How many times can you PC a card?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how many times are you able to Product Change a card? For example, say if someone PC an Amex green to gold then later on PC again upgraded to a platinum, then say later on PC and went back down to a green or gold again. Is there a limit on how many times you'll be able to PC? I've never ever heard anyone mention there was a limit or got denied a product change but was just curious if anyone would know the answer. Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

A chat I had a while back with an AMEX rep. said you can only PC once.  But don't quote me on it.  Your best bet is to call Amex directly for the right answer.

[NRB525]

The limitations are most likely lender imposed.

Many product changes we would like to do are not allowed at all by the CCC. Most commonly going from co-branded to non-cobranded for example.

In your theoretical sequence outlined, I would not think there is a count limit to the number of PC moves. Rather, it is probably more likely the user would find a card fit in that family of PC-available cards that they like, and stick with it for a few years. At that point, the next PC is not so much compared to the count of prior PC, since the bank has more swipe fees and the customer is long-term profitable.

The PC move also does not get the new-card sign up bonus, although AMEX does offer "upgrade" PC that are easy, and often have an upgrade bonus when you move to a higher AF card.

If your question is, how many times can you PC in a month, or some short period of time, that would likely run into either CCC resistance or user exhaustion with trying to make all those calls to get the cards sorted out once the PC steps got fully boloxed up.

"I activated my Platinum, but someone compromised my Senior Green and so all four cards I PC'd through in the last two months were closed" seems like a possible nightmare scenario

[Schwartzinator]

I have not changed an AmEx card (yet), but, I have had USBank change a card 3 times in the 4 months. 

[Berk]

As many times as the lender lets you...

[Anonymous]

Schwartzinator-

Can you give order you PC'ed US bank CC in???

[Anonymous]

I answered your same question on 16Oct. Here's my reply if you didn't see it then :-)

@TheGeekyCreditGuy I've honestly never seen an account where it's repeatedly been upgraded and downgraded so it's difficult to say what potentially negative consequences, if any, would occur. While you're certainly able to upgrade and downgrade at-will, if the behaviour gets flagged and/or any associated activity appears to be abusive, your account may be reviewed for closure.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I answered your same question on 16Oct. Here's my reply if you didn't see it then :-)

@Anonymous I've honestly never seen an account where it's repeatedly been upgraded and downgraded so it's difficult to say what potentially negative consequences, if any, would occur. While you're certainly able to upgrade and downgrade at-will, if the behaviour gets flagged and/or any associated activity appears to be abusive, your account may be reviewed for closure.

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thanks for your reply, I didn't see it last time. anyway, how is it possible for your account to be flagged or be tagged abusive from a PC? I mean, I would assume they would have to either allow or not allow when asked to PC. They wouldn't flag an account just because a cardholder just simply requests or asks.  I see it as a yes or no and thats it. And if they do allow it, then they wouldn't flag the account right after since it was allowed lol. Nevertheless, appreciate your feedback I sort of understand what you're saying. After reading the other comments and doing more research online it doesn't seem there has ever been any topics about consequences at all from multiple product changes. I was just wondering if anyone knows or had expericnes with multiple PC on a card. 

[Anonymous]

Short answer is, yes, you can product change at-will. To be clear, if anyone were to get flagged, it would be an automated process and reviewed by a back-office team after being done multiple times in a relatively short period of time. The representatives you speak with would have no input or knowledge of that. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Short answer is, yes, you can product change at-will. To be clear, if anyone were to get flagged, it would be an automated process and reviewed by a back-office team after being done multiple times in a relatively short period of time. The representatives you speak with would have no input or knowledge of that. Hope this helps.

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Yes, in general an issuer can deem anything they wish to be "potential abuse" and mark it for manual inspection.   And it can be on a card or a user basis, so a user who gets sign up bonuses and cancels before AF (especially multiple times), spending only on bonus categories, known MS patterns etc, could be watched for, whether or not any AA is taken.  

Now multiple PCs seems harmless to us, and perhaps to the issuer, but it is clearly unusual behavior (most people don't even know you can PC).   So it may not be watched for, unless someone has determined it is correlated to some bad thing