applied for the 5K bonus, signed up on either Friday or Saturday and the points posted today ! Didn't ask for social security number, so I doubt a hard pull credit check was performed.
I wouldn't do it. I just don't believe that Amex doesn't have some sort of internal scoring mechanism that takes into account things like this and people who have access to pay over time perhaps are looked upon and less financially stable borrowers. Just my speculation.
Programs: AA EXP, AMEX Platinum, Global Entry, TSA PreCheck
Posts: 292
Looked into this today after the repeated snail mail/e-mail promotion of this and the lure of 5,000 MR's. Looks easy to sign up however they do want me to enter my annual household income. This struck me as odd since I've been a platinum (also have the Costco card) for several years and this is a targeted offer. Is this an excuse to do a FR and/or hard pull maybe?
I lucked out, they sent me two simultaneous 5K offers for two different cards (Plat and Open, the gold business card) and even though the T&C said I could only get one bonus per MR account, they gave me both. What I do notice is that my "minimum payment" on my statement is the amount of charges not eligible for Pay Over Time. So if I just paid the "Amount Due" I would be paying interest. Of course I don't HAVE to pay the minimum, and I don't.
I'm a total points hound (for reasons not worth going into, points have an actual value to me of 2 cents each), so I grab all I can.
I got one of these offers and signed up for it a couple of months ago. A fair warning: charges >$100 are automatically placed into pay over time. The way my statement lined up, I thought I had paid my full bill, but was off by a bit and carried a small balance that then triggered a finance charge (something like $13). I called Amex and they waived the charge, apparently I had already paid the past balance...maybe it was from the new bill, and I had them turn off the feature to automatically put charged over $100 on pay over time. I still have access to it, but only if I choose (I have no intention to use it.)
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A stickup kid in a tie and white collar who worships the almighty dollar.
This goes without saying but save the original offer, any correspondence with the ID#. I have done it, it is easy...but I have always had to call afterwards to get the points. Might just be me. I have done it multiple times over the years. I always get the points, but the extra call has been required for me.
Programs: AA EXP, AMEX Platinum, Global Entry, TSA PreCheck
Posts: 292
My confirmation page said:
1. To be eligible to get bonus points, you must be enrolled in the Membership Rewards FirstŪ program at the time of enrollment in these features. Only one bonus offer per Membership Rewards account is permitted, and bonus points will be credited to your account within 6-8 weeks after enrollment. Maximum 5,000 points per account. Bonus ID: 5670 or 5671. Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards FirstŪ program apply. Visit membershiprewards.com/terms or call 1-800-297-1300 for more information. Participating partners and available rewards are subject to change without notice. To get bonus points related to this offer you must enroll by December 31, 2011.
1. To be eligible to get bonus points, you must be enrolled in the Membership Rewards FirstŪ program at the time of enrollment in these features. Only one bonus offer per Membership Rewards account is permitted, and bonus points will be credited to your account within 6-8 weeks after enrollment. Maximum 5,000 points per account. Bonus ID: 5670 or 5671. Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards FirstŪ program apply. Visit membershiprewards.com/terms or call 1-800-297-1300 for more information. Participating partners and available rewards are subject to change without notice. To get bonus points related to this offer you must enroll by December 31, 2011.
Moderator: Credit, Debit and Prepaid Card Programs category
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami & London
Programs: AA 2MM Perpetual Platinum; HH & SPG Gold
Posts: 16,786
Quote:
Originally Posted by UA Fan
Is Amex trying to stop charge cards by encouraging pay over time?
I would say they are trying to bundle a very profitable revolving line of credit with your charge card, in order to encourage you to use the charge card for major purchases which you might otherwise put on a MasterCard or VISA.
One difference is that using the American Express pay-over-time feature does not incur finance charges on new transactions, you only pay interest on the balances that carry in the line of credit.
do you have a link for this? I got one in the mail but it was 1500 and the link seems to be not specific to me. So, I am wondering whether the 5000 point one has a general link as well.
Only one bonus offer per Membership Rewards account is permitted, and bonus points will be credited to your account within 6-8 weeks after enrollment. Maximum 5,000 points per account. Bonus ID: 5670, 5671, or 5688
