SPG no longer doing instant internal transfers
 

EFFECTIVE TODAY - NOVEMBER 15th

All internal point transfers will go through a special department which will check eligibility for the transfer. Due to overwhelming fraud in the internal point transfer system, it will now take up to 5 days for a point transfer to take effect.

This came from a Platinum Concierge agent.

Sounds like they're clamping down on all those "short-term address changes".

No surprise here. It was only a matter of time....

As long as they are still allowing point transfers, this sounds like an expected change. I recently signed my wife up for the 30K CC bonus promo and would like to combine our points in the future for some awards. ^

This is bad news for all. It was one of the few programs that allowed this so freely. It was a big reason for how highly they were valued in CC as well. Still a great program and their value is still high, but this does take some of their value away as it won't be easy to exchange.

Funny, I would say it's good news for all legitimate members. Fewer people getting points fraudulently should lead to better availability.

Making the program harder to defraud makes it worse?

I think this might be a reference not to SPG being a worse program as a result, but maybe as a non-viable conduit to transfer SPG to AA. For many, SPG was the backbone of AA transfer accrual.

I just did a transfer through the online chat. They said it could take up to 5 days before I see the points in my account.

Yes, now they are just another low earn/high burn hotel point program, except for the CC churn.

Starwood Points
 

Earlier today, I called in and did a transfer to a family member with the same last name, residing at the same address since the inception of both accounts.

All points transferred immediately.

So perhaps only certain transfers are undergoing scrutiny.

Seriously. Enough has been said about fraud. Can we please return to the newsworthy initial post, and people's experience with the implementation.

/mod

part of this has to be that US Air Grand Slam promo where everyone wanted one mile transferred in. I don't know much about it but there were quite a few requests for this type of transaction.

I understand wanting to add a level of security such as verifying an additional security question or having a supervisor make the transfer but requiring 5 days is simply not acceptable for the 21st century.

But what happens if they found out two are trading points or the two accounts has no relationship to each other? Just like IHG, shut your account?

Household Account?
 

One way to prevent fraud would be to create something like the household account in British Airway program. You can still transfer between household members, but it take more works to add members and remove members from the account.