USA Amex PERSONAL charge cards "please pay by" date is now a "due" date.
Dec 10, 2016, 6:30 am
#16
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 777
Posted links but guess they got deleted... Long story short come 1 January 2017 a whole lot of changes are coming for AmEx it seems.
Guess since losing Costco they've got to make up that revenue some how. Then you have the competition (Chase Sapphire cards come to mind), going after AmEx core demographics.
What others have said is (or was) true; previously long as payment was received before closing date there wasn't a late fee. As of the new year everyone will have a set "payment due" date just as with credit cards. If payment is not made by midnight on said date there will be a nice fat late fee, and one assumes loss of points as well.
Guess since losing Costco they've got to make up that revenue some how. Then you have the competition (Chase Sapphire cards come to mind), going after AmEx core demographics.
What others have said is (or was) true; previously long as payment was received before closing date there wasn't a late fee. As of the new year everyone will have a set "payment due" date just as with credit cards. If payment is not made by midnight on said date there will be a nice fat late fee, and one assumes loss of points as well.
Dec 10, 2016, 8:01 am
#17
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Dec 10, 2016, 8:55 am
#18
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Multiply that out by the very large numbers of customers Amex has that may take advantage of all that time, and I'd bet there is a not-insignificant financial upside for them even without any late fees that might occur.
Dec 10, 2016, 7:09 pm
#20
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 777
Cannot recall nor find what one posted first time:
http://www.businessinsider.com/ameri...crease-2016-11
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/americ...20161125-00144
http://frequentmiler.boardingarea.co...mex-due-dates/
http://millionmilesecrets.com/2016/1...r-lose-points/
Last edited by BugsyPal; Dec 10, 2016 at 7:15 pm
Dec 26, 2016, 10:09 am
#21
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: DFW
Posts: 683
PRG pay by date changed
Did not see a thread about this yet. Today I logged on to one of our PRG accounts and noticed that the pay by date had changed to ten days later. Normally the statement closes around the 18th-20th (the 20th this month) and the pay by date would be the 4th of the next month. However it now says the pay by date is Jan. 14th. I looked back through some older statements and saw a message about having to pay the minimum payment by the pay by date, but nothing about the date actually changing. I'm not complaining, and I try to pay most or all of the balance by the closing date anyway...but just wondering if anyone knows why it changed.
Dec 26, 2016, 5:14 pm
#22
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Presumably because you (a) did not search for "pay by" (in quotes) and (b) it was being discussed over a month ago, and the discussion has fallen off, and it was no longer on the first page of this forum. Your post has (since) been moved into the thread about the announcement of it.
Last edited by sdsearch; Dec 28, 2016 at 2:58 pm Reason: removed link which no longer made sense after thread merge
Dec 27, 2016, 6:17 pm
#24
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Did not see a thread about this yet. Today I logged on to one of our PRG accounts and noticed that the pay by date had changed to ten days later. Normally the statement closes around the 18th-20th (the 20th this month) and the pay by date would be the 4th of the next month. However it now says the pay by date is Jan. 14th. I looked back through some older statements and saw a message about having to pay the minimum payment by the pay by date, but nothing about the date actually changing. I'm not complaining, and I try to pay most or all of the balance by the closing date anyway...but just wondering if anyone knows why it changed.
Dec 31, 2016, 6:13 pm
#26
Join Date: Feb 2006
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My Amex Plat Charge card now has a "due date" vs please pay by date. I had always paid last day of month-which was about 4 days before closing. Now its "due" the 28th. I called Amex Plat and sure enough, they said they are dropping the 15 day "please pay by" date plus 15 day "grace" period to the closing date and putting in a 25 day due date. I got the feeling this is happening on many (if not all) accounts but I could easily be wrong on that.
I will admit that this seems to have happened about 60 days since I used Sign and Travel for the first time ever. It will be paid off in Feb. Not sure if that was a trigger.
I asked them to change the due date to 1st day of month. They did without hesitation for Feb 1.
This didn't cause any issues, but glad I saw the change and wasn't late on anything.
(Now that mia mover this to a complete relevant thread, I have the full picture. I really did try to search for a topical thread.
)
I will admit that this seems to have happened about 60 days since I used Sign and Travel for the first time ever. It will be paid off in Feb. Not sure if that was a trigger.
I asked them to change the due date to 1st day of month. They did without hesitation for Feb 1.
This didn't cause any issues, but glad I saw the change and wasn't late on anything.
(Now that mia mover this to a complete relevant thread, I have the full picture. I really did try to search for a topical thread.
)
Last edited by Mr. Vker; Dec 31, 2016 at 6:24 pm Reason: Removed first clause after moving post to current thread.
Jan 1, 2017, 8:55 am
#27
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Now that it's in the right thread I think you can dismiss that theory too. Many people never used Sign and Travel ever, and yet are getting this change too.
Jan 1, 2017, 10:44 am
#28
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My December bill changes the wording from "please pay by" to now say "due date"
The bill cycle ends 1/6 but the payment due date is 1/1, 5 days earlier than the unwritten due date in the past.
It's sort of annoying mainly because I have had the same bill cycle for for almost 35 years. Now I need to remember to pay sooner (or I suppose set up autopay). It really feels like AMEX is doing my this as a "gotcha" to charge fees to folks caught off guard because there is no legitimate business reason to shorten the due date by just a few days in my view.
The bill cycle ends 1/6 but the payment due date is 1/1, 5 days earlier than the unwritten due date in the past.
It's sort of annoying mainly because I have had the same bill cycle for for almost 35 years. Now I need to remember to pay sooner (or I suppose set up autopay). It really feels like AMEX is doing my this as a "gotcha" to charge fees to folks caught off guard because there is no legitimate business reason to shorten the due date by just a few days in my view.
Jan 3, 2017, 10:27 am
#29
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 38
They sent a notice out about this earlier in the year but when I called the agent said the penalty would only apply if you had an outstanding pay over time debt - NOT if you only had charges themselves. If the agent misled me I am not a happy customer.
The point of having a charge card is to use it for business expenses and such which will be reimbursed but sometimes require a couple of weeks (and sometimes a valid statement) to get the money back from the company. That's why paying by the next statement made Amex somewhat worthwhile.
I've been a platinum owner for almost 20 years and have been discouraged by the nickel and diming that's occurred over the past few years but this one may very well take the cake as it goes straight to the core of the purpose of a charge card. I don't see the point in paying $450 a year if I'm going to get penalized for missing a shortened due date at the same rates as a normal credit card while waiting for the company's accounting department to get around to paying me back
The point of having a charge card is to use it for business expenses and such which will be reimbursed but sometimes require a couple of weeks (and sometimes a valid statement) to get the money back from the company. That's why paying by the next statement made Amex somewhat worthwhile.
I've been a platinum owner for almost 20 years and have been discouraged by the nickel and diming that's occurred over the past few years but this one may very well take the cake as it goes straight to the core of the purpose of a charge card. I don't see the point in paying $450 a year if I'm going to get penalized for missing a shortened due date at the same rates as a normal credit card while waiting for the company's accounting department to get around to paying me back
Jan 3, 2017, 3:10 pm
#30
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Anyone had a statement close early enough this month? What day is your "payment due date"? Is it 2 weeks after the statement date, or 25 days? Or another length of time?
If no data points, I will report my own once my statement close date occurs in several days.
If no data points, I will report my own once my statement close date occurs in several days.