Originally Posted by
snowdog850
So when the credits are given in a future cycle, you basically earn less in that future cycle. Let’s keep it simple and assume everything is at the same multiplier. I’ll use 3. In February you spend $6,000 and earn 18,000 points. March and April are normal. Then in May you return something that you bought in February that cost $2,000. You also spent $5,000 in May.
The card would only award you 9,000 points in May because the credit would come off off the $5,000 you spent in May. They don’t go back and remove 6,000 and award 15,000. Although I guess it might be hard to know what they actually do behind the scenes.
The bolded part is exactly what happens. I build a spreadsheet at each month's Amex statement closing that tallies all of my purchases and credits for the month along with their respective points multipliers. The math always works our exactly as you describe above in your May example.
BTW, there's a link in your on line Amex account that lets you download all of your transactions as an Excel file, so it's easy to track everything.
Originally Posted by
snowdog850
I’m wondering what would happen if you go negative. Like in the same scenario, what happens if only spent $1,000 in May? You just get zero points for May and then they take another 3,000 points off your June total?
I've never been in that situation, so no help there. I imagine that it's possible Amex could impose retroactive adjustments to prior month's point earnings, or they could just carry a points deficit over to the next month(s) and not award any points until the deficit is covered.