Last year some readers had points clawed back due to self referring themselves to credit cards. This is despite the fact that American Express had already sent out 1099 forms for these referral bonuses. In the last few days we’ve see a number of people receive a points adjustment from American Express (1, 2, 3), these aren’t the full amounts that people lost from self referrals. My guess is that American Express is crediting back points were 1099 forms were issued, but I don’t know that for sure (Update: This doesn’t seem to be the case, as some people have received a points adjustment but received no 1099). It seems most people have not received a points adjustment of any type, so I suspect whatever is happening is being slowly rolled out. Feel free to share your own experienes in the comments below.
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Received 45K points back on 1/23. I had 90k clawed back in late May 2019 from 6 self referrals in Winter 2018-Spring 2019. I don’t think I received a 1099, at least not that I’ve seen yet.
I did call a couple times over a period of a few months and had long phone calls with customer service reps who, as others have reported, there was absolutely nothing they could do for me. No idea if that helped get these points back but wanted to report another DP.
Got a 15k pt adjustment. 40k total clawed back
Wonder if the adjustment is for amex correcting the 1099 to the correct cash value of 0.6c vs 1c.
I received 15k for my BBP. I can’t explain why. I did lots of self referrals.
Amex is just a dumpster fire with this crap.
With numerous phone calls and 2 separate Executive Office cases, I proposed they return 50% of the clawback as a settlement. Questionable violation due to vague terms…improper website coding…etc. Told them I wanted to stay on their good side and not close any of my 12 accounts. They gave me nothing, basically told me to piss off, and said closing all the accounts was, “my choice.” Pretty disappointing. Gave it my all. Not every referral was a self one, but they’ve blocked me from doing ANY referrals and won’t say when/if the ban will ever be lifted. I don’t know if *THEY* even know the answer. I’ve since closed 2 accounts with another 5 closures planned. Shifted a lot of spend elsewhere. Terrible policy. Basically making their customers pay for their own approval/coding mistake(s). 55k taken. 0 returned.
Much like AA, I suspect they don’t negotiate with terrorists. To be frank, they don’t care about your business. In fact, they’d probably prefer you harass other banks. If you really want to teach them a lesson, sue them for the cash value of the points and keep collecting SUBs. But hollow threats rarely yield results.
Has anyone got referral privileges back?
or called and asked if it can be reinstated?
I am curious too. It sucks that I can’t refer family and friends 🙁
I called and asked. No notes in the system and the Membershio rewards rep escalated it and still nothing. Could be systematic.
I appealed to the Executive Office level. No information on when the referral ban will be lifted — if ever. I personally don’t know if Amex has even thought that far into the future. Seem to be doing all of this on the fly and then seeing the fallout. If people raise heck, they will likely stop. If people just sit there and do nothing, then they’ll push a lil bit further. If a person has multiple cards and they don’t use/need some of them, recommend closing 1+ cards. Shift spend elsewhere. I’ve closed 2 accounts and shifted my ad spend from Amex Gold biz to Chase Ink Pref. It’s not like every referral I did was a self-one. The terms were vague. Approval process flawed. I’ve made it clear I don’t agree with their course of action. They do not seem to care at all. It’s bad business to burn bridges and make customers pay for their own errors.
Me and my wife lost our referral privileges on our personal AMEX Cards. I can still refer from my business AMEX cards though. I’ll probably just switch all my cards to business over time. We’ve referred to each other but I’ve never referred a card to myself.
Speaking of 1099s for referral points, did anyone ever do the legwork with their lawyer/taxman/whatever to determine how appropriate it is to be 1099’d for these points as income when most T&Cs state that you do not own the points and the respective issuer can take them away whenever they please?
Wonder if someone could report tax fraud on thst basis to the IRS (as opposed to trying to fight the IRS over income).
Got 15k back, Total claw back was 45k. Didn’t get any 1099 either.
What does the description for the 15k say in your account?
Just says Points adjustment
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I didn’t get clawed back any points last year but Amex did deny three upgrade and sign up bonus with no lifetime language so I hope they give those too.