Amex to Eliminate Prorated Annual-Fee-Refunds Starting September

Starting in September, Amex will no longer prorate the annual fee when you cancel a card. This change is showing on the monthly statements of all Amex cards being sent out since the past few days.

Currently, the policy of American Express is to pro-rate the annual fee and refund you the unused portion. This especially makes a difference for expensive annual fees like the $450 Platinum annual fee. Under the new rules, if you cancel the card in mid-year you won’t get any part of the $450 back. And the same goes for all other cards with an annual fee.

Closing your Account Effective September 1, 2016, in Part 2 of the Cardmember Agreement, we are amending the Closing your Account sub-section in the Other important information section by inserting a new paragraph after the first sentence:

 

If an Annual Membership fee applies, we will refund this fee if you notify us that you are voluntarily closing your Account within 30 days of the Closing Date of the billing statement on which that fee appears. For cancellations after this 30 day period, the Annual Membership fee is non-refundable. If an Annual Membership fee applies to your Account, it is shown on page 1 and page 2 of Part 1 of the Cardmember Agreement.

 

If your billing address is in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the time you close your account, this policy will not apply to you.

amex twg annual fee

Image from Travelwithgrant.com http://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2016/06/04/american-express-changes-to-card-updates-forex-fees-annual-fee-refunds/

 

As before, Amex will still refund the entire annual fee if you close the account within 30 days of closing date of the statement that the annual fee is showing.

A few notes:

[RelatedAnnual Fee Refund Rules For Each Card Issuer]

Final Thoughts

I suspect this is all part of the review Amex was doing due to the influx of new Platinum cardholders. An important element that enables Amex to continue offering strong signup bonuses on those cards is the mandatory $450 annual fee ($475 for Mercedes-Benz), not waived the first year. Under the new rule, there won’t be any way out of the annual fee unless you manage to get the bonus and close the account very quickly.

Bear in mind that you get the $200 airline incidental credit once per calendar year so there is benefit in keeping the card for the year. Also note that this change is only taking effect on September 1. Those who have Platinum cards from the recent 100k bonus or the 75k MB bonus (ongoing for a few more weeks!) can still cancel and get the pro-rated refund. Personally, I opt to keep the card for a year with the hopes of maintaining a better relationship with Amex.

We’ll update the post Annual Fee Refund Rules For Each Card Issuer and the post 19 Things Everybody Should Know About American Express to reflect the new terms.

Hat tip to DrGForce on r/churning

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Matt
Matt (@guest_770998)
June 17, 2019 14:37

“If an Annual Membership fee applies, we will refund this fee if you notify us that you are voluntarily closing your Account within 30 days of the Closing Date of the billing statement on which that fee appears.”

I made the mistake of interpreting this to mean that if I sent a letter postmarked in that time frame, then the annual fee would be refunded. Turns out that they go based on the date they receive the letter. Doesn’t seem right, seeing as I notified them within 30 days, they just didn’t receive the notification until a few days after that deadline. They made an “exception” and offered me a pro-rated refund (I’m assuming I’ll get 11/12 of the annual fee back). Just a heads-up for anyone thinking of cancelling by mail.

Mrdioji
Mrdioji (@guest_535654)
December 15, 2017 00:51

Mine closes on the 8th, too. I’m gonna give it a whirl. I’ll use the Uber credit, too.

I don’t think you’ll lose a day if you need to re-select the airline (which I don’t think you need to do) you can just wait a couple hours – unless something changed since last year. Guess I should visit flyertalk.

Alex
Alex (@guest_533934)
December 11, 2017 16:21

Interested in this, as well.

LS
LS (@guest_514000)
November 12, 2017 13:55

I am also interested in this.

London
London (@guest_430751)
June 29, 2017 20:26

So if you have a PRG and your $195 annual fee is due on September 1st, you could essentially use your $100 airline credit on September 2nd, close the card a week later, and get your full $195 annual fee refunded because it’s within the 30 day window.
You would pretty much be coming out ahead $100 because you used your airline credit already, and then got Amex to refund you the full $195 annual fee.
Is that right? Or will Amex deduct the $100 airline credit from your annual fee refund??
Asking for a friend lol

Carl Saba
Carl Saba (@guest_330019)
December 21, 2016 18:45

I signed up for a platinum amex with 40 k bonus points on a flyer program in Canada. The annual fees are 500$ and it states that to get the 40k you must spend 1000$ within the first three months. Did that within 30 days, and when I called to cancel and get a refund they said since I got my points I get no refund of annual fees. They have refunded me and my friends at least 5 times with the same conditions as above but now they all have amnesia and are insisting they never refunded annual.fees or prorated when there was bonus points involved which is complete bullshit, I even offered to send proof of their refunds. What do I do? They changed their policy starting September 2016 but when you sign up, this is not mentioned anywhere as a condition, no refunds will be allowed if bonus points are taken. They even told me if this was your second year we would refund you! I need help please! Is there a complaint department?

William Charles
Admin
December 21, 2016 18:56

I don’t think you can really complain when you’re signing up for a card with an AF and trying to cancel and get that AF refunded in the first year.

Carl Saba
Carl Saba (@guest_330054)
December 21, 2016 19:59

Why not? This is the complaint of so many around here. You sign up with an annual fee for the perks it provides and you are paying the annual up front for the whole year of using. If you cancel your card within a month or two why on earth should you be paying for months you are not even using the card? Every credit card company in Canada refunds you the u used portion of your annual fee. Not to mention , Amex did refund it before but they changed their policy without any notice.

William Charles
Admin
December 21, 2016 21:26

Because some of the benefits are given immediately, eg airline credits. Also that refund policy wasn’t an official policy and amex isn’t bound to honor AF refunds at all.

Ten
Ten (@guest_270090)
June 23, 2016 15:13

no one caught septmeber in the title?

nice write up though.

William Charles
Admin
June 23, 2016 20:16

Readers slippin’

sha
sha (@guest_268252)
June 16, 2016 18:05

How about converting a card?
Example 1, after six months of paying annual fee for a Platinum card, you DOWNGRADE it to a Gold Premier card, how much annual fee will be refunded/charged on the 1st statement after conversion?
Example 1, after six months of paying annual fee for a Gold Premier card, you UPGRADE it to a Platinum card, how much annual fee will be refunded/charged on the 1st statement after conversion?

ff_lover
ff_lover (@guest_267139)
June 12, 2016 13:00

Chuck,
What are possible “good” reasons one would give to cancel the “high” annual fee cards for both within 30days of posting or after few months?

jp
jp (@guest_265933)
June 8, 2016 01:53

I too have the Gold coming up for renewal. Recently got MB Plat, an MR-earning card, points have been combined. I have been contemplating whether I should cash out the MR from the Gold prior to closing it. Chuck,you didn’t sound 100% sure about being able to keep the points intact. is it a risk to ask AMEX rep about this?