Perils of MS

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I wonder if my doctor can write me a prescription for some vanilla?

anyways, sorry to hear about the closed card, I hope you got lots of rewards before it was closed. Banks can nickel and dime you for all sorts of fees, but if there's way for consumers to benefit, it's a big no-no.

just one question, is MS actually against T&C? I don't MS but I do buy gifts cards once in a while because i'm a crappy gift buyer, now I'm all paranoid

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If it's unusual, it's flagged.

[Bman70]

If banks parsed line-item reports on every receipt, it would be expensive and with questionable privacy concerns. And all stores don't report line-item, so Amex (or any other lender) can't always know when a gift card is included in groceries or drugstore shopping. As far as I can tell, they really don't care if the occasional gift card, phone card, or restaurant card is added to the grocery basket; that seems in line with normal consumer spending. When a person is spending thousands monthly on Visa prepaids, however, Amex has no choice but to give rewards because that's how the program is set up. For normal consumer spending; NOT for the purposes of MS. If they set it up to prevent cash equivalents, it would require measures that might negate some of the perks. I'd prefer they keep it that way, and just weed out the clear MSers, rather than have to become more restrictive for everyone. 

[Turbobuick]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well, to no great surprise, Amex started closing Amex Blue Cash cards, including mine.   Two somewhat unusual features:

1) No FR, just email saying the card was cancelled

2) Other Amex cards left alone.  Many issuers in this situation close all cards

Sampling on flyertalk shows the usual lack of pattern, in some husband/wife pairs, the partner doing less on their card had the card closed whereas the other is open.  But the whole shakeout might take a few days, and one person was told (when trying to apply) that the card is being phased out.

As is usual, with the cards closed, all unpaid/unreedeemed rewards go away, and with Amex this is effectively two months of rewards (I should have got last month's on Oct 27).  So the next step is to consider suing in small claims for the rewards (which seems to have a high degree of success, as courts choose not to abide by overly restrictive T&Cs)

So is/was it worth it?   Yes, even for a few months.   But I will give it a rest, and then try one of the next best things (TD / WF)

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My condolences, LTL!

[Anonymous]

Amex will cave. You'll get your rewards.
They have no grounds to hold your rewards.
Uncapped 5% + bluebird + serve + blogger you paid for = what did you expect Amex.

[ezdoesit]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Amex will cave. You'll get your rewards.
They have no grounds to hold your rewards.
Uncapped 5% + bluebird + serve + blogger you paid for = what did you expect Amex.

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While I do feel bad for LTL he always knew the risks which he sounds like he is willing to accept.  While I don't agree with MS I do think that if they close your account they should give you the rewards in which you have already earned.  It is Amex fault for letting these loopholes fall through the cracks. 

I don't know if he will win in court but he might because for the few thousand that he is owed it might not be worth it for Amex to hire lawyers to fight it. 

He might piss Amex off in the process and they close all his accounts which still might happen, hopefully not.

[Anonymous]

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@ezdoesit wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Amex will cave. You'll get your rewards.
They have no grounds to hold your rewards.
Uncapped 5% + bluebird + serve + blogger you paid for = what did you expect Amex.

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While I do feel bad for LTL he always knew the risks which he sounds like he is willing to accept.  While I don't agree with MS I do think that if they close your account they should give you the rewards in which you have already earned.  It is Amex fault for letting these loopholes fall through the cracks. 

I don't know if he will win in court but he might because for the few thousand that he is owed it might not be worth it for Amex to hire lawyers to fight it. 

He might piss Amex off in the process and they close all his accounts which still might happen, hopefully not.

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Because I was still doing it relatively small, the total amount I am "owed" ifor the last two months is about $2200.   Others are out more than $10K.  So it's worth a bit of effort, but perhaps not a whole lot, depending on what is involved and an estimate of chances of success.

[kkapdolee]

I'm amazed by all the people doing massive amounts of MS. 2.2k worth of rewards in 2 months isn't that "much" compared to others out there? That's crazy...

I don't know if I'm just too lazy but the easiest form of MS that I knew of (Vanilla Reloads at CVS and Bluebird) was too difficult for me. I had to go around so many different CVS and often times still come home empty handed. I stopepd doing any MS after the end of VR at CVS and it amazes me how people continued to do MS in a harder form.

longtimelurker, how much time do you think you spent on MS each month including going to grocery/drug stores, depositing to BB or Serve or Walmart MO, etc.? Was it usually just during your normal trips to the stores and not for the sole purpose of MS?

I guess it depends on how much time was spent but 10k in 2 months or even 2k in 2 months sounds really good to me. I was just never able to achieve that kind of a level as a single guy holding only one BB account. I'm just glad I got to spend 6k on my Dividend card Q1 this year. That yielded about $250 after fees. Then I never even got through my 6.5k initial spending of Amex BC because I couldn't find enough VRs before CVS closed their hole.

[skigirl916]

You'd actually sue over this?

Do you realize that most small claims judges are pro tem?

[FinStar]

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@skigirl916 wrote:
You'd actually sue over this?

Do you realize that most small claims judges are pro tem?

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He has a right and recourse.  It's his choice and efforts and whether he wants to pursue it.  You do realize the most recent rulings have come in favor of the consumer with similar standings.  Google them up.

[FinStar]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@ezdoesit wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Amex will cave. You'll get your rewards.
They have no grounds to hold your rewards.
Uncapped 5% + bluebird + serve + blogger you paid for = what did you expect Amex.

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While I do feel bad for LTL he always knew the risks which he sounds like he is willing to accept.  While I don't agree with MS I do think that if they close your account they should give you the rewards in which you have already earned.  It is Amex fault for letting these loopholes fall through the cracks. 

I don't know if he will win in court but he might because for the few thousand that he is owed it might not be worth it for Amex to hire lawyers to fight it. 

He might piss Amex off in the process and they close all his accounts which still might happen, hopefully not.

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Because I was still doing it relatively small, the total amount I am "owed" ifor the last two months is about $2200.   Others are out more than $10K.  So it's worth a bit of effort, but perhaps not a whole lot, depending on what is involved and an estimate of chances of success.

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Depending on the assessment of those efforts and whichever route you decide, best of luck LTL.