American Express Offering Generous Retention Bonuses

Before you cancel a credit card it’s always a good idea to call to see if there are any offers for keeping the card (known as a retention bonus), we’ve discussed this in some depth before here. Bonuses that are offered vary a lot from card to card and even card member to card member. In some cases credit card issuers are particularly eager to keep their retention rates high so they offer better than normal bonuses. This seems to be the case currently with a lot of readers reporting better than normal retention bonuses such as:

  • American Express Platinum:
    • Spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 30,000 points
    • Spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 20,000 points
    • 10,000 points with no spend requirement
    • $50 statement credit with no spend requirement
  •  SPG:
    • Spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 7,000 SPG points
    • Spend $1,000 in 3 months and get 7,000 SPG points
    • Spend $3,000 in 3 months and get a $75 statement credit

It seems that specifically asking for offers (e.g 30,000 points on the Platinum) is working for some people and when it’s not they are being offered more than they were previously. Obviously this is a huge YMMV and a lot of readers will call in and be offered nothing, that’s just the nature of the game unfortunately. Feel free to share your successes and failures in the comments below

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bax
bax (@guest_628336)
August 9, 2018 19:44

Any offer on BCP? AF-free first year is about over.

SinoSoul
SinoSoul (@guest_628335)
August 9, 2018 19:35

PRG retention: 12.5K for $2K spend. I took it cause last month’s spend was about $2K

Faye
Faye (@guest_617990)
July 17, 2018 09:41

PRG AF posted, agent offered $50+$50 or 10,000 for $1,500 spend. I took the points. Card has been used occasionally over the past year.

Bill
Bill (@guest_598379)
May 23, 2018 16:38

I just accepted an offer for 7,000 points after spending $500 or more in 30 days on my SPG card that is 1 year old. I spent less than $4k on the card in the past 10 months.

Leonel
Leonel (@guest_587449)
April 27, 2018 17:29

Just called in for SPG personal card (AF posted two weeks ago), not offered a retention offer. Cancelled it. Last year I was offered a $100 credit.

Martin
Martin (@guest_586979)
April 26, 2018 20:04

Just called in for SPG personal card (AF posted) and was not offered a retention bonus. No luck when trying on a PRG last year as well (AF posted/$20k organic spend) .

What time are people calling in? I always seem to get customer service representatives from India which are no help at all.

Going to try early in the morning tomorrow hoping to get a U.S. based representative.

Curmudgeon
Curmudgeon (@guest_582280)
April 16, 2018 16:06

Business Gold Rewards – offered 7500 points to keep, or 10,000 points with a few thousand in spend. Told rep I only use for 3x on gas, which I can get on Ink Cash with no annual fee.

Countered with 15k points to keep, rep said no so closed the account. Spend was $1k – 2k/mo for gas.

escot
escot (@guest_582235)
April 16, 2018 14:26

just called and got two retention options: $75 credit > 2k spend or 7,000 spg points after just $500 spend. Went for the second.

Walter
Walter (@guest_582244)
April 16, 2018 14:44

Called to cancel SPG Business card the other day. Tens of thousands of spend last year. Offered nothing to keep card. Cancelled.

escot
escot (@guest_582520)
April 16, 2018 19:54

feeling a bit dumb now — as I see the card will be worth much less come Aug. 1st…. Re-thinking the whole thing.

Avi
Avi (@guest_573548)
March 24, 2018 11:48

Unusual datapoint here on the SPG Business card. I’ve had the card one year with virtually no spend after the initial bonus requirement except for taking advantage of the occasional Amex Offer. Annual fee posted a few days ago. I called in and said I wanted to cancel, was asked why, said it was because of the annual fee, and was offered either a $25 statement credit or 10k points (no spend required) if I kept the card. I obviously took the 10k points, and was told it would post in 12 weeks.

Katie
Katie (@guest_562072)
February 20, 2018 11:05

I got the offer of 7000 SPG points after $1000 spend in 3 months on the SPG personal card. I have had the card 1 year and only spent minimum spend (plus $1 extra for an AU promo)