If you don't mind me asking, about how much did you charge to your card?

This question goes to all too--am curious what would warrant a 20k MR retention and what wouldn't, same for 50k MR, etc.

In 12 month period, I barely charged $10K.

Lack of bonus spend categories is not an incentive to spend.
I did charge car rentals abroad since I opted for premium insurance.
I also did make some purchases to use premium protection/warranty (but my HH also has this)
I did use the MR mall for a few purchases since bonus where higher than other malls.

Overall I think the benefits of the card are enormous, to have it and carry it, but not to charge on it.
If my next 12 months involved a lot of travel, I would gladly pay the $450.

For grins I called to see whether any of my 3 cards had retention eligibility – nada. Below is my AX participation profile :p

1) Starwood with $25,000 in 2011 annual spend and renewal in August
2) Delta Platinum with $5,000 in 2011 annual spend and renewal in September
3) Platinum with $1,000 in annual spend and renewal in July
4) FICO = 770+
5) Member since 2002

Incidentally, the Platinum rep I spoke with said “boy, you have the wrong card for earning points. Platinum is not the way to go. Gold is.” :D

yikes. $25k spending on spg and no retention?? i'm surprised. wonder if there is any "bluffing" going on, and if you actually called to cancel, if the rep would respond differently.

can you clarify a bit more on what the rep said about plat vs. gold for earning points? i see that it earns 3x for airfare. is that the main thing? now that i see it, i wonder if i should also get the gold card (have the plat and the spg now, like you).

Plat w/ approx 40K spend. After some discussion was offered $100 or 20K points to keep Plat. Took the 20K.

Wish I had read this before I called up today. I have the Plat card with an annual spend of 30K. The rep offered me a generous statement credit of $400 and because I was not expecting this, I jumped on it. In retrospect, I would have preferred the points (and should have asked), especially at the rate you had above - $100 : 20K points. I would have gladly taken 80K points :p although I doubt it was on the table. Regardless, I think I should be grateful

I think you did well. The number of points on the table is probably far less the 1 point to 1 cent ratio.. which would mean you're buying points not taking the rebate.

I always take the discount, and given the choice to pay for miles or get a discount, I mostly err on the side of discount. The only time I buy up the ability to charge to Amex cc, is when method of accounting and charging back getting reimbursement is involved. In this case, it would be worth the buyup.

Under FAQ on membership rewards it says points have no expiration, yet I've also read on here that if you cancel the credit card that's linked and don't transfer the points you'll lose them, what is correct?

I guess I found my own answer, it does say you forfeit the points if you cancel all linked cards it would be nice if they included that with the FAQ,

Cancelling the personal gold card, and applying for business gold card in its place, I find that there are funny transactions going on in terms of card charges, refunds and credit/transfers.

But the long and short of it, if you give Amex the business, and pay the annual fees (Amex profit), then Amex will give you the privelege of keeping the points. To avoid losing the points, if you happen to cancel all of your Amexes, I would simply transfer to a FFP or hotel plan, prior to shutting down the last Amex.

[QUOTE=Ancien Maestro;18267101]Cancelling the personal gold card, and applying for business gold card in its place, I find that there are funny transactions going on in terms of card charges, refunds and credit/transfers.


They may approve a business gold card if you still have a personal card i suspect , depending on your credit?

[QUOTE=bernyx;18269292]Between my wife and I.. and I think Amex somehow sees it, we ran over a 100K, moreso like 125K through Amex last year. As I've stated before, no credit check was necessary on our latest application as we both held Amex cards with a perfect payment history. So I believe that strong performance on the cards was key to obtaining another Amex in the latest application, and credit was not a factor.

My Experience
 

I just pushed for a retention bonus on my Canadian SPG Amex. I had 65K on it last year and was offered the "maximum offer" of 15K starpoints or a gift certificate to a partner store equal to the annual fee of $125. They didn't include the $50 additional card fee but the points are worth far more anyway.

I said my spending was moving to the TD Visa Infinite and the economics didn't work for a $170/year secondary card. I got a hard sell to switch to the Gold Rewards Amex (which is similar to the TD rewards program) and when that didn't work they seemed ready to say goodbye before I had to prompt them to offer a retention bonus.

When I cancelled my Business SPG Amex there was no discussion of a retention at all but I was open about moving to another Amex card so why would they try to keep me in the old card?

Called this morning as the Platinum annual dues posted. The first rep added 10K MR for being a valued customer and later the specialist offered either $200 credit or 25K MR. Took less than 5 minutes of calling and absolutely no resistance from AMEX. I have been a Plat holder since '96 and spent about 75K last year.

Which offer did you take? I think the 25K is more valuable than the $200 credit as its less than 1 cent per mile.