Apply for a $20,000 Flexible Payment Option on your Card

[samh004]

I did a quick scan but didn't see a similar thread topic.

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American Express sent me an offer two days ago to apply for a "Flexible Payment Option", where I have the choice of paying my Card in full every month or extending the payment over time. I'm talking specifically about the Platinum Charge Card here, which makes this interesting.

The offer came with a sweetener of 25,000 bonus points.

I had a good read and ended up working out that I wouldn't use the offer, mainly because anything that was carried over to the next month (and all future charges over the limit applied for) ended up with an interest rate of 20.74% p.a. until repaid. I've enjoyed "Pay Your Way" on the Reserve, but this seemed ridiculous. So I gave it no more thought.

This afternoon I received a phone call from AMEX checking to see if I had seen the email or not. They were keen to sign me up over the phone and keen to point out I could apply for the offer but not actually use it (i.e. simply pay my balance in full each month) and still receive the bonus points. Essentially, 25,000 points for free.

I pointed out that I valued them at 12,500 Qantas points and thought it was a bit of a lowball for such an offer, considering I had bought some wine over the weekend from Qantas and they'd given me 15,000 bonus points. They were unable to increase the offer though.

So, has anyone else received the offer and/or had a phone call to follow up on it, and what are your thoughts on taking it up, especially seeing as it's essentially 25,000 points for free?

I did ask him if applying would leave a query on my credit file and he confirmed it would. I presume I would essentially be applying for a loan, even if I didn't take it up?

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[thatsthatmattressman]

Haven't received but this smells fishy ;-)

 

[samh004]

Haven't received but this smells fishy ;-)

Certainly a real email/real product: https://www.americanexpress.com/con...e-payment-option/fpo-terms-and-conditions.pdf

 

[thatsthatmattressman]

Certainly a real email/real product: https://www.americanexpress.com/con...e-payment-option/fpo-terms-and-conditions.pdf

oh yeah .. for real yes .. i meant the offer with the card query and all .. if they had doubled the points could have been tastier .. thanks for sharing techno man @samh004

 

[BillytheFIsh]

I haven't received it, but agree with you it's not worth the credit file hit for 12,500 points.

The whole thing seems a bit strange but I guess it effectively turns the PC into a credit card with and end of month limit of $20k (rather than a hard limit). Amex's way of trying to earn some interest out of PC customers.

 

[serfty]

I have had it attached to the various versions (grandfathered generally) of our Qantas Business Amex for two decades. FPO "came" with it.

It hasn't been used since one or twice in the early days.

 

[glasszon]

Given Amex Platinum comes with a free Amex Platinum Reserve card, not sure this promo makes a lot of sense when people can just pay using the reserve card to avoid having to pay the full balance rather than making a separate application.

 

[Daver6]

Given Amex Platinum comes with a free Amex Platinum Reserve card, not sure this promo makes a lot of sense when people can just pay using the reserve card to avoid having to pay the full balance rather than making a separate application.

Slighltly better earn rate on the charge card.

 

[samh004]

Slighltly better earn rate on the charge card.

I'd have to do the sums – and don't want to – but I'd have thought the 0.25 points/$1 extra on the Charge over the Reserve would be massively negated by the 20.74%pa interest charged, compared with whatever the ongoing fee on Pay Your Way Plan It, is? They both approach the outstanding amount differently.

 

[samh004]

They gave me a callback today, really pushing it.

 

[zig]

I haven't received the offer, but wouldn't take it up (as I wouldn't use it), and the points offer isn't tempting enough to take a credit query on my file.