Lost AMEX points due to card cancelling without warning

[OneMoreCouch]

I had an AMEX Plat Morgan Stanley card when I had an account with Morgan Stanley.

I chose another investment advisor so I closed Morgan Stanley about 2 years ago. Then, without warning, AMEX cancelled my plat card with them (When I just spent 40k with them in 3 months!) and I lost almost 90k points!

The reason they gave me was because I closed my Morgant Stanley account but this is just horrible customer service! I had no warnings from both Morgan Stanley nor AMEX about the cancellation. AMEX is saying it's not their fault because it's Morgan Stanley's fault. I guess my quesiton to the forum here is which party should I focus more time on in complaining to get something back: Morgan Stanley or AMEX?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I hope this doesn't come off as harsh because that isn't my intention.

American Express and Morgan Stanley are under no obligation to tell you what they've told you already.  In the cardmember agreement (PDF link) which was provided to you to review on application, it states very clearly:

"The Morgan Stanley Credit Card from American Express is only available to you if you have an eligible brokerage account. Eligible brokerage account means a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brokerage account held in your name or in the name of a revocable trust where you are the grantor and trustee, except for the following accounts: Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts, Charitable Remainder Unitrusts, irrevocable trusts and employer-sponsored accounts. Eligibility is subject to change. We may cancel your Card Account and participation in this program, if you do not maintain an eligible brokerage account."

It's neither company's responsibility to warn you that closing your account will cancel participation in the awards program because it was already provided to you very clearly.

Now, if you have your original cardmember agreement (if it's different than the current one), and it doesn't have this portion, you can go to battle against them and maybe even get the FTC and CFPB on your side.  But I want to believe that text has been a part of all cardmember agreements going backwards.

Whenever I apply for a new credit card, I read the agreements and I print them out as well as save them to my cloud under the date of application.  This way, if there is anything irregular going forward, I have evidence.

In your case, I think you're out the points, unfortunately.

One other thing: please edit/delete your signature on the forum, the images are really difficult to work with/read through.

[Adkins]

Neither. The Morgan Stanley Platinum Amex was associated with your Morgan Stanley account, which you closed. It just took Amex a bit to figure this out.

"Eligible Account means a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”) brokerage account held in your name or in the name of a revocable trust where you are the grantor and trustee, except for the following accounts: Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts, Charitable Remainder Unitrusts, irrevocable trusts and employer-sponsored accounts. Eligibility is subject to change.  American Express may cancel your Card Account and participation in this program, if you do not maintain an Eligible Morgan Stanley brokerage Account."

[FinStar]

OP, as ABCD2199 points out, there's really no recourse given the spelled out T&C.

The T&Cs have been in place as long as the partnership with AMEX Centurion and Morgan Stanley has existed.

While a variety of applicants click the submit button in excitement without pondering about the T&Cs when applying it's also relevant to remind folks there's definitely consequences, such as the above scenario, especially with arbitration clauses and the like. Always read the fine print.

[BronzeTrader]

We all learnt something from it... Sorry dude.

[Anonymous]

This is a great example of why it's always good to read your terms and conditions, especially before you make any changes that may impact your account.  No doubt the OP would have cashed in on his 90k points prior to closing the account had he been aware of the chance that Amex would pull the plug.

[steelers1]

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@Anonymous wrote:

This is a great example of why it's always good to read your terms and conditions, especially before you make any changes that may impact your account.  No doubt the OP would have cashed in on his 90k points prior to closing the account had he been aware of the chance that Amex would pull the plug.

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Especially with co-branded products.

Syncrony with Sam's Club

Citi with Costco

Some of these cards require you to maintain a relationship in order to keep the account.

[UpperNwGuy]

Every article I have read about how to cancel a credit card says:

1.  Redeem or transfer all your points, bringing the point balance to zero.

2.  Pay off the card, bringing the card balance to zero.

3.  Ask the bank to close the card.

In OP's case, he mistakenly thought he could cancel his brokerage account and keep the card.  With most co-branded cards, the points (or miles) are maintained by the partner (i.e., United, American, Delta, Hyatt, Marriott, SPG), forcing you to address the issue of point loss before ending a relationship with that partner.  In this case, however, Amex appears to have managed the points (on behalf of Morgan Stanley).  That might be where the confusion crept in.