Originally Posted by
czcat
I have amex plat personal card.
for the 13 months rule, I accepted a retention offer on 2/23/2023, and now I have an annual fee posted on 2/13/2024. Does this mean I won't be eligible for a retention offer till 3/23/2024, but then it will be too late to downgrade the card (and get af waived) if retention offer was not good or not given at all.
So is it better if I just downgrade my card now and try next year?
Downgrading a card never gets the AF waived, you just get a pro-rated refund for the daily unused amount and then get charged the AF for card you downgraded to (Gold or Green) also based on the days left in your card membership year.
You only get an AF refund if you cancel the card within 30 days of AF posting. You should not cancel before 2/24/24 to make sure you are not violating the 12 month retention rule but you will still be able to get an AF refund at that time.
With regard to another retention offer, you can always try to see if there is somehow another retention available to you prior to 13 months but if there isn't and you need to wait until 3/23 you will be outside the 30 day window for AF refund for cancelation but you can still go the downgrade route for a pro rated refund.