zanzibar

Just got the AMEX Platinum credit card due to the 100k and 10x grocery + gas bonus.

I tend to purchase at least $500 worth of gift cards at my grocery store each month. Most of these gift cards are for stores such as Starbucks, Apple, Restaurants, Amazon (rare) etc... when on sale.

Have heard rumors that AMEX can clamp down ("clawback") on such gift card purchases for getting the 10x bonuses. If/when they do, are you still given the regular 1x points, and does your GC purchase spend still count towards the $5k spend in getting the 100k new card promotion bonus? Do you get any warning from AMEX of abuse of bonus category?

If you already see the bonus in the rewards section of your online AMEX card portal (with a star next to the 9x added bonus per what I see in mine), can the bonus still be revoked after the fact?

Thanks.

garykung

AMEX always has the final say.

The way I see it, you are definitely pushing the limit. But you should be fine.

LAX

Getting the grocery bonus clawed back would be less of a concern than getting your MR account shut down after Amex considers you abusing its T&Cs, especially if you plan on purchasing GCs to fulfill your minimum spend requirement. I have mentioned in another thread that if you purchase small denomination third party GCs along with your typical grocery runs, I don't think Amex would give you much trouble. If you start purchasing $500 GCs on a monthly basis, I won't be surprised if Amex decides to scrutinize your account(s), which is probably not something you want, IMHO.

LAX

sleepy3192

Do you have existing points racked up beforehand? Do you care if you are on amex's blacklist? Do you care in the event they release new products in the future, you are not able to get those products? If the question to all those questions is "no" then go ahead and buy gift cards with your Amex card. If the answer is yes to any of them, I wouldn't recommend it.

soy

Depends on your grocery store. Many do not share L3 data with Amex, but the bigger the chain is, the more likely they share. If you spread out your monthly GC purchases so that your $500 is more like 5x$100 then you are probably safe.

brc01

Amex doesn't care if all of your charges come from stores that withold L3 data. They will still clawback and send you a nice letter saying these all transactions aren't eligible for rewards. They have velocity triggers in place (if they choose to use them) that don't depend on whether they have L3 data or not.

To answer OPs question. They're not going after someone that buys $500 a month in closed-loop GCs. They're going after flagrant gaming in the range of at least several thousand/week to tens of thousands/month during limited-time promos.

beachmouse

$80 a month in gas cards is a perfectly normal thing in Florida because Publix runs a pretty regular ‘spend $50 and buy a $50 GC for $40’ and I’ve never heard of AmEx having issue with that or the other $50 for $40 prepaid Visa that also sometimes comes up at Publix if you’re looking for general data points

Super Mario

I don't claim to be an expert on these things. However, if I was a company looking to crack down on this activity, if I saw consistent, large dollar amount, even numbers, it would be pretty easy to spot.

If your grocery bills were like $237.23 and $182.23, it would probably fly under the radar a lot more than $500 and $500.

sdsearch

If you're saying it's "my" grocery store, then you presumably buy other things there too.

So if $500 a month can be spread out, and each gift card purchase includes something else so the total purchase amount is "random" looking, that's much better than buying a whole month's $500 worth of gift cards at one time and with nothing else on the purchase.

Meanwhile, the reason is to do this is not only to avoid a clawback, but more importantly to avoid your account being shut down.

So the whole point is, make is as "non-obvious" to Amex as possible that you're buying gift cards.

zanzibar

Thank you everyone for the great advice.

I usually buy "up to" $500 gift card purchases each month is probably a more accurate statement. However, a couple of months of the year, I go a little over that amount when they have the best sales (e.g., this Christmas month).

So I was trying to gauge data points for clawbacks and warnings from AMEX if any. Looks like most forum members have not had problems or are just wise and know when to stop. All my purchases are closed-loop gift cards so no Visa/MC etc...

I always buy these gift cards along with other groceries interspersed in there to potentially make things less detectable. And I never buy more than $200 GC in one go.

In any case, some of the advice so far makes me want to be even more cautious.

eponymous_coward

This is the boilerplate language that's likely in your T&C for AMEX signup bonuses. Emphasis added:

So they can by rights say "no signup for you, we told you that in the T&C for the signup bonus" if your GC purchases are what qualifies you for a bonus. So it's up to you, I suppose.

joecool1885

Considering an Amex Platinum, and was wondering about this.
I have a BCP, and for Yearrrssss have used it for gift card purchases at the grocery store.
Specifically I buy 400-500 a month in Gas Station cards (because the cheapest station around is debit or gift card only), and occasionally gift cards for birthdays too.
I've never had a problem, though admittedly I usually do try to "hide" my purchase by mixing in some groceries too so it isn't just an even $400.00. Wondering if this means my habit will transfer without issue to Platinum card, or if maybe they handle it differently for the BCP card.
I intend to ramp up to $1500-$2000/month if I can. Wouldn't mind having a years advance worth of gas money.