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Points Clawed Back - Upgraded for bonus, downgraded in less than 12 months.

Points Clawed Back - Upgraded for bonus, downgraded in less than 12 months.

Old Mar 4, 2022, 5:42 pm
  #31  
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Join Date: Mar 2007
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The saga continues! After I had my 25K points clawed back for downgrading to the EveryDay card, I received an offer to upgrade for 40K. I accepted, met the minimum spend and received 40K. Dont plan to downgrade until I am atleast 14-15 months past the date from receiving the bonus.

However, today I decided to apply for Hilton Card with the 70K + 1 free night offer (where the page said I was pre-approved) and got the dreaded message saying I am not eligible to receive the bonus. I quickly canceled the application. Does this mean I am now in some kind of blacklist? How long am I blocked?
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Old Mar 4, 2022, 6:19 pm
  #32  
mia
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Originally Posted by crazyhorse
....not eligible to receive the bonus. ....
There is more than one reason. What did the popup say?
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Old Mar 6, 2022, 11:10 am
  #33  
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Originally Posted by crazyhorse
The saga continues! After I had my 25K points clawed back for downgrading to the EveryDay card, I received an offer to upgrade for 40K. I accepted, met the minimum spend and received 40K. Dont plan to downgrade until I am atleast 14-15 months past the date from receiving the bonus.

However, today I decided to apply for Hilton Card with the 70K + 1 free night offer (where the page said I was pre-approved) and got the dreaded message saying I am not eligible to receive the bonus. I quickly canceled the application. Does this mean I am now in some kind of blacklist? How long am I blocked?
The title of the giant thread about the no-bonus popup gives a clue:

Amex (USA) restricts bonus based on number of accounts opened/closed (June 2018)

The contents of the thread give much more clues.

If the count upgrades as "accounts opened", it could be as simple as because you did two upgrades in the past 24 months, that's your limit.

You should be aware that most banks these days have "anti-churning" measures in place. And some banks have limits on how many cards you can apply for in a given time (and, again, Amex might count upgrades in such limits, who knows).

Btw, "pre-approval" is simply a credit determination, not a signup bonus determination. Amex is often happy to have you open a card,, as long as it can deny you a signup bonus. Ie, "anti-churning" measures. Some other banks, though, deny your for the card outright if you aren't eligible for the bonus, or if you fail their "anti-churning" measures. So it could be considered "less harsh" of Amex to only warn you that it's denying you the bonus, and give you chance to not apply, compared to other banks which simply act without warning.
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Last edited by sdsearch; Mar 6, 2022 at 11:17 am
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Old Mar 6, 2022, 5:41 pm
  #34  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Whenever I downgrade, cancel, or otherwise close a card/account, I always do it via online chat. I say I want to downgrade/cancel a particular card, then confirm that if I close it I won't be losing any bonus points. The rep checks, confirms (in writing) that I won't forfeit any points, then I downgrade/close the card. On more than one occasion, they find that I've gotten a retention bonus or other bonus that would have been forfeited, so I don't close the card.

In any event, I have an easy-to-access record of the conversation.
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Old Mar 6, 2022, 6:23 pm
  #35  
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Originally Posted by mia
There is more than one reason. What did the popup say?
I didnt take a screenshot of the popup. However I did google "Amex popup" and believe this is the message I got - "Based on your history with American Express welcome offers, introductory APR offers, or the number of cards you have opened and closed, you are not eligible to receive this welcome offer"

FWIW, this is the only Amex card I have at the moment and it always has some charges on it, typically in the $300-500 per month. Anyways I think I'll start spending a bit more on this card, especially the charges that are typically non bonus earning and then check again in a few months.
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Old May 31, 2022, 12:12 pm
  #36  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
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I had a Biz Gold, upgraded to Biz Plat in September for 130k bonus. AF hit, I had forgotten about the upgrade (as it's not my only Biz Plat card), cancelled through chat. Bonus clawed back.
Just talked to them again through chat and got the card reinstated. I explained that I never intended to close that card, I was just confused because I have several Biz Plat cards. They're applying for the points to be added back to the account.

