Reduced AMEX earn rates from April 2019

[lovetravellingoz]

Prepaid the last of my various bills 6 months out. No point go further IMO.

In part I did it as I will be overseas for 8 weeks in one hit and it also saves the worry of missing a bill when I am away.

 

[woomp001]

I only have about 25k membership rewards points with my AMEX explorer. I think the best thing is for me to transfer this to AM, rather than KF. AM, as this low amount seems to have more value with AM. Open to any suggestions.

With that many points, I would just dump into Velocity... Unless u have a heap in AM already, or a way to get a lot more in over the next few years, they are far more likely to get stranded..

 

[Valdek]

Planning to do my transfer tomorrow or Friday. Goodbye American Express...

Hi all,

After 15 years with AMEX, all of my working life, tomorrow I am cancelling my cards.

...
I think an AMEX point was worth 2.0 cents all day.

So thanks AMEX for forcing me to transfer today, or they effectively would have flogged $30,000!!!

...
It's a sad day.. AMEX have been a good company to work with for such a long time, and now they are stabbing good customers in the heart.

Welcome to the Club!
I've done it already - no more Amex Cards in my wallet, no begging for compensation for something that SHOULD NOT have taken place!
37 years of membership (1982) - one of the founding members of Amex in Australia and only now I have learned what this company has now become. It is all about money. Or, rather about money grabbing.
It is no coincidence they are reluctant to double membership points for members who collected a large amount of those. The membership rewards are MONEY!
According to the simple calculation,1M points is worth $10-20K, well, how much is worth 3M quoted above? Pointy Bird's 12M points is a small fortune! And all his efforts to be treated as valuable Amex member brought no results.
It is obvious any business in the world would fight for customers with such spending power!
Any - except for Amex! They have decided to resist it counting on a massive gain by grabbing as much as they can right now, in a very short time, without waiting for the commission from sales which would take many years to bring similar financial results.
With this plan we all became disposable.
The outcome of the "new brilliant business plan's" calculation was simple: It is not worth to keep them if they wanted to leave, especially with no place to run knowing of the three-year points spending limitation at the airline partners that makes the process of a decision making much harder and will force many to stay.
The risk worth taking with the assumption some of the Amex members will stay pretending nothing has happened. And they will be ready to pay new ridiculous annual fees for the privilege compensating for the ones who have decided to go their own way.
I was sad, really sad by all the sudden and unexpected development of my almost four-decades-long relationship with Amex, but with time passing I got used to it, and it helped me with my decision: I do not want to be any part of such a shonky business with no ethics. I will not support it.
"Don't leave home without it?". Oh no, I am staying, it is Amex that is gone.
And I feel much better making this decision.
Good luck to all

 

[LA10]

With that many points, I would just dump into Velocity... Unless u have a heap in AM already, or a way to get a lot more in over the next few years, they are far more likely to get stranded..

Thanks for that. I did think about velocity, but I currently have nil in that account. I guess you're right, it's still more likely to get me something or at least allow me to top up.

 

[ermen]

redemption website seems to be down (ie cannot even get the link to go do the Krisflyer redemption site).
Anyone else having this issue?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

redemption website seems to be down (ie cannot even get the link to go do the Krisflyer redemption site).
Anyone else having this issue?

Just checked. Still working fine for. I have redeemed each day so far this week

 

[carls888]

I have been redeeming every day this week and last week as well using Safari and it has been working.

 

[pauly7]

redemption website seems to be down (ie cannot even get the link to go do the Krisflyer redemption site).
Anyone else having this issue?

It’s sporadic as I experienced last night, working sometimes then timing out. Coincidence...?

Strongly suggest people do not leave anything to the last minute as my Amex helper said they are flat out with people transferring points and closing accounts, expect that to continue toward the deadline.

 

[andye]

Can't see the need to close accounts urgently unless annual fee is imminent. I'd maximise the line of credit by delaying until bill due at least

 

[amaroo]

The big urgency is transferring all those explorer direct debits over to the plat card.

 

[Chicken]

It is no coincidence they are reluctant to double membership points for members who collected a large amount of those. The membership rewards are MONEY!

