Jackson66

Hi . I was able to secure an Amex plat bus card with a 100k signup bonus after paying 10k. I have spent the 10k and the expenses have posted. how soon can I expect to see the points posted to my membership points? Amex is confusing as I have heard it is 48hrs after posting or it is a day after the statement close or a month after the statement close. I want to use the miles to transfer to delta to book a flight and am afraid the flight will no longer be available with points. is there a way to speed up the process/

mia

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

All of these are possibilities, and there is no way to be certain what will happen in your case. I suggest you contact American Express customer service, on a weekday during normal US Eastern time zone business hours, explain what you need to do, ask if they can verify that that the bonus offer is attached to your account, that you have made the required spend, and accelerate the posting of the points. Sometime they can, other times not.

quick23

My experience with getting the 100k bonus was this. One month after I hit the spending threshold and the statement cut; and the bill was paid I got my bonus.

Cardboard55

Sorry if this was mentioned earlier in the thread; I looked for it and didn't see it. How quickly do the points typically post for the bonus? We got the 100k/3k offer, got the card, spent over $4k in the first month, and paid for it. I kind of expected the points to post when the payment did, but it's been a few days and it hasn't shown yet. I'm not in any hurry to use the points, but it's always fun to the balance be bigger than zero

Edit: Err, I guess this post was moved by the moderator. Totally makes sense (I hadn't managed to find this thread before), but without that context I'm sure it looks weird that I'm saying I can't find anything about how fast points post in a thread about how fast points post!

TMM1982

Looks like you have to wait for next statement close for pending to become realized.

tassojunior

Every CSR and every blog gives different answers on when pending points become real points and whether pending points from spend and/or bonuses can actually be advanced.

The past couple answers I've gotten from csr's is to wait a few more days and then as it gets close to the BA 40% expiration call them if the points aren't yet available and they'll "see what they can do".

FlyerTalker55

Data point- After several phone calls, I chatted Amex online and asked my pending points (121k) be moved into 'available' points. He transferred me to a rewards associate on chat ('Andrea') and she had my points available literally within seconds. Of course, my annual fee and balance was paid. No luck with 6 different CSRs over the phone, but first chat worked. YMMV, but johnnie198x had the same experience.

So, the plan worked! I got the physical card exactly 3 weeks ago and am sitting on the points now with time to spare to meet the 40% transfer bonus.

tassojunior

phoned MR and got the same refusal. will try chat in the morning.

update- SUCCESS ! Thank you MotownMan, it worked 100% as you said.

No csr, AmEx chat person or MR telephone person would accelerate the points to "available" but I went to chat this morning, asked for a MR chat rep, and the MR chat rep transferred my points to "available" in under 1 minute !

DoB840

SUCCESS!

Thanks for the tip. I asked to be transferred to a MR rep. I didn't even tell her what I wanted - she opened by thanking me for having been a loyal Amex member (it's been just over a month) and immediately made my points available.

Now I just need to decide how many of the 150k+ points to transfer to BA before the month is up.

GarlicFlyer

One month after..

crapz1

Called this morning and was told that since my points are from bonus, they cannot be made available right away. I tried twice on chat with MR reps, and was told the same thing. I'm assuming the points that some of you were successful at getting moved to available were bonus points as well? Just want to know if I should give up or keep trying.

Patrickthetiger

My experience-- I got my Biz Plat in December, first statement posed earlier this month. I called after paying off the statement and they couldn't accelerate the points since my 15kish MR points from my actual spending were "bundled" with my 100k bonus MR points.

Then, I saw these FT reports of folks having their MR bonus points accelerated by chatting with a MR rep and gave that shot... about 6 times. Again, it was a no-go. They kept saying that it was going to take 6-8 weeks for the bonus points to post. At this time, I had about $125 of new charges on the card. I then posted another payment to my balance down to $0 (but my second statement won't post until earl Feb). I then chatted with an MR rep and AGAIN was denied.

But then this morning... I did another chat (why not?) and BAM the rep was able to accelerate my points, no big deal. It is possible that the rep that was finally able to accelerate these points may not have noticed that they were bonus points. Who knows.

So I'd recommend the following:
1. Have your balance at $0 with no pending payments.
2. If you are denied, keep trying. It took me chatting with 7 or 8 MR reps online to get these points accelerated.

tassojunior

I'm amazed that other people are having trouble. Several of us got all points accelerated in under a minute after asking for an MR person in online chat. My experience was that no regular csr, chat csr, or even telephoning MR worked. But asking for an MR rep on chat was easy for several of us. Def. a HUCA (Hang Up Chat Again) situation I guess.

Certainly have your balance at 0 and no payments due.

crapz1

Well...that was it. Tried multiple times yesterday and I guess it didn't work because I had a payment pending. Payment posted this morning and my first try on chat they were able to accelerate my points and I was able to get them transferred to BA already.

gldfinger

I would love to know what anyone's experience is with "pending points" in the Amex Membership Rewards program. I am a new cardholder who received the Premier Rewards Gold Card in January. I will receive a sign-up bonus and points for my purchases in my last billing cycle. I have read the terms on the AmEx website and understand that points are pending until both the statement is generated and the balance due is paid in full. Both have occurred. I paid my full balance a week ago yet my points are still noted as "pending".

How long does it take for AmEx to make my points available for me to use? What is your experience?

Frankly, I am carefully analyzing whether this product is as good, or better, than my Chase Sapphire Preferred, and will decide in a year whether the $175 annual fee for the card is worth paying. Sapphire Preferred has a lower annual fee of $95, and my points are available to me immediately once my statement is generated. In addition, I had the unfortunate experience of doing $2,000 of damage to a rental car in Europe last year, and the Visa Signature insurance paid every penny of it. I do see that AmEx allows me to transfer points to a larger selection of travel partner programs, and occasionally has transfer bonuses. I suppose that is an advantage.

In the end, at $175 a year, is it too much for me to expect my points to be available to me even a week after paying my balance in full? What is your experience in waiting to get the points?