mhdena

He reminds me of another (banned) poster who ran off with MR points after an accounting mistake.

GeorgeLopez

On the contrary Michelle, I've never had my points frozen by AMEX. But I can tell you after the countless horror stories I've read, I certainly wouldn't be trusting of them, nor would I use AMEX as a "bank" for my points as so many do.


I also find it curious that you claim I'm a new member solely for the purpose of bashing AMEX yet you cite another non-AMEX related thread that I post in. And since it's obvious you're following all of my posts, you can clearly see that I participate in MANY non-AMEX related threads.


Hmmmmmm.

gsxsilver

there is also stories of chase shut downs. citi shut downs. for every one shut down there are ten/hundred thousands of active account. no use worrying about any horror stories... waste of time if you are.

dw

I think this picture posted on reddit (supposedly taken after a dinner out with a group of friends in NYC) speaks volumes:

http://www.reddit.com/r/churning/com...meet_but_your/

6 CSRs and one Amex

GeorgeLopez

Chase shut downs are normally for legitimate reasons. AMEX has frozen points of quite a few innocent people (this is documented, not speculation).

GeorgeLopez

Yup

Gig103

As a vehement Chase hater (bad experiences with both personal and business accounts), it makes me sad to see this, and that CSR is beating Amex. Honestly, if I didn't have nonexistent trust in Chase, I'd have gone with it over Amex Platinum too, though. Especially since there was that 100k signup.

krazykanuck

The real question is going to be, how many people keep the CSR once the 2nd annual fee posts? I mean with the 100k UR bonus that card was a no brainer for everybody to get.

conde

I couldn't agree more.

Chase has spent a lot of money acquiring customers with the CSR launch. Chase lost millions of $$$ late last year due to that. Chase is hoping to make the CSR profitable in the long run, but time will tell.

Chase is already concerned about people canceling the CSR. Recently, Chase implemented a $300 travel credit limit per account year, as opposed to calendar year. This was likely done because a material amount of CSR cardholders have been double-dipping on the $300 credit the first account year, and then cancel their cards before the annual fee renewal comes up. Chase wants to limit losses on future customers. It will be interesting to see what other benefits Chase curtails for the CSR going forward.

Troopers

I'm on the fence but leaning towards canceling and apply for the CSP. The CSR rentention thread will be interesting.

The NY Times article was premature.

washeelers747

No idea. I think they are spooked by my recent link to VS, then request large transfer few days later. I was like, duh I want to take advantage of VS 30% bonus transfer. Serious AMEX account protection dude said "bonus isn't not important, and security is way more important" when I spoke my mind that AMEX ruined my chance to take advantage of VS bonus before deadline. I was like wow, you made no efforts to make customers feel welcomed.

Learn my lesson, and will burn MR points fast as I can, compare to UR.

mhdena

I saw a stat awhile back where 75% or more used the 100k as cashback.

It will be a lot of defections.

mia

93,000 points is not a large transfer, and American Express doesn't have any particular motivation to stall transfers. In common with other issuers, American Express uses algorithms to flag potential instances of fraud. Something about your account triggered the request for identity verification which is discussed (in varying circumstances) here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ew-signup.html

The people you can speak with don't know why your account was flagged, and they don't have the authority to do anything other than process the documentation.

If you think it's different at other issuers bear in mind that Chase, Citi and US Bank's credit card operations are all run by people who likely were passed over for promotion at American Express. They don't seem to have much in the way of original ideas. If they see that American Express is reducing fraud by using a particular strategy we can can sure they will mimic it. ( I have already seen one report of Bank of America requiring a cardholder to visit a BoA branch to verify identity.)

gsxsilver

Maybe I am not the "interesting" millennial that the article refers to... or even hang out with any. But ever since said bloomberg article came out I tried to pay attention to card use within my circle of friends. Only manage to catch a glimpse of one CSR to date.

Gig103

I too suspect there will be a lot of defectors, but the point of the NYTimes article is that CSR is the new "cool card".