Mercedes Benz Platinum Cardholders Can Get Prorated Annual Fee Refunds
I wrote about the change over that American Express is doing to Mercedes Benz Platinum card holders earlier this week. On January 11, 2019 all cardholders will be transitioned to the regular Platinum version. This is not a big deal for most people but I discussed why it is very big news for some card members. The change could end up costing people a shot at 100,000 Membership Rewards points. There was something I overlooked with this announcement though. Readers GL, Ryan Z, and Daniel S commented that Mercedes Benz Platinum cardholders can get prorated annual fee refunds.
RELATED: Check To See If You Are Targeted For The 100K Platinum Offer
Prorated Annual Fees
After reading this and seeing 3 separate confirmations of the prorated refund I checked my paperwork. Sure enough on the back of the paperwork it said:
In addition, cancelling your card will result in a prorated credit for any annual membership fee paid in the last year.
That is unique since American Express stopped prorating annual fees for their cards (besides downgrades) a few years ago.
Conclusion
With all of the Platinum card perks you get after the first of the year it would make sense to cancel the card after those are used. It also makes sense for a lot of people to just hold onto the card and go ahead with the product change. But I think it was important to highlight this information so you could make the best informed decision for yourself.
Let me know what your plan of attack is in the comments section.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
bonus_miles_full
Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Update: checking my MR balance, and the points clawed back have been added back to my account. Took a while, but for now the points are there!
Interesting and I am glad they put them back!
Hmmm. Should I just dump all my MR points into Schwab before I close my card.
What about downgrading the vanilla platinum to gold?
I got hit with staples clawback after I closed my simply cash. I think once you close the card they go dig deep to figure if they can clawback the bonus.
I am writing up a post about this today after Dave’s comment. I am going the downgrade to Gold after the annual fee hits route (unless I get a retention offer) after reading Dave’s DP. Amex is going over the top these days so better safe than sorry for me.
I did a chat with Amex today & requested a list of every Amex card I’ve ever had (they’ll ask for the last 4 of your Social) and now have that list. I did a copy/past of the chat and archived it. So, I know every Amex I’ve ever had and to my surprise I’ve never had the personal Plat. So I’m absolutely calling on the 9th or 10th and cancelling. I can’t imagine they’ll claw back the points – that would be crazy b/c they changed the card type, not me. If I wanted an Amex personal Plat I would have applied for it in the first place. Just waiting for the last airline credit and Global Entry application credit to post. By the way, two things I bought from Saks on the 1st were missing parts – the bathing suit didn’t have a bottom (it was definitely a 2-piece I bought) and a pack of 6 accessories was 50% missing (box contained 3). Can’t risk a return, so now I have a new bathing suit top that I can wear with my 1/2 missing accessories…
That is crazy about the Saks thing. Great tip on Amex cards though – thanks.
You gotta be kiddin’ ……….LOL
Honestly I didn’t read my letter and I literally have 20+ pounds of paper/mail I have to shred so I’m not digging through that to find it. But if they don’t claw back the bonus, then I might just close mine.
It is in the paperwork I got but they could have been reaching out to long term cardholders instead of people that have had it less than a year. I am torn what to do now with how punitive they have been lately.
Any data points of clawbacks for the 60k sign up bonus? For closing the card less than one year after opening.
I have not heard of that and since it is being discontinued I don’t think they would look at it in the same way. But no way to know for sure at this point.
They clawed back my 60k points. Canceled the card in Mid December.
Wow really Dave? Did you mention their own terminology in their letter? Amex is going over the top the last few weeks.
Yes, talked to them 3 times and every time said it was out of their hands since I voluntarily canceled the card. Got the card in March so had it for 9 months.
That changes my thinking then. I had wondered if the letter was more meant for people that had the card multiple years but they are the one removing the card so they shouldn’t be punitive. But they have gone over the deep end the last few months. Someone in our FB group said their family member was denied the bonus on their first Amex card because they were on an AU account that was closed after one year…insane.
@Dave
Why did they clawback the bonus? Did they give a reason? Was the option to close the card already public then since it was going to change to plain vanilla?
I think after closure they may run some algos to see if you have been profitable else they try to ding you.
The reason they gave every time I asked was that I closed the account voluntarily and had it open for less than a year. One of the CSRs was rather sympathetic, but said his hands were tied.