Lost Amex Platinum Sign-Up Bonus, Need Advice

[TheBoondocks]

This is something new to me too, I never even knew that charge cards have a spending pattern, something to learn everyday, hopefully if the Green does refresh I would keep this experience in mind, thank you for the valuable lesson OP!

[Anonymous]

And just to clarify - an AMEX charge card is an AMEX charge card. The color of the card has no influence on its spending power. The color does matter when it comes to AFs and benefits, however.

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:

thanks

yeah, seems like best thing is to cancel again..

I do attend Laker games and the Centurian lounge at Staples would come in handy, but I was also in it for the flights and without the 60,000 kickstart, seems like a lost cause 

they only asked why i wanted to close it and i said because I'm trying to make purchases to get the sign up bonus but i'm being blocked from pursuing the bonus.. after that, they didn't say or read anything. they just said okay and closed it.

when you canceled, did you have to pay the annual fee?

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You basically just confessed to Amex you're milking them for their bonus, and you're surprised they weren't interested in working with you?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

thanks

yeah, seems like best thing is to cancel again..

I do attend Laker games and the Centurian lounge at Staples would come in handy, but I was also in it for the flights and without the 60,000 kickstart, seems like a lost cause 

they only asked why i wanted to close it and i said because I'm trying to make purchases to get the sign up bonus but i'm being blocked from pursuing the bonus.. after that, they didn't say or read anything. they just said okay and closed it.

when you canceled, did you have to pay the annual fee?

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I'm not sure I understand the portion of your comment I highlighted.  Your intention was to use the Platinum card to purchase airline tickets?

BTW, what would be the basis of your complaint to the CFPB?

[CJ7]

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@Anonymous wrote:
The color of the card has no influence on its spending power.

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There was a time when it did.  In the day, I believe the Gold was backed by at least 25K

through a separate financial institution.  If someone whipped out their Platinum to pay for something,

it meant they had excellent credit and significant resources and could basically buy the whole store

or even a car with it.  It was a thing of prestige.  Now, they'll dole one out to anyone with a 650 score and

$550 they're willing to part with.  And get assigned some laughable internal limit.

Imagine if one or more of your major revolvers cut your limit because they saw a new auto loan on your report.

People would be fuming.  But when AX does it to a charge card, it's somehow OK because it's mitigating risk.

The next time I see someone insert their Platinum into the chip reader, I'll know there's a decent chance that

any card in my wallet actually has more buying power.  So much for prestige.

[Anonymous]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@CJ7 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

i personally think there should be a minimum spending power of $5000, no matter what, if they decide you're approved 

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I had no idea that AX would approve a Platinum NPSL card (with a massive annual fee)

without at least $10K of backing.  This whole "You just bought a car" excuse to further reduce

your internal limit absolutely boggles my mind.

It seems AX is so anxious to get that $550 that they're approving Platinum cards with

$500 NPSL's.  In the old days, NPSL pretty much meant unlimited within reason but they

didn't just approve everyone who applied, either!

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Indeed. When I got my gold, back in the day, I spent $10k my first month. Just got a couple phone calls asking me if I would like to make a payment near the end.

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yeah, started to seem like some sort of secured starter card

i have over $50,000 revolving credit and all my cards have $0 balance; the rep saw all this when trying to increase the limit for that $1500 purchase and kept saying, the new car ($28,000 loan) was impeding her from doing it.. the car is only a quarter of my income.. kinda wanna open a savings account with AMEX and deposit $20,000 just to see how far they go not letting me spend over $2000 lol i told the rep i could immediately pay the $1500, just like i did the $3000 the day before, but to no avail

but, i get what everyone is saying about them needed to see spending patterns and all.. still seems ridiculous to me.. 

[Anonymous]

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@CreditInspired wrote:

Hi OP and welcome to MyFICO

OK, so what happened stinks to high heaven but as some have said, what’s done is done. So, I say treat this as a lesson learned and here are some pointers for CCs with bonuses in the future. 

1. You had 90 days to reach the $5K spend to get the bonus. You spent $4K in a few weeks. So there was absolutely no need or rush to spend another $1K so soon after?

2. Remember that CSRs are frontline employees. They deal with all kinds of people’s emotions day in day out. They don’t make the decisions. They follow a script. So, it’s no skin off their backs if a customer gets mad and say “close it then.” Once those words are uttered, unless you’re Bill Gates or somebody that’s really making AmX a lot of money, all they do is hit the cancel card button and say DONE before you even know what happened. 

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thanks for the tips

i only use credit cards to purchase what i was already going to purchase with cash

it was time for me to make a few big purchases, which is the reason i decided to get the platinum, so yeah, it's true i had three months, but i also had the purchases lined up in advance 

also didn't know about executive office vs frontline employees.. i'll be sure to use diplomatic wording like you suggest 

[Anonymous]

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@iced wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

thanks

yeah, seems like best thing is to cancel again..

I do attend Laker games and the Centurian lounge at Staples would come in handy, but I was also in it for the flights and without the 60,000 kickstart, seems like a lost cause 

they only asked why i wanted to close it and i said because I'm trying to make purchases to get the sign up bonus but i'm being blocked from pursuing the bonus.. after that, they didn't say or read anything. they just said okay and closed it.

when you canceled, did you have to pay the annual fee?

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You basically just confessed to Amex you're milking them for their bonus, and you're surprised they weren't interested in working with you?

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interesting take, however, i've been with AMEX for three years and my everyday card has a $4000 limit and the points from it haven't been a factor at all

kinda strange a company would offer 60,000 points and all those benefits for a $550 annual fee, and then consider themselves getting milked by customers who want all those points and benefits.. essentially, your position is that amex is saying "oh, you didn't get our charge card because you love us as a company, you just wanna use us for the benefits we dangled in front of you to sign up, so screw you!" 

[blindambition]

Sorry about the situation OP.

Amex has certainly changed, like most. I won’t get into whether good, or not. However, it is no longer a prestigious card to have. As stated, they want to charge that $550 to as many people as possible. They seem to cut corners where they can.

[iced]

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@CJ7 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
The color of the card has no influence on its spending power.

---

There was a time when it did.  In the day, I believe the Gold was backed by at least 25K

through a separate financial institution.  If someone whipped out their Platinum to pay for something,

it meant they had excellent credit and significant resources and could basically buy the whole store

or even a car with it.  It was a thing of prestige.  Now, they'll dole one out to anyone with a 650 score and

$550 they're willing to part with.  And get assigned some laughable internal limit.

Imagine if one or more of your major revolvers cut your limit because they saw a new auto loan on your report.

People would be fuming.  But when AX does it to a charge card, it's somehow OK because it's mitigating risk.

The next time I see someone insert their Platinum into the chip reader, I'll know there's a decent chance that

any card in my wallet actually has more buying power.  So much for prestige.

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If one of my banks, revolving or charge, cut my credit because of my recent financial actions, I'd still think it was mitigating risk. Cutting a limit and reducing "spending power" on a charge card is the same thing. And I'd have nobody to blame for them doing it except me - they didn't make me seek new credit or extend myself further. Why should I (or anyone) take it out on a bank? Own your financial decisions and consequences rather than blame entities that are basically lending you their money on faith.

If I loaned $10,000 to a friend and he went and borrowed another $10,000 from another friend, I'd be pretty concerned that my money is at risk, and if I could pull that money back I probably would.

As for prestige, it's something that should have had and continues to have no place in the credit world. It's an archaic, meaningless concept created by the insecure for the insecure. The next time I see someone whip out a card in a fashion that screams "hey look, I'm a baller!" I'll continue to roll my eyes like I have every other time I see such insecure behavior.