Originally Posted by anabolism

In general, I think you can say anything that includes "cancel" or "close." Personally, I typically say something such as "I'm received my statement and noticed the annual fee was billed. I'm considering closing the account." The agent will then come back with either "I can close it for you right now," or "Let me get a specialist on the line to assist you with that." As far as HUCA, personally I always say something pleasant before hanging up. If I'm calling for a credit card retention offer and the agent offers to close the account immediately, I'll ask how long I have to decide and still get the fee refunded, then say I'll think about and will call back by then. If I'm speaking to an airline agent, I'll say someone just walked into my office, or I'm getting a call on another line, or some such and then hang up. As far as timing, you can review the posts in this and related threads. Many people seem to check their accounts online or in the app and call as soon as the fee hits, or a few weeks before the fee hits, while others wait until after the fee posts. Personally, I do things the old-fashioned way, with paper statements mailed to me, and I call when I see a statement showing the fee (typically three or four weeks after the fee was posted). As far as frequency, you can call back every few days to see if a offer appears on your account.

My understanding is that the agent has very little discretion; when the the agent pulls up your account, it will have offers or not, as determined by AmEx's algorithms. If there are multiple offers, the agent might present you with all of them, or only the one that most directly addresses your stated reason for considering closing, but if there are no offers, I don't think the agent can generate one.

Originally Posted by sdsearch

Before you worry about how to speak with an agent, make sure that you are speaking to the right agent. In the case of Amex, call only the special retention number in the wikipost atop this thread, not the number on back of your card.

A general recommendation for all banks: Say something like "I'm considering closing", not "I want to close". At some banks (though not if you call the special retention number at Amex), saying "I want to close" can lead them to actually doing that before giving you any offers. So saying something like "I'm considering closing", which is non-committal, is way safer IMHO.