Referral disappointment

[Dave G]

Well - Another feeling of disappointment / frustration / sadness with Amex...

I shared my referral link with my son, who then applied for the velocity card. Upon checking - his referral bonus points were less than what you can get just from going to the website for the general public. (60,000, as opposed to 70,000 + 30,000 for keeping the card)
I called Amex, and got the response that it was a deliberate decision from the marketing dept...

Yes - We could have / should have checked ( Son is starting FF points Journey - and as a family we will likely be about square / only slightly behind if he keeps it for a year)
Yes - I'll probably do a family transfer of some velocity points when the referral comes through.

It just curious that they are 'penalising' people for using referral offers..

 

[burneracc]

Well - Another feeling of disappointment / frustration / sadness with Amex...

I shared my referral link with my son, who then applied for the velocity card. Upon checking - his referral bonus points were less than what you can get just from going to the website for the general public. (60,000, as opposed to 70,000 + 30,000 for keeping the card)
I called Amex, and got the response that it was a deliberate decision from the marketing dept...

Yes - We could have / should have checked ( Son is starting FF points Journey - and as a family we will likely be about square / only slightly behind if he keeps it for a year)
Yes - I'll probably do a family transfer of some velocity points when the referral comes through.

It just curious that they are 'penalising' people for using referral offers..

While it isn't great to find out after the fact, the information was there, and all in all its not a terrible outcome (80k points first year net vs 70k first year, and a much delayed 30k second year). For what it's worth, the non-velocity group cards seem to refer much more fairly, ie their qff cards and the plat charge.

Semi related - if you really want to play the amex referral game, you can share a single card account with supplemental cardholders for each other. Then you can refer each other every other year and cancel the previous account to wait out the exclusion period. Only bringing this up since you explicitly mention your net points position "as a family". Could be worth considering.

 

[sudoer]

Then you can refer each other every other year and cancel the previous account to wait out the exclusion period.

Amex cracked down heavily on this a few years ago, and usually decline applicants with any indication of churning activity on their credit file...

 

[burneracc]

Amex cracked down heavily on this a few years ago, and usually decline applicants with any indication of churning activity on their credit file...

Eh, our household is on our third cycle, and we know colleagues that do the same too (their most recent alternation was roughly 7 months ago). Of course the moment a referred application is denied then we'd simply not cancel the referring account.

 

[Dave G]

Yep - Im on a grandfathered plat charge with reduced AF - So for the moment Im sitting tight..
Although the day may come (maybe not too far away) that even that fails to offer the right value