American Express Membership Rewards - Current-cycle credits applied to previous-cycle bill?

I bought and canceled a $2,000ish DL ticket recently using my Amex Blue card... a while after the credit posted on my card, I went to pay the bill for the previous month. The "current balance" had been reduced by the amount of the credit! Looks like Amex treats the credit as a payment on my bill for the previous cycle.

So it looks like if I pay $2,000ish less than my original bill amount I'll still be in the clear with no finance charges... effectively that $2,000ish will be pushed back to the next billing cycle.

So what am I missing here? Or did I just stumble upon a way to give myself an interest-free loan on my credit card?

(FYI, both the purchase and cancellation happened after the prior billing cycle had closed.)

So what am I missing here? Or did I just stumble upon a way to give myself an interest-free loan on my credit card?

That's how it works. They assume that the credit was for a purchase in a previous cycle (I'm betting more than 50% are) and apply it to that. Very nice of them.

That's how it works. They assume that the credit was for a purchase in a previous cycle (I'm betting more than 50% are) and apply it to that. Very nice of them.

So what's to stop someone from buying and canceling an F ticket to somewhere far off every cycle to take advantage of this?

That's how it works. They assume that the credit was for a purchase in a previous cycle (I'm betting more than 50% are) and apply it to that. Very nice of them.

It used to work like that, but now the credit is applied towards the previous balance UNTIL new charges are posted. This just happened to me....let's say my balance was 500, and I got a refund after the cycle close date of 200, so now my payment that's due is 300. However, let's say I now charged 25 dollars, so now my payment that's due is 325, and it keeps fluctuating until the amount of that refund is used up by new charges

Basically the new charges just keep reducing the amount of the refunded amount. Eventually it just works out to the way it's supposed to be, you end up paying the full amount for the original balance and your next month's balance is reduced by the amount of the refund that happened in that cycle.

A credit is a credit is a credit. It doesn't matter if it is issued by a merchant or by you paying. So if your bill closes on the 1st and is due on the 21st and a credit is issued on the 10th the credit counts towards the total amount due on the 21st just as if you'd paid it with a check. If you charge more between the 10th and 21st that doesn't change the fact that some was credited to your account on the 10th, so you still only have to pay the total of the original total due less the credit; the additional charges are due the following month and do not affect the credit or the total due. I have not experienced what brosnan6 claims is happening, though I am almost always using a charge card, not a credit card, so that may affect the way it works.

S.

A credit is a credit is a credit. It doesn't matter if it is issued by a merchant or by you paying. So if your bill closes on the 1st and is due on the 21st and a credit is issued on the 10th the credit counts towards the total amount due on the 21st just as if you'd paid it with a check. If you charge more between the 10th and 21st that doesn't change the fact that some was credited to your account on the 10th, so you still only have to pay the total of the original total due less the credit; the additional charges are due the following month and do not affect the credit or the total due. I have not experienced what brosnan6 claims is happening, though I am almost always using a charge card, not a credit card, so that may affect the way it works.

S.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but I am only talking about this happening on my credit (Blue for Students) card, not a charge product. Since you don't notice it happening,it might be just a charge v. credit thing