I suspect AmEx was accumulating too much in their provision, and they need to mitigate the risk that airlines increase the sell prices of their miles. If you have worked with any finance people who does provisioning, you would know that, they don’t like provisioning, and they WILL find a way for you to clear your provisions, however painful you would like it to be.

It is obvious any business in the world would fight for customers with such spending power!

Spending does not mean profitable.

With this plan we all became disposable.

Have you worked in any large multinational before? You know you are 100% disposable? You would be quite important if you are ‘just a number’, because in a large company like AmEx, you are less than a number. You are just some data sitting at the back of a system. You just contribute to some dashboard or some BI report. Your customer number doesn’t even appear on any computer screen.

I do not want to be any part of such a shonky business with no ethics. I will not support it.

How can they be shonky or unethical, when they have given us 6 months to deal with this?
You remember how Citi devalued their points 2 years ago?
You remember how CBA forged customers’ signatures, and deleted medical records of insurance customers?
AMP?

And I feel much better making this decision.

It is just banking. Do NOT ever let your emotions be attached to any financial decision.

 

[Saltywings]

I suspect AmEx was accumulating too much in their provision, and they need to mitigate the risk that airlines increase the sell prices of their miles. If you have worked with any finance people who does provisioning, you would know that, they don’t like provisioning, and they WILL find a way for you to clear your provisions, however painful you would like it to be.

Spending does not mean profitable.

Have you worked in any large multinational before? You know you are 100% disposable? You would be quite important if you are ‘just a number’, because in a large company like AmEx, you are less than a number. You are just some data sitting at the back of a system. You just contribute to some dashboard or some BI report. Your customer number doesn’t even appear on any computer screen.

How can they be shonky or unethical, when they have given us 6 months to deal with this?
You remember how Citi devalued their points 2 years ago?
You remember how CBA forged customers’ signatures, and deleted medical records of insurance customers?
AMP?

It is just banking. Do NOT ever let your emotions be attached to any financial decision.

100% agreed and a very reasonable, clear-headed assessment.

 

[drron]

Hi all,And 100% guaranteed some of those points will get stranded, or expire... Is it realistic to take 12 business class return fares AU to Europe over the next 3 years? Not really..

Mark

So fly First class.

Fortunately I have my new card.Rang Amex and no go on the double points.
So thought about it for a couple of hours and decided to transfer to KF.Went on line and it is working again.
Can't remember the last time my points balance was 137.

 

[jbman]

Did my last transfer in chrome today with no issues

 

[Chicken]

So fly First class.

That's true. What's the point of having 3 million miles and warehouse them? Either AmEx is going to devalue it for you, or more likely, QF or SQ devalue it for you (which already happened so many times).

We should thank AmEx for forcing us to fly.

 

[woomp001]

That's true. What's the point of having 3 million miles and warehouse them? Either AmEx is going to devalue it for you, or more likely, QF or SQ devalue it for you (which already happened so many times).

We should thank AmEx for forcing us to fly.

Good perspective!

Although perhaps someone owned a business that allowed them to generate a few million points a year, but they are so busy working in said business, that taking time off and using them is very difficult!
So they thought that they would warehouse them for a few years, until they sold the business....

Time for a new plan, I agree!

 

[Chicken]

Time for a new plan, I agree!

Yeah, the point of getting points is to fly. (see what I did there!)

What's the point of keeping all these points to the point of able to go to any point on earth but not knowing the original point of accumulating points? (OMG I'm so funny)

Time to book my ticket with SQ miles to DPRK Korea (north) again. It's been a few months, my leader needs me to hand in my report on Australia again.

 

[N860CR]

Interestingly, it seems my annual fee was just due (as a new travel credit appeared) however my account is maxed out with 0 available balance. I guess they’ll have another go at charging it later on.

 

[Jacques Vert]

The travel credit is applied before the fee; you will see the annual fee on your next statement.

If you intend to cancel the card, don't use the travel credit.

 

[ric_melb]

I find it interesting that in my last week shopping I notice that both Ikea and Chemist Warehouse have accepted Amex. I actually forget now, but I feel both were without surcharge.
Whilst some may only want Amex for the points, there are other benefits such as the Offers.
These can be Local Champion, Spend $400 get $100 back, free premium membership of Qantas Wine etc.