid AF in my last statement (early November). Is this still considered frown-able?

It probably doesn't help, but Amex takes the overall relationship into account in determining SUB eligibility. How much a person is spending across all Amex cards seems to be a big factor. Keeping your other cards open and paying their AFs may help.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

notmyrealname23 — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 19:08:00 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Amex definitely frowns upon closing or downgrading a card prior to a year. The agreement you consented to also states that you understand that they may recoup any Welcome Offers given on the card if you close or downgrade it prior to a year. Even after a year, it may impact your eligibility to receive future Welcome Offers on other cards. Once the AF posts (usually on the date that the statement is generated), you have 30 days to contact them to close it or downgrade it, provided they don't give you a juicy enough retention offer to keep it.
Do I have to lay the annual fee before I downgrade ?

No, you'll get it taken off the statement, but be aware you'll never get the SUB for the no-AF card once you get it on a downgrade, and if AMEX thinks you're a churner because you ditch their cards after the first year, you'll get the pop up saying "no SUB for you" the next time you apply for one.

If you don't really care if you get future AMEX SUBs, then churn and burn is fine, just realize this is a potential outcome.

AMEX cards are not ideally situated for churn/burn games. It's a long term relationship (and you CAN play upgrade/downgrade games with them, which is why the no-AF card and keeping it alive with some spend might be an option).

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Gmoney144 — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 04:29:51 GMT

@notmyrealname23 wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Amex definitely frowns upon closing or downgrading a card prior to a year. The agreement you consented to also states that you understand that they may recoup any Welcome Offers given on the card if you close or downgrade it prior to a year. Even after a year, it may impact your eligibility to receive future Welcome Offers on other cards. Once the AF posts (usually on the date that the statement is generated), you have 30 days to contact them to close it or downgrade it, provided they don't give you a juicy enough retention offer to keep it.
Do I have to lay the annual fee before I downgrade ?
No, you'll get it taken off the statement, but be aware you'll never get the SUB for the no-AF card once you get it on a downgrade, and if AMEX thinks you're a churner because you ditch their cards after the first year, you'll get the pop up saying "no SUB for you" the next time you apply for one.

If you don't really care if you get future AMEX SUBs, then churn and burn is fine, just realize this is a potential outcome.

AMEX cards are not ideally situated for churn/burn games. It's a long term relationship (and you CAN play upgrade/downgrade games with them, which is why the no-AF card and keeping it alive with some spend might be an option).

My anniversary date was Nov 4th of this year. First year was waived. Didn't reach the promo offer but I'll downgrade to the no-annual fee Hilton card. Just a matter of when

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

notmyrealname23 — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 17:32:00 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
My anniversary date was Nov 4th of this year. First year was waived. Didn't reach the promo offer but I'll downgrade to the no-annual fee Hilton card. Just a matter of when

Keeping the card as the no-AF version and never reaching the SUB (ouch) as you've done might be better for future AMEX SUB offers.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Gmoney144 — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 17:44:03 GMT

@notmyrealname23 wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
My anniversary date was Nov 4th of this year. First year was waived. Didn't reach the promo offer but I'll downgrade to the no-annual fee Hilton card. Just a matter of when

Keeping the card as the no-AF version and never reaching the SUB (ouch) as you've done might be better for future AMEX SUB offers.

Yea. I've hit the Sub for the gold of 50k Just approved for the Platinum offer of 100k. Trying to hit the sub last Nov for the Aspire and CIP proved difficult. I'll probably downgrade to the non-annual Hilton to avoid the fee. Just don't want to anger the Amex gods

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

SouthJamaica — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 18:16:11 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.

I know this isn't your question, but I just wanted to suggest that you inquire about retention offers. You might find that they will give you a generous retention offer that will take the sting out of the annual fee.

I agree with the advice you've been given that it's best not to cancel with Amex until you've had the card 13 months.

I called and inquired about a retention offer on my Hilton Aspire when my second year's annual fee was about to come up, and they made it more attractive for me to stay than to leave.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Gmoney144 — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 22:08:00 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.
I know this isn't your question, but I just wanted to suggest that you inquire about retention offers. You might find that they will give you a generous retention offer that will take the sting out of the annual fee.

I agree with the advice you've been given that it's best not to cancel with Amex until you've had the card 13 months.

I called and inquired about a retention offer on my Hilton Aspire when my second year's annual fee was about to come up, and they made it more attractive for me to stay than to leave.

I called last week. No dice. The fee hits Dec 8th and today spoke to a CSR about downgrading. She said there shoud be no problem with it.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

SouthJamaica — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 03:20:43 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.
I know this isn't your question, but I just wanted to suggest that you inquire about retention offers. You might find that they will give you a generous retention offer that will take the sting out of the annual fee.

I agree with the advice you've been given that it's best not to cancel with Amex until you've had the card 13 months.

I called and inquired about a retention offer on my Hilton Aspire when my second year's annual fee was about to come up, and they made it more attractive for me to stay than to leave.

I called last week. No dice. The fee hits Dec 8th and today spoke to a CSR about downgrading. She said there shoud be no problem with it.

Did they switch you to a retention offer specialist? If not, you don't have their real answer.

