AMEX rejection

[serfty]

Anyway, it's ok to have a different understanding of where to play between spirit of the law and letter of the law. But my hope is most people stick closer to the spirit.

I do not believe law comes into it with specific consideration of churning credit cards to gather multiple sign up bonuses. Neither "spirit" nor "letter". *

This is purely a commercial relationship between the credit card providers and its current / prospective customers.

* Law may be a consideration in respect to prospective customers who provide false information with their application but that is definitely not relevant to this thread.

 

[Waddygib]

OK last try from me and then I'll get off my high horse:

Amex is making a good faith offer to prospective customers. The obvious intent is that anyone taking up the offer stays on board for an extended period in order for the relationship to be profitable for both sides. Obviously there is no contractual way for Amex to enforce this so they have to trust that most people understand that commercial relationships are a two-way street, while also pricing for the small number of people who take advantage. (This is why churning is, in fact, taking away from other customers).

If you churn relentlessly, you KNOW you are going against the intent of the offer. Of course it is 100% legal, but my point is that if eveyone behaved like this there would be no sign up offers at all.

For me, a good commercial relationship creates value for both sides. If you play so hardball that you take all the value (and then some) for yourself, I think not only is that bad long term business, it is selfish the point of acting like a d*ck.

Now back to the topic at hand: if you get the letter saying it was due to something in your bureau, it means you are identified as a churner (or "gamer" as they call it internally) and they have every right to decline to do business with you. Going to AFCA? That's not playing the game hard, either, it is taking advantage of what is supposed to be a watchdog for legal breaches but using it as leverage, not a remedy.

 

[levelnine]

Amex is making a good faith offer to prospective customers.

Whether you like it or not, people will game systems. That is the nature of humans. You're never going to be able to stop it.

Indeed, there are people gaming Amex way, way harder than Dr Ralph. They just don't disclose what they're doing in public forums.

 

[Waddygib]

I'm not expecting to stop it, or denying it happens. I'm just saying it's the wrong thing to do, and I hope my kids grow up to be the kind of people that don't take advantage of others in this way. Sure Amex can afford it, but as a general way to behave in society I think it is abhorrent.

 

[MELso]

My view is churning is fine (the offer is there, so why not take advantage of it?), and if you want to repeatedly try, well... okay.

But lodging frivolous or vexatious complaints about a clear commercial decision to refuse credit isn't okay as this ties up resources dealing with your whinge that could be used to help those facing genuine hardship arising from problems with their finance providers.