dwbf11

Coming up for annual fee time on my DL Amex Reserve, which I have had for 2 years. I want to downgrade it to a Gold (or Platinum, if any of you have a convincing argument!), given a change in travel patterns. I've read on here that some people wait until the fee hits to downgrade in order to receive the second BOGO cert; is that still the typical way to do this?

And on a separate and unrelated note, does the BOGO cert from year 1 go away if I get rid of the Reserve, but it has not been used yet?

dwbf11

242 views and not one reply?

tfox

Don't downgrade, just flat out cancel.

Renes Points

There are many things you can do but not good to post on a major board like FT about these kind of things!

dwbf11

Wasn't trying to be backhanded at all or ask for advice which would allow me to skirt the rules; sorry if that wasn't clear. To rephrase, I was attempting to ascertain if receiving a BOGO cert is dependent on paying the annual fee for the upcoming year (in other words, is it forward looking), or if it is earned by virtue of having the card for a certain amount of time (backward looking). At renewal time, I will have had the card for two full years, going into year three. So, in my case, I want to know if I would actually get that second year's BOGO certificate as a result of having the card for two full years, or would I not receive it because I did not re-up for year 3? I think that's a pretty straightforward question about the mechanics of the card's rewards operations.

And in any case, I don't think there is anything "secret" about asking what happens to my first year BOGO cert.

jtrue28

The cert doesn't post immediately upon renewal. If you want to make sure you receive the cert, then wait until that happens and cancel the card. You will get a pro-rated amount refunded.

No, the previous cert won't "go away"...it'll just expire if not used before the expiration.

dwbf11

Thank you - this is exactly what I wanted to know. Cheers!

swps

I just got rid of my Reserve card and was told my unused certificate would go away immediately if I downgraded to a Gold, but not if I went with a Platinum. I used the cert and went with the SPG card instead as SPG points provide me better value. (and I was able to keep my same card number) I got my annual fee prorated back to me and the SPG fee was prorated and a nice sized credit showed up on my account.

I don't think you can have more than one certificate as one will expire before the next one is issued. If you used your 1st certificate and then waited for your second, use it and then downgrade it will be just as JTRUE28 said.