Is American Express Cracking Down On Giftcard/Simon Malls Purchases For Minimum Spend Requirements/Authorized User Bonuses?

There has been some rumors circulating that American Express has not been counting gift card purchases towards minimum spend requirements and authorized user bonuses, in particular purchases made at Simon Mall. It should be noted that in the fine print of all American Express offers it states: Purchases to meet the spend requirement do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers, cash advances, purchases of traveler’s checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of any cash equivalents.

From what I’ve read this seems to have started in early August. Some discussion of this can be found here:

It seems that only bonus points (e.g sign up bonus/authorized user bonuses) are affected by this change and not points earned from regular spend.

Datapoints

Simon Malls

Other Stores

  • Reader received authorized user bonus on three cards with purchases at Kroger but not at CVS

Our Verdict

For me what is concerning is that other sign up bonuses from the same time period are posting fine and also people seem to be getting their bonuses quickly when hitting the minimum spend requirement not including their Simon Mall/other purchases. I suspect the RAT is at play here, but I don’t say that with any level of confidence.

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Samuel S
Samuel S (@guest_654502)
October 9, 2018 00:28

Whats Simon Mall and whats MSing?

Dan
Dan (@guest_587792)
April 29, 2018 13:59

Does anyone know whether purchases on the MPX app have counted toward minimum spend recently? Thank you

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_727787)
February 26, 2019 22:52

Should be fine.

Pat
Pat (@guest_530309)
December 4, 2017 21:10

I tried to purchase SimonGC for my Amex Gold. Already met the spending since October. No bonus has shown yet. Called the rep and they told me to wait 8-12 weeks. Still nothing is posted. Just curious if this applies to all GCs or just Simon one??????

NBG
NBG (@guest_530317)
December 4, 2017 21:26

I think it applies to places where they send detailed purchase data (or at-least Simon). I have done some grocery store VGC MS and points posted without issues.

Scott
Scott (@guest_542088)
December 27, 2017 18:08

I know this has been asked but V as in Visa or V as in Vanilla 🙂

AL
AL (@guest_542090)
December 27, 2017 18:10

Visa

Joanne
Joanne (@guest_503894)
October 30, 2017 18:31

75K posted after business $5K spend. Purchases included GCs and organic spend. Noticed new promo states, “no GCs” for the 50K points. So point bonus decreased and NO GC spend on the gold business cc.

Thanks Doc for all your insightful comments and helping us to detour the system!!!

Dustin Mott
Dustin Mott (@guest_490861)
October 9, 2017 19:02

I read on Flyertalk that Macerich didn’t work to trigger the bonus.
“Yes, Macerich. Confirmed via chat that is was not “qualified spend” when the purchase was not included in the total qualified spend amount provided by the CSR.
The previous GC spend was on a now closed statement, posted at 1x, and the charge was paid in full. No bonus points were shown as pending.”

PeaceandPost
PeaceandPost (@guest_489527)
October 7, 2017 13:27

I did not receive 1x normal spend points from Ameriprise Gold Simon mall purchases. This post came out the day after I tried to MS 2 Ameriprise Gold card minimum spends. Didn’t get the 25k bonuses nor did either card even get 1x base spend (statement closed 4 days ago). Also purchased 3k of Simon GC’s on Hilton Surpass for minimum spend that day. Statement closed and no 100k bonus from that spend, but 3x base spend did post. SO, could be that on all MR earning cards Simon is completely excluded from earning points, and co-brands only base points qualify.

Don't Hate Me RAT
Don't Hate Me RAT (@guest_483627)
September 27, 2017 15:26

At least 24k of 25k spend at Simon. Delta Plat bonus boost 10k miles 10k mqm posted with statement close. Normal

NinjaX
NinjaX (@guest_489229)
October 6, 2017 18:59

normal until Nov 1 man…

Joanne
Joanne (@guest_482945)
September 26, 2017 07:21

Mike, when I place a call such as yours in nature, I make sure I document the time of the call ref# and person I spoke with. I have referenced prior calls (which are generally recorded) and have been successful in receiving what I was promised.
Good Luck!

Mike
Mike (@guest_482902)
September 26, 2017 01:39

I had a chat tonight for almost an hour that got me no where. 90% of MSR on an Amex Delta card was at Simon Mall during a GC deal (non-VGC)…. It’s been 2 weeks since close of that statement with no bonus posting… The chat was brutal. NO mention of Simon Mall or even that any of my spend was not qualified spend. After getting a supervisor on the chat, they confirmed I had over $3k spend and that I “should” get the bonus at the 6-8 weeks mark…. I did ask for a ‘guarantee’ that the supervisor believes I have met the MSR and that the bonus will post, along with asking for a chat reference ID…. I don’t know how much weight that will hold in a dispute if the bonus does not post…. I’m thinking if it hasn’t yet, it won’t. Fun stuff.

Mimi
Mimi (@guest_482963)
September 26, 2017 08:42

I had a similar experience with the much delayed posting of bonus on SPG personal 35K pts offer. Whenever I called to follow up, they’d tell me to wait 8 to 12 weeks after the spend and they were working on the glitch….but the last time I told him it’s been 16 weeks and all he could say was he was so sorry for the inconvinience but he nor any supervisor can’t add it manually. I was about to file a CFPB complaint by my next call but when I checked again, full bonus was there. I’m just glad I didn’t have to file the complaint just to get the bonus. All those time I managed to keep my cool, I reminded myself that it’s not the rep’s fault and I just have to be patient. Patience is indeed, a virtue.

Jazz
Jazz (@guest_482525)
September 25, 2017 12:20

DP : On my Delta Amex Biz, 1k spent for July 8th counted but 2k spend on Aug 26th didn’t count for my minimum spend. Tom thumb GC counted.

Jazz
Jazz (@guest_482527)
September 25, 2017 12:22

Edit: DP : On my Delta Amex Biz, 1k spent for July 8th counted but 2k spend on Aug 26th didn’t count for my minimum spend from Simon Mall. Tom thumb GC counted.

NinjaX
NinjaX (@guest_482680)
September 25, 2017 17:51

but u got at least 1x right?

Jazz
Jazz (@guest_482828)
September 25, 2017 22:25

Yes. It just didn’t count towards minimum spend.