Odd Call From AMEX about Gift Cards
 

This summer I was solicited via snail mail for the Gold Business Rewards card. I had never done the MR thing so I tried it and was approved.

I have been with AMEX for since college and have a very good record with them. However I received a call a week or two after getting my card and they asked me some odd questions. They related to foriegn currencies, wiring funds internationally AND do I buy gift cards.

I answered truthfully as I do periodically purchase gift cards for resturants, gas cards for employees, gifts and just to have mad money in my wallet instead of cash. They were good with it and I never heard back.

I mention this to see 1 - Is this a common call that people get with AMEX golds and/or 2 - Seems like the gift card buying sprees that has been referred to on FT in various places has been on their radar for awhile.

If it is 2, I would hope everyone would try to keep it kind of "cool" because it seems that if AMEX gets too spooked on this they may create issues for everyone on Gift Cards even if the purpose is a tradditional need (gifts, family dining, mad money, employee reimbursement, etc...)

We all want to get our points and spends but just as we want our customers and clients to be good to us, we need to show a little love to the card companies who offer these opportunities and help feed our hobby (or some would call OCD tendencies).

That is my two cents. Flame away and have a nice FTing day :cool:

Sounds as if it was a straightforward market research call. There are two different classes of gift cards:

Merchant cards are issued by retailers and are sold at face value. There is absolutely no restriction on buying such with an American Express card.

American Express, MasterCard and VISA also sell prepaid cards which can be used at most (but not all) places where credit cards are accepted. These are sold above face value, and a card issuer may consider them to be a cash equivalent if purchased directly from a financial institution. These are the type of cards most often discussed on Flyertalk.

Which type was American Express asking about?

They were asking specifically about how I intended to use this card and told me they were making notes in my account. This was not outside market research this was definitely an internal desk doing followup to my card activation.

First time I have ever had a call like that and I carry enough plastic to make a recycling station blush.

My wife just got a Prmr Buss Gold and I am curious if we get a call on hers in the next week or so.

At the time it was what it was but with the more threads I see about AMEX locking accounts, etc... I wonder if they are trying to pigeon hole your useage before you use it to see if there may be reasons to "follow up" with you later.

Just curious if anyone else ever got a call like that.