AMEX Delta Gold rewards and cancellation question

[wdkwang]

Hi All,

I recently signed up for the AMEX Delta Gold card while it had a 60k points sign up bonus offer after meeting the minimum spend of $2k within 90 days. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year. 

The minimum spend was met about a week ago and the card was already linked to my Delta Skymiles membership account. The following are my questions:

1. Is it correct to assume the 60k points will show up directly in my Delta Skymiles account after this month's statement closes?

2. Given that my assumption is correct to my previous question, is it also correct to assume that the bonus points will remain in my Skymile account even after closing out/downgrading the Delta Gold card?

Thanks

[staticvoidmain]

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@wdkwang wrote:

1. Is it correct to assume the 60k points will show up directly in my Delta Skymiles account after this month's statement closes?

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1. It's possible. AMEX's official policy is 8-12 weeks, but they're usually a lot faster than that (typically, days after you meet the SUB. They might not even wait for the statement closing). AMEX "deposits" the points to your SkyMiles, and you will see this in your SkyMiles activities.

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@wdkwang wrote:

2. Given that my assumption is correct to my previous question, is it also correct to assume that the bonus points will remain in my Skymile account even after closing out/downgrading the Delta Gold card?

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2. Yes. 

[ldkcivilservant]

I wouldn't be trying to do anything to that card until a year has passed in terms of downgrade/closure

Amex are clawing back SUB and swatting customers out the door for that kind of beheviour right now.

[Anonymous]

Closing an AMEX card within a year is always a bad idea. My Delta Gold SUB showed up probably five days after I completed spend on the card.

I haven’t used my Delta Gold as much as I thought I would and will be downgrading it after the first AF hits in May to a Blue. The recently gutted a lot of benefits of this card going into 2020 so I will be doing the same.

[wdkwang]

Thanks for confirming my assumptions, guys.

I did read about how AMEX is clawing back bonuses, so I'm going to follow the guide of waiting until the AF hits next October, and then call to downgrade/cancel within 30 days after. Others have mentioned that the AF will be refunded if done that way.

Does anyone know if it's possible to have more than 1 of the same Delta Blue card? I'm an authorized user of it already, and will see if they'll let me downgrade my Delta Gold to a Blue next year. I may also sign up for the Delta Plat and Reserve in the following years.

[Anonymous]

You can have multiple of AMEX cards. Lots of people rock dual Hilton Aspires and so forth.

[Jccflat]

So to be clear I know someone that got the gold delta 9 months ago and he has no use with it so he actually didn’t not even take advantage the opening bonus offer
To downgrade it he needs to wait wen it’s 12 months and than do it ?
But will they refund the annual fee back wen it hits on the 12 month

[wdkwang]

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@Jccflat wrote:
So to be clear I know someone that got the gold delta 9 months ago and he has no use with it so he actually didn’t not even take advantage the opening bonus offer
To downgrade it he needs to wait wen it’s 12 months and than do it ?
But will they refund the annual fee back wen it hits on the 12 month

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The general public will advise your friend to wait until the annual fee hits after 12 months, then call to downgrade or cancel it within 30 days to get a refund. There's been reports of AMEX clawing back the bonus and/or shutting down a person's entire account (all other credit cards, savings accounts, etc.) for suspicion of abusing their terms. It's not to say this will happen to your friend, but it's not worth the risk. It will not hurt to wait a few more months to play it on the safe side.  

[K-in-Boston]

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@wdkwang wrote:
Thanks for confirming my assumptions, guys.

I did read about how AMEX is clawing back bonuses, so I'm going to follow the guide of waiting until the AF hits next October, and then call to downgrade/cancel within 30 days after. Others have mentioned that the AF will be refunded if done that way.

Does anyone know if it's possible to have more than 1 of the same Delta Blue card? I'm an authorized user of it already, and will see if they'll let me downgrade my Delta Gold to a Blue next year. I may also sign up for the Delta Plat and Reserve in the following years.

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I agree closing it in the first year is a bad idea and they would be perfectly within their rights to remove the points from your SkyMiles account or charge you for them if the balance of your SkyMiles account is too low.  Closing it even after the first year might be a bad idea if you want future Welcome Offers, but that is going to be very much YMMV.

Any cards that you are an authorized user on Amex does not consider you to be a cardholder.  So not only can you have the same card you are an AU on, but you are also eligible for Welcome Offers on them (although in this case since we're talking about Blue, you're not eligible if you have or have had recently had any other Delta card). 

[coldfusion]

Emperically it's probably not likely that someone would get blacklisted because they closed a single card before the 2nd year's AF was posted.     They may however find themselves looking at the NO-SUB-FOR-YOU disclaimer if they later decide to apply for another AMEX card.