[Originally posted on 3/20/15, updated and reposted 1/18/16]
We often write about Amex Offers (see our introduction to Amex Offers here), but what do you do if the credit doesn’t post as expected?
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First, how fast is the credit supposed to hit?
Technically, the terms say to wait up to 90 days for the credit to post. Not only that, the terms say to wait 90 days from the end-date of the offer. Here’s a look at the terms from one offer:
Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 3/27/15, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase.
In my experience, Â however, the statement credit invariably hits within a couple of days after the charge posts on the credit card account. There have been reports of offer credits posting automatically a few weeks later, but it’s rare; if it doesn’t post right away, you’ll probably need human intervention to get it to post.
Okay, credit didn’t post. What do we do now?
Make sure that you fulfilled all the conditions of the Offer properly. With that out of the way, you’ll now have to work on getting the credit applied manually.
For regular Amex cards
For cards issued by Amex directly (e.g. Blue Cash, Everyday, SPG, Platinum, SimplyCash, etc.), contact Amex via the online login using the chat feature or secure message. You can also call up the number on the back of the card.
Although I’m usually a fan of chat, in this case, message may actually go better as they often need time to go through all the facts. They also need to escalate the case, sometimes, before being able to manually apply the credit. (In any case, Amex often doesn’t give the option to message anymore.)
For Co-Brands and Prepaids
For bank-branded Amex cards (such as Fidelity Amex or US Bank Flexperks Amex or BBVA Amex), as well as for Bluebird/Serve cards, there isn’t any sure-fire method to get the credit, but you can try these three approaches with possible success:
- Contact @AskAmex on Twitter. You can tweet something like: “@askamex my Amex offer credit for Exxon didn’t post. 90 days already past. can you help?” They’ll hopefully tell you to log into your regular Amex account (not your prepaid or co-branded account, rather your login with regular ‘real’ Amex cards) to verify your identity, and they’ll then be able to process the credit for the bank-branded card or the Bluebird/Serve card. [If you don’t have a regular Amex login, it will be more difficult.]
- Call a special Amex customer service number at 1-800-297-7500. This number is supposed to be the official number to contact for Amex Offer problems and the Twitter reps will sometimes push you over to call this number. In practice, calling this number doesn’t always work. Many of the reps there never even heard of Amex Offers. Be persistent and ask for a supervisor; hopefully, you’ll have success. Also, note that if you are missing credits on multiple cards, this number is the better option as they can process all claims at once.
- Try calling the number on the card. This will never work for co-brands, but it sometimes works for Bluebird/Serve since Amex Offers is officially part of the benefits on their card and they’ll sometimes offer you a manual credit when there is a problem.
When should you contact Amex?
- If it’s a regular Amex card, you can even try contacting them even before 90 days are up and they’ll often manually apply the credit for you then.
- If it’s a bank-branded card or a Bluebird/Serve card you’ll probably have to wait 90 days (from the offer end-date) before contacting them. If you try contacting them before that, they’ll tell you to wait 90 days. What I’ve done in these cases is mark it down on my calendar to contact 90 days later.
Final Thoughts
I’ve done hundreds of Amex Offers and the credits post to the account very reliably, but there’s always a few that have an issue and need manual input.
In the past, the Twitter method worked great, but recently they aren’t always as forthcoming. Conversely, the Amex customer service number mentioned above was always a total fail for me, but now many are having success using that approach.
Hopefully, one of these methods will work for you!
Other useful Amex Offer posts:Â
