dnotes

I guess not long enough. The other issue with churning is that it shows up on your amex account history. But the flip side to this is that loyalty is only rewarded tiered to amount spent.

Oh well

Sweetvibes

I applied at the end of June for a personal SPG Amex and received it without a problem (15k points and all). I just noticed the offer is valid again until November 12. This time I am thinking of applying for the business version (legitimately for my new start-up) If I apply at the end of October (4 months since the last application) what is the likelihood of it going through? Has anyone done something similar for the personal and business?

1Newflyer

When were bonus points posted for your card? I have received the card, spent the required amount, got 2 statements and no points. Wrote email inquiring the lack of same and now its more than 2 weeks of investigating what happen. Points for purchases were posted few days after each statement.

KelownaGuy

I spoke to customer service yesterday regarding the posting of the bonus points and they said they will post after the three months, regardless of if you make the threshold in purchases in the 1st or 2nd month. They also created a new SPG account for me, even though I had entered my current account number when applying, so I had to call SPG and have them merge my accounts. The points from my purchases posted as soon as the statement was paid.

Sweetvibes

My spend was met during my 2nd month, so they posted on my 3rd statement. This coincides by chance with the previous poster about showing up after the 3rd statement.

Sweetvibes

I also had the same problem. They opened a new spg account number for me which then had to be merged. Of course the staff at SPG are brilliant and merged my old account into my new account so that my information forward would be the new account number. My history was wiped out and could not be retrieved, although it did show correctly show total nights and lifetime nights, past stays were all gone. It also shows that I am an SPG member since 2012 which is incorrect. I hope this doesn't delay my lifetime status eligibility for Gold/Platinum

Si_Ting_ca

I called today to cancel my Amex (had it for two years now). Spoke to their retentions dept (it's called something else) and was offered a $250 GC. Was given a $300 GC last year but my spending went down from $125k to $75k this year. I accepted their offer.

Did I do the right thing? Should I have cancelled my card and re-apply for another one, save myself $120 plus get 15k SPG points?

Braindrain

Whether you did the right thing is really up to you. I rarely use my Amex card (and it amazes me how you could use it so often being located in YVR) so being without it for a couple of months is no biggie. If you subtract the annual fee, you accepted $130 in lieu of 15K bonus points. But, with your spend pattern, you may also have given up around 15K in points so I'd consider it a wash.

1Newflyer

its probably a wash

Preacher7

I don't think you did the right thing. The card is churnable. Every 3 months (which is about right when they renew the 15K/1K spend/no AF offer) you can apply for a new card and get the bonus again and again. Keep canceling the cards before the AF comes up, and you've got a sustainable system of 60K bonus points coming in each year on only 4K spend with no AF.

Look, this is the one offer that we canucks have that is WAY BETTER than the Americans have! It's the best CC offer bar none in Canada, and it's amazing to me that more folks don't just on the wagon for it. The usual US offer is 25K bonus after 5K spend! They have to spend 5X the money for less than 2X the points. Even with the 30K offer which may pop up for a month each year, it still requires 5X the spend for just 2X the bonus. Plus the US card isn't churnable--huge diff! Seriously, I can't get enough of this card--it's a big blessing for those north of the 49th.

I value the sign up bonus (15K) at about $500. Why? B/c I burn my points by taking my kids to the WDW Dolphin/Swan resorts. 40K points gets you 5 nights. With taxes and fees, 5 nights would typically cost about $1500 so, doing the math, 15 K is worth about $500 value, over 3cpp. No other Canadian CC comes close to that, especially one that waives the AF and is churnable. Better apply by Nov. 12, though, to get the best goodies!

Braindrain

Your theory is almost correct. There have been reported instances where Amex refused to give applicants a new card. Reason? They've churned too many.

Even I'm trying to reduce my churn rate so I don't get put into that situation.

1Newflyer

Good analyses and its great for you. But not everybody wants to take your kids to resorts, so the $500 is relevant only to you and has no bases for others to make decisions on. Its like saying a $100 bill is worth $300 to me because I just bought an item for that $100 on sale where the regular price was $300. Evaluations should be made on the most common denominator that the average or all folks can be expected to achieve.

margarita girl

Another reason for not churning so frequently is if you use your card to purchase airline tickets. Don't think your trip interruption/cancellation insurance would apply if you cancel your card. I have a friend who was stranded in NJ for 4 days because of Sandy. He sure is happy knowing that Amex will cover all his hotel, meal and other costs.

1Newflyer

Absolutely, its always good to have protection by a credit card when Sandy comes calling once every 100 years. It didn't help some folks.

Braindrain

Not just Sandy. Trip delays, missed connections, resulting hotel stays, delayed baggage, etc, all get lumped into travel insurance. The ones I've listed happen with more regularity.