Originally Posted by Happy

RED EYE, have you tried to SM AMEX asking them to offer you some help to partially offset the SPG annual fee?

The offers range from a low $25 credit to a $50 credit, or 2K to 5K SPG pts.

My husband's card got $50 statement credit on first request. Same wordings on mine got me a 2K SPG pts. I wrote back to ask them matching the $50 statement credit and I offered to return the 2K SPG pts, or they up the SPG pts to 5K. I then got an additional $50 statement credit and also kept the 2K SPG pts which they said could not be reverted.

In light of your mortgage application, may be you could try this before doing all the card conversion dance to avoid the $65 fee?

I am of the camp that a smooth closing is well worth the $65 fee but you could ask little something to reduce the fee substantially.

SM is your best friend. Calling may not produce same result. Hint: pick a time that the SM would be handled by oversea center.