@Anonymouswrote:It sounds like we have upset you. I'm sorry and apologize.
You did not upset me.
@Anonymouswrote:
@OmarR"New sign-ups get the first 2 years AF waived, with a first 90 day spend of $1,000. This offer is worth $190."
While this offer may be worth $190, it wouldn't be the same as a $190 SUB. Let's say you met the requirements of the SUB and paid your account balance down to $190. The next month when the SUB was delivered, your balance would drop to $0. You'd have no payment to make.
If your balance was $190 though and your AF was simply waived for 2 years, you wouldn't realize the first half of that until you hit the 1 year mark, then the second half at the 2 year mark. You'd still be responsible for that $190 balance the month after meeting the spend requirement, as your balance wouldn't drop to $0.
When you look at it this way, you can see how a SUB is quite different than the waiving of an AF. The benefit of the SUB is realized right away, where the benefit of an AF being waived is spread out over a year or years depending on the numbers.
Whether or not AMEX allows someone to use a $200 statement credit towards a payment is irrelevant.
They still gave me $200. Again, the math does not change for the term of 2 years.
Personally, I approach SUBs the same way I would treat any sunk cost; except in this case, it is a "sunk benefit" rather than a "sunk cost." Don't know if y'all remember college economics from days of yore, but sunk costs were costs already incurred and cannot be recovered and therefore should have no bearing on whether you continue to do X or Y. I would define a sunk benefit in the context of SUBs as a benefit already received which cannot be clawed back or otherwise be subject to AA. My understanding is that most banks will blacklist you for SUB abuse for cancelling before a year, so it becomes a sunk benefit at the yearmark. The SUB does not affect rewards going forward and should be disregarded when determining whether to keep the card.
@Anonymouswrote:
@OmarRThey still gave me $200. Again, the math does not change for the term of 2 years.
Sure they gave you $200, but what you gave them was a 1 year $100 interest-free loan and a 2 year $100 interest-free loan.
I am not a bank or a loan shark. I wasn't loaning that money out to someone else at 30% to begin with. But I could argue that they gave me an additional $10 to cover my "lost real world interest".
Or, I used the $200 statement credit on "XYZ product", when i was going to use cash originally, and than invested the cash in some high yield account. Or loaned it to a friend at 30% interest.
You want to keep moving the goalposts around, but it still doesn NOT:
CHANGE.THE.MATH.