Programs: AA 2 MM LIfetime Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, BA
Posts: 3,547
You could have bought $600 on the 4th card. Also, they can raise it immediately by phone while in the travel center! It takes about a week for the cash advance to clear and to show up in your account.
Why is there a $1000 per week limit? I was on the phone w/ the Hilton AMEX CSR and she said that I could charge up to my credit limit. Of course, she may not know what she is talking about. She did say that for a cash advance, that I'd have to give them my pin.
I just talked to my local AMEX Travel Office again, and the woman said that it depends on my AMEX card. For certain cards (Optima, true Platinum, true Gold, etc), I wouldn't be charged the cash advance interest. For others (Costco, Starwood, Hilton, Starbucks, etc), it's considered a cash advance and I'd be subject to the cash advance interest. She said when they bill it out, they have to bill it out as "cash" to buy travellers checks. That is probably why it earns points as it's not a "true" cash advance since no pin was required, but may be subject to cash advance rules (don't ask me how or why). Hence you can only buy as many travellers checks as your cash advance limit (if that's $5K, then you can charge $5K).
This woman at the local AMEX Travel Office seems like she was much more in the know, so I'd believe that my Honors card will be charged as a cash advance and be subject to the cash advance rules and interest.
Location: SF CA USA. FT addict. I love large faceless corporations. And they cherish me in return (sometimes). ;)
Programs: UA 1K, Starwood Gold, HH Gold, PC Gold
Posts: 11,098
Hmmmm.... I think I'll wait and see what other people's results are, before becoming a guinea pig myself! I certainly do NOT want any cash advance fees, nor do I want to pay any interest on the purchase. (I've never paid a dime in credit card interest, never will.) Fees and interest would totally defeat the purpose -- which is free points, with no investment (other than the investment of a bit of my time).
Programs: AA 2 MM LIfetime Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, BA
Posts: 3,547
At the AMEX travel center I was told that it was $1000 a week limit. That it was charged as a purchase. I used my SPG and Hilton cards, and everything they said was right. I doubt if my cash advance limit were higher than 1K that they would sell me more, because they said that was the limit.
My problem came from making ONE purchase at an affiliate where they treated it as a cash advance, and when seeing it listed on my statement (online before end of statement) as emergency funds, I looked back at my slips and sure enough the slip I signed said cash advance. When I called AMEX and explained that it wasn't emergency funds, but I purchased travelers checks, she said that it didn't even use my cash advance limit, instead was coming out of my credit line. When the statement was finally available online, I saw that the charged my interest and I was 812 short of points. I called again. She said I was scheduled to get those points on my next statemment and credited back the interest. It was listed differently than my first purchases. No other fees were incurred in either case.
Don't push the limit and try to buy more than $1000 a week, please.
If you are worried, buy only $150 worth of checks, pre-pay your card so that there isn't a balance. I don't think you have anything to worry about as long as are at Travel Centers and not affiliates. She never said anything about particular kinds of AMEX, but I have SPG and Hilton so that is what I used.
Programs: AA 2 MM LIfetime Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, BA
Posts: 3,547
The new SPG statement notes how much you have spent in the calendar year towards the $30,000 which is required in order to be allowed Gold Status. When I added it all up, it was $1000 short. I called AMEX and I was told that cash advances do not count towards "spending" and don't get points, but she would issue me the 1000 points for the misunderstanding. She said that there is no way to go back and change a cash advance to a purchase.
I guess I will have to spend $31,000 this year to achieve GOLD instead of $30,000. So anyone thinking that they will get points will be disappointed and it won't count. Perhaps for some it is not an issue because you spend this much anyway - but since this is not my only card, and use my Premier Pass for flights, groceries and gas, Diner's Club for car rents, and some places don't take AMEX, I can't count on $30K being spent. Buying TC will guarantee that I can achieve this.
Programs: AA 2 MM LIfetime Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, BA
Posts: 3,547
Make sure that you don't sign anything that says cash advance, and ask them if this is a purchase or a cash advance. If they say it is a cash advance, believe them.
Programs: AA 2 MM LIfetime Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, BA
Posts: 3,547
You can go in and try. If TC are fee free for American Express holders, I don't see why you couldn't purchase. Start with a small amount and see if you get the miles if you are afraid to do $1000. Some here have said that MR cards don't give points for TC and it is written under terms and conditions. See if you find them.
I am very confused. I don't know if dgordon got lucky, or if it's just a very nice AMEX Travel Office .
The place I called and spoke to is called "American Express Travel Service" in Palo Alto, CA --- is this the true blue AMEX Office? The CSR said it was owned by AMEX and their email has an american express extension. Anyway, this woman was the one who said that when charging the travelers checks with a credit card, the system will automatically make it a cash advance because it knows you're using a credit card to buy a cash equivalent --- no pin required. She said that it will always show as a cash advance on your credit card statement, though some cards (like true Platinum, Gold, Optima, etc) will not charge you the transaction & cash advance interest fees. She claimed Starwood, HHonors, Costco, Starbucks, etc would be treated as a cash advance and be charged interest, etc. Perhaps somehow dgordon's AMEX office thought he had one of the former cards and coded something to that effect (??).
I called HHonors AMEX CSR and she said it would be a charge not a cash advance. She also said I could charge up to the full amount of my credit limit. I didn't press her, but I'm pretty sure she's not right. She transfered me to the AMEX Travel office who told me the above (that yes it was a cash advance).
I then called Starwood AMEX and asked that CSR. She at first said that it would be treated as a charge, not a cash advance. I pressed and asked if she was sure because the office was telling me otherwise. She put me on hold to check, and she came back and apologized and said yes, it would be treated as a cash advance. I said would I have to give a pin? She said no, in this case AMEX would know it was travelers checks and automatically make it a cash advance. She also said that if I tried to pay off the cash advance, to remember that any money received first goes against regular charges before it goes against the cash advance, so I'd have to pay everything off and not use the card for awhile to let it all zero out.
So anyway, I don't know. I wonder if you bundled the travelers checks with some small purchase (luggage tag?) and they made one charge to AMEX if somehow the travelers checks denotion would be lost, or if it would be smart enough to line item the travelers checks out to treat as a cash advance. Anyway, I'm not going to try it out --- because if it is a cash advance as my AMEX office assures me it is, you don't get the points which defeats the whole purpose.
Programs: AA 2 MM LIfetime Platinum, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, BA
Posts: 3,547
I don't think that I am "lucky" as it has happened this way for 5 SPG purchases and 2 Hilton purchases. Why not bring your SPG card balance to zero just before the close of your billing cycle, and buy just $150 of travelers checks, and even pay that off before the billing cycle. The interest would be minimal if any, and if it worked, you would now know that it worked.
On my Hilton card, which I don't otherwise use, it was very clear - I got 6000 points for $2000 work of travelers checks brought on 2 different occasions one week apart.
You could have bought $600 on the 4th card. Also, they can raise it immediately by phone while in the travel center! It takes about a week for the cash advance to clear and to show up in your account.
The CSR didn't know immediately the reason why the transaction was declined.
I have a $12,500 cash advance limit of you think doing that much each week would give me the max points?
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