Another Wave of Amex Shutdowns is Underway
Last night American Express seems to have started a new wave of shutdowns. Emails were sent out yesterday around 7-8PM and the reasoning that was given to several people was “accounts not used for intended purposes.”
For those affected, all American Express accounts were shut down and all points were taken away. It is not completely clear what exactly is causing these shutdowns, but there are some theories.
The common theme seems to be the use of no-lifetime-language offers for certain American Express credit cards. That alone doesn’t seem to be breaking the rules, as people are just taking advantage of the offers they receive from American Express. But it could be an issue when those offers are not used by the person they were intended for.
American Express has a vague paragraph about abuse in its credit card application terms, which is there for these cases:
If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with the welcome offer in any way or that you intend to do so (for example, if you applied for one or more cards to obtain a welcome 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 Membership Rewards points to, we may freeze Membership Rewards points credited to, or we may take away Membership Rewards points from your account. We may also cancel this Card account and other Card accounts you may have with us.
Conclusion
American Express has been getting tougher with enforcing the rules in recent years. If you value the relationship, then it’s best to always stay on the safe side of things and avoid anything that could be seen as abuse, misuse, or gaming.
Take a look at your accounts and see if you have been affected.
HT: nadogm1
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Ah, for the good old days of the The Great Hanoi “Rat Massacre” of 1902 and no more “tales” of any RATS.
Something has changed at Amex. I put the wrong payment date on my bank payment system and the phone calls and emails commenced. It was under $500.00. Once the first call came in I checked my bank and fixed the problem, but they were relentless. First time in probably 5 years this has happened to me. I cancelled their card. They can harass someone else.
[…] Public enemy #1 of the churning hobby is the Amex RAT guys, wow! Another Wave of Amex Shutdowns is Underway. […]
Lemme guess. People are abusing MS.
When will people learn? They ruin it for everyone else.
think of it this way. You walk into a bank and ask for $25,000 loan to buy crap only to generate positives for yourself, and expect a 0% interest rate. the bank laughs at you and says beat it. not much of a stretch here.
That’s not what’s happening. AMEX is still collecting merchant fees.
So if NLL what would the offense be?
Read the post: “But it could be an issue when those offers are not used by the person they were intended for.”
Amex is getting very ticklish about their rules and this is sounding as the most likely to me from what I read around the web.
Oh I can see the trolled attacking this one already. “…that’s what you get…”, “…can’t ever have nice things because of you guys…”. Ugh. I’m already tired of their comments before they even attack this one.
NLL = No Lifetime Language
@BS NLL offers are No Lifetime Language as it pertains to the sign up bonus.
What is NLL?
No lifetime language.
no lifetime language.
No lifetime language. Changed it in the article as well.
Following…