I just got hit with the AMEX Clawbacks

My wife and I got the clawback emails last night. Let’s talk about hers first. I didn’t know how many points were deducted, so I chatted with a rep who at first couldn’t find it and mentioned her Schwab cashout. I told him that wasn’t it and he eventually told me 12K points had been deducted from card ending in xxxxx. However, card xxxxx hasn’t done any MS this year. I then looked at my biz plat card that I was doing the AU bonuses on THAT WAS UNDER THE SAME LOGIN and that’s where/how the 12K got deducted. Her statement had actually closed on June 9 and I only got the email on June 27. Odd that we didn’t get hit last week so I’m guessing it’s going out in waves.

So what was on that statement?

I mean all you can do is lol… shit was working fine before these clawbacks. No one could have predicted this. So that’s where the 12K points are from. I mean it could have been A LOT WORSE if Safeway hadn’t killed money orders. The odd thing is that I guess they didn’t claw back the AU bonuses else they would have clawed back 24K. Go figure. This also means round denominations and 506.95 multiples are not safe. And yes, my wife did close some cards a few weeks ago, but I don’t think that’s the catalyst.

As for my clawback, I had gotten the MS Plat on 6/15, made a $6K charge on 6/19, statement close on June 23, and clawback email on 6/27. Once again, they did not claw back the 100K SUB…yet. I too had some closed cards a few weeks ago. I wonder if my clawback made them look at the household and that’s what got P2. Just odd it took them so long to get P2 unless it really is a wave of clawbacks. Finally, P1 and P2 didn’t do any of the referral spend bonuses.

I also run a P3 and they haven’t received the clawback email yet, but they also don’t live at my address. I’m sure they are walking the Green Mile too then.

7 comments on “I just got hit with the AMEX Clawbacks

  1. Hey Vinh, any plans to buy Mint coins this year? Thinking specifically of the Morgan/Peace coins coming up soon

  2. Vinh, I didn’t offer the longer story, which from my read, I did not screw up, I over simplified referring to the AF dates. The terms of the offer, below, required $5K spend in 6 months. The debate is on, “if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after acquiring it.” It does not read, if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after UPGRADING it. Since the account number never changed, the account had existed for 3+ years when I closed it, and roughly 10 months upgraded when I closed it with a billing of over $700 in AFs because I was hit with a pro-rated AF increase upon upgrade followed by a full $550 on what was my original AF date, so to keep the card for a 12-month cycle my direct cost would have been well over $700. Going on, the clause, “If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with this offer in any way or that you intend to do so (for example,…” is false, according to AMEX after I called when notified of the future claw back, any closure in 12 months of upgrade would not be a discretionary determination, it was automatically hard coded into the system, gaming or not there would be a claw back. So I believe I do have a case and will pursue based on a back-door $700+ AF to hold the card for a year of use, and a discretional “determination” clause that in fact involves no discretional whatso ever.

    Terms & Conditions:

    POID: GH6X:0002
    1. 50,000 Bonus Miles:

    You can earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 in eligible purchases on your Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership, starting from the date your account is upgraded. Bonus Miles may appear on your account in more than one deposit. Purchases to meet the spend requirement can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card Account. Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Purchases to meet the spend requirement do NOT include fees or interest charges, cash advances, purchases of traveler’s checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of any cash equivalents. Additional Card Members on your account are not eligible for this offer. To receive the 50,000 bonus miles, your Card account must not be cancelled or past due at the time of fulfillment. For questions regarding your Card account, please call the number on the back of your Card.

    Purchases may fall outside of the 6 month period in some cases, such as a delay in merchants submitting transactions to us or if the purchase date differs from the date you made the transaction. (For example, if you buy goods online, the purchase date may be the date the goods are shipped). Bonus miles will be applied 8-12 weeks after the spend threshold is met.

