Amex Invalidates Signup Bonus Points for those who Gamed the Spend

In the past few days, some people have been getting emails about not being eligible for their Amex signup bonus since “activity on your account indicates an effort to reach the Welcome Bonus spend requirement in a manner that is not consistent with the terms of your Cardmember Agreement.” This is being reported by multiple readers (1, 2, 3, 4),  DDF members as well as Milesperday.

We are writing to let you know that, unfortunately, you are not eligible to receive the Welcome Bonus for the [insert] Credit Card. Activity on your account indicates an effort to reach the Welcome Bonus spend requirement in a manner that is not consistent with the terms of your Cardmember Agreement.

In the past, we’ve heard reports of crack down for Simon Mall gift card purchases. In that case it was an issue of points not posting, I’m not sure if anyone got an actual claw back. The Milesperday report indicates that even grocery spend is not immune, possibly only in cases where Amex has Level 3 Data on the merchant.

We’ll have to wait to see if they actually pull the points back, but on paper at least they are saying the person isn’t eligible. On Amex’s own cards they can easily claw back points, and even put your balance into the negative (that’s happened to people in similar circumstances). For co-branded cards, like Delta, it’ll be trickier for them to claw back after the fact, especially if the points were already spent, though I’m sure they can work something out if they really wanted to.

The Amex RAT team has been on an absolute rampage this year, and apparently wanted to end the year with a bang.

I’m getting nervous myself about signup bonus points on a new Amex card. Please contribute your own data points in the comments below.

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Samuel S
Samuel S (@guest_654512)
October 9, 2018 00:48

Are *all gift card purchases* not counted towards minimum spend, or is it just visa or prepaid debit cards? I purchased netflix and amazon gift cards at a local store… Are those legit purchases?

Anand
Anand (@guest_671599)
November 13, 2018 01:48

Any update to this ?

Samuel S
Samuel S (@guest_654510)
October 9, 2018 00:45

I don’t understand why they would invalidate spending based on purchase of a gift card. If I buy a gift card for a restaurant or other retailer, how is that different than spending money at that restaurant directly? That seems unfair to be honest…

Irshad
Irshad (@guest_546536)
January 3, 2018 13:00

My paltinum delta skymiles bonus not awarded because i purchased amex GC. To complete minimum spend, I purchased two amex GC, 2K and 3K (total 5K). No other purchase on the card. I know that was not so clever of me.

Gold skymiles bonus awarded. That card has a mix of organic spend and amex GC and venmo etc..

so based on my experience, it sounds that having MS alone will have a greater chance of bonus clawbacks.

TAG
TAG (@guest_534804)
December 13, 2017 17:23

Has anyone had issues with clawbacks because of (apartment) rent payments through Plastiq? Just finished minimum spend and had points post for my AmEx Delta Platinum Biz card, and I’m wondering if I should expect a clawback.

IOException
IOException (@guest_547439)
January 4, 2018 21:35

Bump on this.

Wondering if I should do the same. No big expenditures right now, wouldn’t be able to make the min spend without it.

FLL
FLL (@guest_533069)
December 9, 2017 16:21

Latest report of bonus clawed back –

Refundable ticket bought, canceled it due to payment is coming due. AMEX clawed back the bonus. poster called to protest though his 90 days are coming up with card approved in Oct …

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29153828-post33.html

Jeffrey
Jeffrey (@guest_532906)
December 9, 2017 01:11

Follow up on: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amex-clawing-back-signup-bonus-points-gamed-spend/#comment-530806. I thought that was that but today I woke up to see the 50k points were re-added to my account. I’d probably be expecting for a written letter from American Express and if not I guess I’ll just give them a call to see why they changed their mind considering I didn’t meet the spend requirement at the end.

L T
L T (@guest_532076)
December 7, 2017 13:31

Does Toys R Us do L3 for AMEX in store? I could pay off some student loans with at least 1 GoC gift card and adding a filler item in case they have a filter for exact amount charged.

For that matter did anyone that get the e-mail do GoC g/c spend at TRU?

Trev
Trev (@guest_532145)
December 7, 2017 15:26

^^^ This is the question that matters most. If anyone gets hit for GoC cards please warn the rest of us!

Sue
Sue (@guest_531346)
December 6, 2017 11:19

I am not totally new to this, but just need to understand before I do something stupid. If I buy GCs ( using a card that I surely am trying to reach a minimum spend) from my regular grocery store (which happens to be a military commissary) to use at that commissary at some later date, that would be considered MS?

Tony
Tony (@guest_531359)
December 6, 2017 11:40

In the eyes of AMEX, yes

Gadget
Gadget (@guest_531822)
December 7, 2017 01:32

Oh, and last tidbit of knowledge. Get USAA car insurance. It’s likely the lowest price, top notch service, and they accept CC payments for free. Insurance companies are another place that love to accept credit, as they are just happy to accept any money you have in whatever form. No worries.

Gadget
Gadget (@guest_531819)
December 7, 2017 01:27

It’s considered a cash-like equivalent. I am not sure if the commissary receipts actually get uploaded to AMEX, but it wouldn’t surprise me, since everything is electronic now. I am a commissary shopper myself & ret. Navy vet. Never occurred to me to buy gift cards there. I use my BCP and get 6% off instead.

If you have the financial resources (i.e. liquid funds), what I suggest doing is pay ahead on things like cell bills, electric/gas bills, and occasionally applying for bank accounts online (not in branch) that accept your particular card. But, bank accounts aren’t a guarantee they will process as a purchase and not a cash advance, sometimes get blocked by the CC for fraud, utilities usually charge a small fee or percentage to use credit (I write it off as the cost of getting the bonus), and cell phones/cable/XM are just glad you are paying it and will gladly accept any over-money you give, up to a limit.

Sue
Sue (@guest_532058)
December 7, 2017 13:11

Thanks. Yes, I do all of that except for the bank accounts. I really hate that AMEX considers gift cards that I will use later to be MS. I’m a little concerned to buy GCs at all while under minimum spend reqs.

Gadget
Gadget (@guest_531824)
December 7, 2017 01:34

Oh, and last tidbit of knowledge. Get USAA car insurance. It’s likely the lowest price, top notch service, and they accept CC payments for free. Insurance companies are another place that love to accept credit, as they are just happy to accept any money you have in whatever form. No worries.

Gadget
Gadget (@guest_532254)
December 7, 2017 18:05

So does the commissary! LOL

Lisa
Lisa (@guest_531292)
December 6, 2017 09:32

DP above saying mortgage payment using plastiq didn’t count. How is that different from paying tuition or taxes where they charge a fee (without plastiq involved)? Will those count? I don’t have Amex but trying to be careful with sign up bonuses for other cards..

AL
AL (@guest_531290)
December 6, 2017 09:29

I use grocery store deals pretty regularly for the surpass card as well when I don’t have any other pressing minimum spends to fulfill. The 6x is worth it for me and probably my best grocery card due to the value I get internationally for hhonors. I haven’t had any problems with points posting for regular spend on this card…and I’ve been doing it for a while.