American Express credits insufficient funds failed automatic payment

Introduction

Once you’ve been in this game for a while, you start to open up a lot of new checking accounts due to signup bonuses and whatnot.  I had opened up a Key Bank checking account a year ago or so to get something like a free $200.  It was also one of my “MS accounts.”  If you don’t know what an “MS account,” it’s a checking account that you usually deposit MO’s into so that if there is any AA (Adverse Action,) then so be it.  Usually you’ll want your “MS account” to NOT be from – Chase, Citi, Bank of America, etc.  Do you see the pattern there?  Yes, make sure your “MS account” is not from a bank that issues lots of valuable credit cards.  I highly recommend credit unions to use as your “MS account.”

Non Sufficient Funds ACH

I had been depositing money into my Key Bank for a while, and I had my AMEX Business Platinum card linked to the Key Bank account.  I also had autopay enabled on my AMEX card.  Eventually I stopped added money into my Key Bank account, and I’m pretty sure you can guess what happened…YUP!  American Express then made an ACH payment that I did not have the funds in my Key Bank account.  The silly thing is that it was for something like $200.  Don’t ask me why I didn’t even have $200 in my Key Bank account, but I also had no activity on my Platinum card for a while and totally forgot where it was ACH-ing from.  Sure enough, AMEX hit me with a $38 NSF fee.  OOPH!

Calling AMEX

I then called AMEX a month or so later, and asked the CSR if they could do something about the $38 NSF fee since I had changed checking accounts and forgot to change my autopay.  She said that the system usually will not let them credit NSF fees, but she’d talk to a supervisor.  She put me on hold for a while, and came back and said that while they don’t usually credit these back, since I had been a loyal customer for 19 years, she will go and give me a credit for the $38.  Woohoo!  As she was punching it in the computer, she asked me that the computer asked whether I wanted $38 or 3,000 MR points.  LET’S PAUSE HERE FOR A SECOND.  PRETEND YOU WERE ME.  YOU HAVE ABOUT 10 SECONDS TO MAKE THIS DECISION!  It’s funny cuz I was trying to crunch through the numbers in my head in those 10 seconds.  I thought – what is the value of 3K MR?  That’s worth AT LEAST $30.  BUT WAIT!  How much would it cost me to MS 3K MR?  Assuming VGC, that should cost $3000 / $500 = 6 * $5 = $30 (not counting time and effort).  I eventually answered the $38 credit, but even now, I’m still unsure.  I guess if you factor in time and effort, it probably is better to take the $3K MR for $38 since that’s painless although you are “buying” an MR at 1.3c.  Wait.  That’s pretty high.  I think the $38 is a better play.  You guys think about it and argue in the comments.

Moral of story

At least for me, I’m going to stick to my main bank account for ACH payments.  I’ll then write checks or bill pay from my “MS account” to my main bank in the future to avoid these mistakes.