    If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with this offer in any way or that you intend to do so (for example, if you applied for one or more cards to obtain an offer(s) that we did not intend for you; if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after acquiring it; or if you cancel or return purchases you made to meet the Threshold Amount), we may not credit, we may freeze, or we may take away the welcome offer from your account. We may also cancel this Card account and other Card accounts you may have with us.

    Offer is valid for eligible Delta SkyMiles® Card Members only, and is not transferable. American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke offer at any time.

  3. I am waiting for the potential claw back to hit on my AMEX Delta card. I accepted a 50K upgrade offer, and without getting into too long a story, AMEX notified me that I did not meet the terms right after closure b/c I closed the card sooner than 12 months since upgrade, even though I closed it when my $550 AF hit which not realizing was about 2 months before the 12-months, because the AF and the upgrade offer were out of cycle with one another. I still intend to arbitrate or whatever I can do, but I disconnected my Delta AMEX from my Delta account, and so far the 50K mile debit has not hit – but my only other experience with a debit – because of a returned item and negative card balance one month in the distant past – the debits show up months later versus gains show up immediately. But with the card disconnected I have a prayer that could stop the claw back given the card is the path into my Delta account – as is the Delta FF number – so it may or may not have saved me. I looked into changing my Delta FF number and all advice is that even if I created a second number then asked to combine accounts they would default to the older FF number in the combine action; of course, anyone with insights, would welcome thoughts.

    1. I don’t know; I would have accepted the clawback since you did screw up by not calculating the dates correctly. Just keep better records next time. As for what to do now, probably do nothing and wait it out. AMEX already has your Delta number.

      1. Vinh, I didn’t offer the longer story, which from my read, I did not screw up, I over simplified referring to the AF dates. The terms of the offer, below, required $5K spend in 6 months. The debate is on, “if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after acquiring it.” It does not read, if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after UPGRADING it. Since the account number never changed, the account had existed for 3+ years when I closed it, and roughly 10 months upgraded when I closed it with a billing of over $700 in AFs because I was hit with a pro-rated AF increase upon upgrade followed by a full $550 on what was my original AF date, so to keep the card for a 12-month cycle my direct cost would have been well over $700. Going on, the clause, “If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with this offer in any way or that you intend to do so (for example,…” is false, according to AMEX after I called when notified of the future claw back, any closure in 12 months of upgrade would not be a discretionary determination, it was automatically hard coded into the system, gaming or not there would be a claw back. So I believe I do have a case and will pursue based on a back-door $700+ AF to hold the card for a year of use, and a discretional “determination” clause that in fact involves no discretional whatso ever.

        Terms & Conditions:

        POID: GH6X:0002
        1. 50,000 Bonus Miles:

        You can earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 in eligible purchases on your Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership, starting from the date your account is upgraded. Bonus Miles may appear on your account in more than one deposit. Purchases to meet the spend requirement can be made by the Basic Card Member and any Additional Card Members on a single Card Account. Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Purchases to meet the spend requirement do NOT include fees or interest charges, cash advances, purchases of traveler’s checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of any cash equivalents. Additional Card Members on your account are not eligible for this offer. To receive the 50,000 bonus miles, your Card account must not be cancelled or past due at the time of fulfillment. For questions regarding your Card account, please call the number on the back of your Card.

        Purchases may fall outside of the 6 month period in some cases, such as a delay in merchants submitting transactions to us or if the purchase date differs from the date you made the transaction. (For example, if you buy goods online, the purchase date may be the date the goods are shipped). Bonus miles will be applied 8-12 weeks after the spend threshold is met.

        If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with this offer in any way or that you intend to do so (for example, if you applied for one or more cards to obtain an offer(s) that we did not intend for you; if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after acquiring it; or if you cancel or return purchases you made to meet the Threshold Amount), we may not credit, we may freeze, or we may take away the welcome offer from your account. We may also cancel this Card account and other Card accounts you may have with us.

        Offer is valid for eligible Delta SkyMiles® Card Members only, and is not transferable. American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke offer at any time.

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