BTW, even though the CSR told you there's no problem about downgrading before 13 months...... I'm really not so sure about that. There have been too many people reporting in this forum that they were flagged by Amex for doing that, and it came back to bite them later. As a general rule, when you get advice from a CSR which differs from the advice you have gotten in this forum from experienced credit people... go with the MyFICO'ers' advice. I'm not super knowledgeable about Amex but folks like @K-in-Boston are.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 09:07:03 GMT

Agreed with @SouthJamaica. There may be no problem with it as in the computers will let them do the downgrade/cancellation easily at any time, but like SJ said, "no problem" probably doesn't extend to covering the future consequences.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

notmyrealname23 — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 18:33:46 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.
I know this isn't your question, but I just wanted to suggest that you inquire about retention offers. You might find that they will give you a generous retention offer that will take the sting out of the annual fee.

I agree with the advice you've been given that it's best not to cancel with Amex until you've had the card 13 months.

I called and inquired about a retention offer on my Hilton Aspire when my second year's annual fee was about to come up, and they made it more attractive for me to stay than to leave.

I called last week. No dice. The fee hits Dec 8th and today spoke to a CSR about downgrading. She said there shoud be no problem with it.

I'm not exactly surprised that not making Aspire SUB + going after other AMEX cards for SUBs (implying that the Aspire card isn't being regularly used) + new customer considering dropping the card in year 1 = no real retention offer. They're not exactly going to fire you as a customer, but...

I would agree that just downgrading to the no AF Hilton card is easy enough and if you do it soon after the AF hits (but after) you'll be fine. You might be able to fish for upgrade offers to Surpass and Aspire with it. It's also not a terrible card for the occasional tickle as a gas/dining/groceries card (5x, 2.5% if you value Hilton at the price they sell actual Hilton points for when they're on sale). If you want to keep mining AMEX cards, having cards with no spend ever on them is something that may trigger the dreaded popup.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

NRB525 — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 01:05:42 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.
I know this isn't your question, but I just wanted to suggest that you inquire about retention offers. You might find that they will give you a generous retention offer that will take the sting out of the annual fee.

I agree with the advice you've been given that it's best not to cancel with Amex until you've had the card 13 months.

I called and inquired about a retention offer on my Hilton Aspire when my second year's annual fee was about to come up, and they made it more attractive for me to stay than to leave.

I called last week. No dice. The fee hits Dec 8th and today spoke to a CSR about downgrading. She said there shoud be no problem with it.

Congrats on getting both the Gold 50,000 MR and Platinum 100,000 MR SUB amounts. Getting both those seems rather rare.

The AF may post on December 8, but as long as you cancel within 30 days of it posting, you get the AF refunded. I would not be in any hurry to cancel or downgrade sooner than I absolutely had to, meaning late December would be my suggestion for when to take action. The $450 may process through a payment cycle, but you'll get it back soon enough. Ramping up spend on the Gold and Platinum in pursuit of those SUB will likely look good by that time.

When I cancelled my Delta Reserve card this past January over the phone, the boilerplate disclosure was "it may take a long time". The CSR was understanding of the overlap benefits to the Platinum I had gotten earlier in 2019, and the several high AF cards I continue to have with AMEX. It actually posted the $450 credit for the Reserve closure almost as soon as I hung up the phone, so didn't have a February statement balance at all.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

Gmoney144 — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 01:08:36 GMT

@notmyrealname23 wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
@SouthJamaica wrote:
@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.
I know this isn't your question, but I just wanted to suggest that you inquire about retention offers. You might find that they will give you a generous retention offer that will take the sting out of the annual fee.

I agree with the advice you've been given that it's best not to cancel with Amex until you've had the card 13 months.

I called and inquired about a retention offer on my Hilton Aspire when my second year's annual fee was about to come up, and they made it more attractive for me to stay than to leave.

I called last week. No dice. The fee hits Dec 8th and today spoke to a CSR about downgrading. She said there shoud be no problem with it.
I'm not exactly surprised that not making Aspire SUB + going after other AMEX cards for SUBs (implying that the Aspire card isn't being regularly used) + new customer considering dropping the card in year 1 = no real retention offer. They're not exactly going to fire you as a customer, but...

I would agree that just downgrading to the no AF Hilton card is easy enough and if you do it soon after the AF hits (but after) you'll be fine. You might be able to fish for upgrade offers to Surpass and Aspire with it. It's also not a terrible card for the occasional tickle as a gas/dining/groceries card (5x, 2.5% if you value Hilton at the price they sell actual Hilton points for when they're on sale). If you want to keep mining AMEX cards, having cards with no spend ever on them is something that may trigger the dreaded popup.

I will downgrade and keep it. I'm getting the CS platinum next year and don't want the pop-ups.

Re: Canceling Amex Hilton Aspire

SouthJamaica — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 05:47:49 GMT

@Gmoney144 wrote:
Will Amex frown upon me canceling my Aspire card before the annual fee post? CSR from Amex said if I cancel after the fee post I will have to pay it. I'll be refunded the amount after I cancel it.

Amex may give you a black mark if you haven't had the card 13 monts. Much safer to wait until after you pay the annual fee. They'll refund most of it.