Any idea what my chances are?
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 2:43 pm
  #37  
akm
 
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Originally Posted by ChocolateFactory
I had a Biz Gold, upgraded to Biz Plat in September for 130k bonus. AF hit, I had forgotten about the upgrade (as it's not my only Biz Plat card), cancelled through chat. Bonus clawed back.
Just talked to them again through chat and got the card reinstated. I explained that I never intended to close that card, I was just confused because I have several Biz Plat cards. They're applying for the points to be added back to the account.

Any idea what my chances are?
Did you get the reinstated points eventually?
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 4:03 pm
  #38  
 
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They reinstated the card, but they didn’t charge the AF again, which had been refunded.
They opened a case, but refused to reinstate the points.
I have since asked them to open another case and to charge the AF again, so that everything will be as before, so that I have a better argument for having the points redeposited as well.
That case is still being worked on, but I’m not holding my breath… Didn’t see any other DPs for this either. Guess I should be lucky that they didn’t shut me down completely.
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Old Jul 12, 2022, 12:24 pm
  #39  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
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I've tried twice now - they would not budge:

Per the terms, if the card is closed the welcome bonus will be reversed automatically.
These are the card agreement terms.
And we do understand you have reinstated the card after that, but unfortunately the team do not consider it, because the card was closed.
You guys better learn from my mistake...
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Old Jul 23, 2022, 10:15 am
  #40  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
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Big mistake

I had a personal gold card last June and accepted a retention offer of 30k points. I forgot I upgraded the card to platinum with an offer of 100k points in October. Annual fee for my card posts in June and I ask amex if there are retention offers. Nothing offered so I cancel card in July. Just found out today my 100k points are gone just 4 months short of the 12 month contract.

not sure if there are any data points on getting this reinstated. Long time member of Amex. Supervisor on chat said nothing he could do for me but will have a manger call me in 2-3 days.

I know its my mistake but I chatted with the reps for like 3 weeks prior to cancelling my card and no one once mentioned that I had an upgrade in October and would lose my points. They only pointed to the retention offer I received in June, so I thought I was safe. This was a total misunderstanding.
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Old Jul 23, 2022, 10:23 am
  #41  
mia
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Moderator action

Originally Posted by marcopolo12
....any data points ....
I have moved your post into a thread discussing a similar incident, with an unfavorable outcome. Scroll back to review.
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Old Jul 28, 2022, 1:25 pm
  #42  
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OP here.

I currently have the EDP still open and its been more than a year since the upgrade bonus of 40K posted to my account. I religiously charged $600-$1000 to it every month since I got the popup.

Recently in my offers section I see the 90K offer to apply for a new Amex Gold card. Says I am preapproved. Does this mean I am out of jail? Any thoughts if I should apply? The offer language does not include the 1 per lifetime offer (important since I have had the Gold card before)
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Old Jul 28, 2022, 1:28 pm
  #43  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
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I now have five Biz Plat and two Biz Gold cards, if that answers your question. All with a signup bonus. Got one Biz Plat and one Biz Gold after the points were clawed back.
No idea if that means anything for your case or how risky it is though…
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Old Aug 2, 2022, 1:47 pm
  #44  
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Originally Posted by crazyhorse
OP here.

I currently have the EDP still open and its been more than a year since the upgrade bonus of 40K posted to my account. I religiously charged $600-$1000 to it every month since I got the popup.

Recently in my offers section I see the 90K offer to apply for a new Amex Gold card. Says I am preapproved. Does this mean I am out of jail? Any thoughts if I should apply? The offer language does not include the 1 per lifetime offer (important since I have had the Gold card before)
To answer my own question - I applied for the 90K Gold offer and was approved. The offer did say pre-approved after all. I guess after shifting some spend to the EDP (between $700 - $1000 monthly), I worked my way out of popup jail and back in Amex's good graces.
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Old Aug 6, 2022, 2:13 am
  #45  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
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Originally Posted by crazyhorse
To answer my own question - I applied for the 90K Gold offer and was approved. The offer did say pre-approved after all. I guess after shifting some spend to the EDP (between $700 - $1000 monthly), I worked my way out of popup jail and back in Amex's good graces.
I believe you mentioned in your first post that you had the Amex Gold before and closed it. Did the application for this 90K offer not have the usual lifetime language limitation?
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