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Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

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Shadowfactor
Valued Contributor

Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

Waiting for an admin to review the link I sent them from Reddit for approval for posting.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/cbuf0q/discussion_thread_july_11_2019/etjpnaq/?utm_source...

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/cc18gz/amex_mr_clawback_thread_71119/?utm_source=reddit&u...

Huge claw backs of MR points for self referrals. This was a wide spread thing over many travel hacking groups with lots of people touting how great this was and encouraging others to do the same.

It was extremely stupid and now Amex RAT has started to crack down. People are getting the bonuses clawed back and some are loosing their accounts altogether.




Total Revolving Limits $254,800

Message 1 of 33
32 REPLIES 32
FinStar
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

Thanks for the DPs and intel @Shadowfactor.   It lasted while it did for many that were able to use that method, but not surprised that AmEx's RAT would eventually clamp down.  I think there were some rumours floating around that this wasn't going to be sustainable and it was a matter of time before the other [AmEx] shoe dropped.

Message 2 of 33
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

aye, can't say I didn't see this coming. People were too bold.

 
Message 3 of 33
CreditCuriosity
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

Wonder if that is why one of my amex gold card referrals has yet to hit my account and it was legit(old boss) from about a week back on his approval?  Will cause a stink after another few weeks if not 

Message 4 of 33
kdm31091
Super Contributor

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

This was inevitable and people only have themselves to blame honestly. Everyone in the credit world knows the RAT team has been in place for quite awhile now and obviously self referrals weren't going to fly under the radar. Can't say I really feel bad for anyone in this scenario as this was clearly gaming the system.

Message 5 of 33
CreditCuriosity
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

In all honesty this was such a simple programming fix for amex to perform you wonder why they haven't closed this loophole vs having this backlash --- smh.. I agree it wasnt smart for people to do at all, but i suppose greed obviously took over, be interesting on the tax issues for said reported bonuses on taxes on how all that will be handled, what a mess Smiley Happy

Message 6 of 33
gdale6
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

This is why I never trust a bank with their rebate programs, as soon as they can be redeemed they are redeemed nothing is carried for long in my rebate accounts. I detest one way "we can do what we want" agreements.
Message 7 of 33
coldfusion
Community Leader
Mega Contributor

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

In reading the threads it's pretty clear that the whales are the ones being targeted.  The smart ones already knew to cash out their MR ASAP and be ready to bail on AMEX if their accounts suddenly showed a negative balance.

 

It's part of the game.  If you don't know how to play at that level eventually you're going to get burned.

(3/2024)
FICO 8 (EX) 846 (TU) 850 (EQ) 850
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$1M+ club

Artist formerly known as the_old_curmudgeon who was formerly known as coldfusion
Message 8 of 33
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

This is hardly a surprise. I was wondering why Amex allowed this for so long.   P1 to P2 referals make sense but that was just playing with fire. 

Message 9 of 33
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Major Amex clawback related to self referrals

I was reading some military guys blog where this was this trick.  Seems Amex waives annual fees for active Military.  So he would get Amex Business Green after Amex Business Green. That card waives the annual fee the first year and only has a 5k sign up bonus which he wouldn't get.  So he would call in as soon as the card was approved and have the card upgraded to Amex Platinum with a 50k upgrade offer.  He said just keep doing it over and over again.  I thought that was wrong because Amex will eventually stop waiving annual fees for active military. 

Message 10 of 33
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