Amex RAT clawbacks on Saks credit and Self Referrals

[coldfusion]

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@FinStar wrote:
Thanks for sharing @Shadowfactor. Not surprised by the increased number of reported clawbacks. Sounds like RAT has expanded the scope of such efforts.

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From what I'm seeing it appears to be based on self-referrals that were made after the cutoff date they used when determining the 1st round of clawbacks, not a function of re-mining the data from the same timeframe used for the initial round of clawbacks.

In other words, not an expansion of scope but use of the same scope applied against more recent data, but with the loss of ability to create referrals also a potential consequence, not just a clawback of points.

[coldfusion]

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@CreditCuriosity wrote:

@K-in-Boston don't disagree with anything you say and understand why they do the things they do, doesn't mean I have to love the extremes on the RAT team recently .

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Take a risk, accept the consequences.    Not everybody that participates accepts the fact that it's part of the game.

[FieryDance]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Staple offer explicitly only excludes gc purchase in "bulk".

All i'm saying, if you want to buy gc for offers, read the term first. If you want to buy gc for multipliers, do it where L3 data isn't reported (like a grocery store). Better safe than sorry, lol.

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Do grocery stores report L3 data? (Just want to be sure I understand you correctly)

Also how do I check if L3 data is reported by a particular store?   

[MrDisco99]

I was tempted by the self-referral idea, but never actually did it.  It just seemed too obviously contrary to the program's intent.  Now I'm glad I didn't.

[K-in-Boston]

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@FieryDance wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Staple offer explicitly only excludes gc purchase in "bulk".

All i'm saying, if you want to buy gc for offers, read the term first. If you want to buy gc for multipliers, do it where L3 data isn't reported (like a grocery store). Better safe than sorry, lol.

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Do grocery stores report L3 data? (Just want to be sure I understand you correctly)

Also how do I check if L3 data is reported by a particular store?   

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It depends on the grocer and whether their systems and merchant account(s) are set up to supply that data or not.  Generally, supplying L2 data will result in lower processing fees for merchants, with L3 supplying even lower processing fees.  The savings are on business and corporate cards (and can be huge!) where this is often passed along to the purchasing department and/or small business owner to verify charges are allowed by an employee.  If it can be done, businesses should do it as many Visa and MasterCard products that are in a business or corporate Interchange pricing group can be in excess of 3% (and that is solely the base fee before any processor markups).

The only way for you as a consumer to know is to either have a charge from that merchant appear on a business/corporate credit card statement that you have access to, or ask the merchant before purchasing if you can take a look at last month's credit card processing statements and look for L2 and L3 entries.

Edit:  Also +10,000 Internets to the myFICOer that actually attempts that last one.  

[UncleB]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

Glad I went with socks.

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Me too, but to be fair they are even less tolerant with those who 'push the envelope', especially when it comes to GC purchases.

[kdm31091]

It's not like anyone should be surprised. Amex has long (at least for the past several years) had T&C's about gift card purchases not counting.

Like someone else said, you take a risk, you accept the consequences if it doesn't work out in your favor. If you cannot utilize the credits with your "regular" spending maybe it's time to consider whether the product(s) make sense to have for you.

[UncleB]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Like someone else said, you take a risk, you accept the consequences if it doesn't work out in your favor. If you cannot utilize the credits with your "regular" spending maybe it's time to consider whether the product(s) make sense to have for you.

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This is definitely becoming more the case with many lenders, especially with Amex. 

"Creative" work-arounds to get extra value from the product so the math works for those 'on the cusp' (like myself) is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

My own Amex Gold will likely be on the chopping block next spring.  To be fair it probably already should have been, since I only value MRs at 1¢ anyway. 

Other than someday possibly getting a Schwab to exit the MR system completely I'll never have to worry about Platinum credits, since I'm not in the target demo for a Platinum even with the loopholes.

[Anonymous]

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@UncleB wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

Glad I went with socks.

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Me too, but to be fair they are even less tolerant with those who 'push the envelope', especially when it comes to GC purchases.

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Me 3.....wasn't socks but glad I went with purchase 😁

Thanks for sharing @Shadowfactor 

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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@wasCB14 wrote:

Glad I went with socks.

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Me too, but to be fair they are even less tolerant with those who 'push the envelope', especially when it comes to GC purchases.

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Me 3.....wasn't socks but glad I went with purchase 😁

Thanks for sharing @Shadowfactor 

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I just realized that @wasCB14 meant 'socks' literally, and I was thinking of U.S. Bank, which is sometimes affectionately referred to as 'Socks' bank. 

I'll show myself out now...