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So I got a new SPG from Amex with a 5000 dollar spend in 6 months for 20000 points. That's not a problem for me but I get better rewards through Chase Trifecta. So I am just planning to spend 5000 on Kiva (I know that the return is not guaranteed but I am fine with losing money on that because I considered it to be a charity).
I hear stories about Amex doing FR and closing accounts on people. So I just wanted to know if Amex would be fine with that?
There are no returns at all on Kiva. All of the interest returns are kept by the Kiva foundation so you have to view it as a pure charity as you'll never see any returns...
@webhopper wrote:
Can you actually use a credit card at kiva?
You can because Kiva just uses PayPal
Yah, I just meant return of money, not like interest or something. But I am just concerned how Amex will view it since it's all 5000 dollars going to Kiva.
Amex will only see it as a $5000 PayPal transaction. I'm sure that will raise some red flags due to the increased fraud risk of a site like PayPal, but how they perceive that risk is something I can't answer.
Typically large transaction amount from PayPal does raise a red flag/annoy AMEX. Since Kiva uses PayPal I'd say keep the transaction amount small. I wouldn't risk charging $5,000 from PayPal into your AMEX account.
@Anonymous wrote:So I got a new SPG from Amex with a 5000 dollar spend in 6 months for 20000 points. That's not a problem for me but I get better rewards through Chase Trifecta. So I am just planning to spend 5000 on Kiva (I know that the return is not guaranteed but I am fine with losing money on that because I considered it to be a charity).
I hear stories about Amex doing FR and closing accounts on people. So I just wanted to know if Amex would be fine with that?
Making a huge initial purchase like that w/Amex can be risky. The advice I got when I got my first Amex was to break it in like a new pair of shoes. And you have to "train" Amex how you use the card. If you're going to make a large purchase like that, you might want to call and talk w/CS first. That might prevent any fraud alerts that might arise. Kiva is a charity, so I doubt they'd have a problem with it. But I would definitely talk w/them before making doing that.
If you get better rewards w/Chase, I'm wondering why you bothered to get the SPG at all.
Solely for backdating. I needed an Amex and I had to waste a hard pull, so why not get some sign-up points while at it. I am going to PC to a no annual fee amex card after. I actually really wanted a Green charge card but paying 95 dollars a year for a max of 2X on travel awards is ridiculous. If I was running Amex, I would make the Zync have no annual fee, Green 25 bucks/year, PRG 75 bucks/year, and the Platinum 350/year. The basic Gold card is just dumb -- it's the same as the Green Card.