Per this FlyerTalk thread, multiple people have reported receiving emails indicating their old Blue Cash credit card accounts are being closed today without any warning. They did not receive a Financial Review – simply an email notifying them their account was closed.
Most of the people that had their accounts closed seem to be heavy MSers, but it’s still unknown how much qualifies as “heavy” enough for Amex to close your account. I have a card with a measly $2K limit, so I’ve done very little with the card (although spent 2x-3x my limit per month) and my account is still intact as of this writing.
A few things to note:
- Hold off on heavy MS with this card for a bit. You can’t do anything about previous purchases obviously.
- You will likely NOT be able to receive the cash back that was pending. My Wells Fargo account was shut down and I didn’t receive a few thousand dollars in cash back. It’s part of the game and a risk we assume. It’s worse for Blue Cash because of the 60 day lag in receiving cash back.
- If you have unredeemed cash back, REDEEM IT NOW!
I would monitor that FlyerTalk thread carefully and spend accordingly.
They cut my credit limit from $15k to $3k for no reason several months back. I don’t do any MS on this card. I only use it when I cash in on their partner promotions. Maybe I’m not profitable for them, but it seems like a less targeted move and a larger over arching move by AMEX for some reason? But who knows.
I applaud AMEX for cracking down on these MS scammers. It is well past time.
Now, if only other CC would follow suit.
Hi there, Mr. Sour Grapes! Sounds like someone is jealous they don’t have the risk tolerance to MS.
Remind me again what the ‘scam’ is?
Risk tolerance? No, more likely, I just do not have the time. So far this year I have been out of the country close to 20 weeks. This year I have racked up over 150K Medallion miles, 75K Starpoints (through Delta/SPG Crossover Rewards), and over 100 K MR points through actual travel.
The scam is that MS is basically getting a cash advance and avoiding paying interest on that cash advance. And make no mistake – gift cards are a “cash equivalent”. At least that is what every accounting department treats them as (which is why rebates are now paid out as gift cards. That, and they can track your spending and market more crap to you).
In addition, you scammers are the main cause of devaluations and deprive us “butt in the seat” travelers of the elite benefits we suffer for.
The problem for frequent travelers like yourself is that the airlines a lot of money from selling their miles to credit card companies. I don’t agree that MS is a “scam” because we’re still a small percentage of the total, but devaluations are not due just to MSers. It’s due to them handing out a lot more miles to everyone.
Under your idealized scenario, the airlines make out by selling miles, the MSers make out by collecting miles, the CC companies get screwed because the MSers collect benefits the CC companies are paying the airlines for. What probably matters is that the MSers get the fee waived for the first year and drop the card when they don’t get a retention bonus.
So the CC companies are losing money on every transaction by paying the airlines for miles and not collecting any cash offset through fees and interest.
The CC companies, and especially AMEX, figured out they are left holding the bag, so they stop enabling the MSers by ending the multiple sign up bonus and cut back on retention offers.
The programs will end. The MSers will squeal. And I will laugh.
If what you described were correct, credit card companies would have no incentive to give ANYONE miles, not just MSers. They must still be making money off the transaction fees.
In many cases MSers still pay for the points they acquire. It may only be half a cent per point, but it’s still something. I don’t think it’s too far off to say that everyone wins in this scenario (credit card companies, gift card sellers, Walmart, MSers) *except* people like you who earn their miles the hard way. The only time a bank gets hosed is a scenario similar to when they offered 5x for VRs at Office Depot, because that was unsustainable. But 1x? I think they still make money.
I agree with everything TS said, except that Walmart/pharmacies are probably the losers since they have to pay up transaction fees to credit card companies; although from MS, stores get a manufactured boost in gross sale, which could be nice to show to shareholders and/or potential buyers. The boost in gross sales applies to credit card companies and banks, too, so that could explain why they haven’t go full blown on the crackdown.
I think everyone who are MS-ing, including myself, (should) knows the tremendous risk of playing with significant amounts of money. It is part of the game, and since credit card companies always had to play catch-up, (most) MSers always come out ahead overall, so we should have no regrets.
To Darth C., most MS-ers do not travel as much as you do, and they devoted huge amount of time working towards their dream vacation once or twice a year, much like the rest of the world by work. The MS game we play is well followed by the industry, and if we were to be accused of stealing from credit card companies, then so should the top 2% of this country for stealing from this country by taking advantage of the tax loopholes. The truth is, it is not the wealthy’s fault; it is the tax code and those who passed it. Similarly, it is not the MS-ers fault for the point/mile devaluations, it’s the cards’ terms and conditions and those who approved them.
Still, all and all, not impressed by Amex for cancelling cards on people without warning. It is not as bad as IHG’s Into the Night fiasco, but definitely not good.
I have a 10k credit line and I MS 1.5-2k a month. They increased my limit to 15k last week (I didn’t request it.) As of now, my account is still active.
I find it interesting how they’ve increased the limits of several people that didn’t ask for it, while shutting down others.
I almost stopped MS after you guys warned about Chase in summer. Now I only do 1k/month on Serve using United Club card. Let’s see what happens..
The chase warnings are usually related specifically to Ink cards. Others are generally safe.
What happened with Chase? Do they shut you down without notice & seize your points?
Yes, they were shutting down heavy Ink users and seizing all points. I haven’t heard much of this in the last month or so, but if you’re a heavy MSer then it might be wise to transfer points.