Originally Posted by
sdsearch
But how much buffer??? in this case, the OP is only under by $34, but explained that they forgot to subtract the annual fee. That implies the OP already had lots of buffer, just not enough to cover the unsubtracted annual fee. That implies the OP already had $450-$34=$416 of buffer.
Ie, a blind buffer may not help. Understand which definitely counts, what definitely doesn't count, and what could a problem with counting, seems more important.
The OP is not the first to have missed a minimum spend simply because they forgot to subtract the annual fee. (I saw the same kind of post on another card with a much smaller annual fee.) If you know the annual fee doesn't count, you don't need a buffer the size of the annual fee. But if you forget that the annual fee doesn't count, how would you know that the buffer size you need is equal to or greater than the annual fee???
It seems to me it's much more important to understand what does and doesn't count toward minimum spend than to just blindly add some random buffer.
I usually do a 10% > minimum spend buffer, just in case there is a return, a delay in posting, or something like that.
Where I'm confused is why the OP waited 3 months to check his account, if he did his minimum spend in the first month like he makes it sound. The points should have posted after the first or second statement, depending when that spend was hit. There is absolutely no logical reason to wait until after the minimum spend period to check if the points posted.