Amex just offered me 50,000 Membership rewards points to keep my Platinum card.
I’ve always been a huge advocate of the benefits of owning an Amex Platinum Card.
Between the travel insurance, concierge service and special offers I always easily make my annual £585 fee back.
However there’s no doubting the fact that the utility of the travel insurance and concierge has been severely limited by the UK lockdown.
My $900 shopping spree whilst staying in L.A. thanks to Amex platinum insurance
How do you get an Amex Platinum UK retention bonus?
I called thinking that I might cancel the card and then re-apply in a few months time, when things are a little more normal.
My call was initially answered in the Philippines but as soon as I said the word “cancel” I was put on hold and transferred to a very well spoken lady in Brighton.
She began by assuring me that the team in Brighton was always available to speak to Platinum cardmembers.
She went on to explain that there were plenty of offers available at the moment, like the £175 back at Deliveroo/Selfridges/Harvey Nicks but she understood that the value of the card had diminished.
Without any prompting she offered me 50,000 Membership Rewards points, without any conditions attached.
©Flick digital.
I had been tempted to part ways with Amex…
Will I get the same retention offer?
There’s no guarantee but another person I’ve spoken to actually just got 60,000 offered to him (but he didn’t get the 20,000 back in May last year).
As always, the offer will vary depending on your personal history with Amex.
Feel free to comment below and share what, if anything, you’re offered.
Good luck!
16 Comments
Thanks for bringing this to my attention – you’re always on top of the industry ‘know how’ – genius!
Happy to help!
Hopefully a few blog readers can get some added value from their Platinum cards this year 😁
Only got two options when I rang:
– downgrade to Gold (free in the first year)
– pay the annual fee monthly. This is a ‘Product change’ and has a hard search on your credit score.
I rang before my fee was due. They may offer something if you’ve already paid the fee, which I’ll try once I’ve managed to use the £175 credit offer.
I received 40k points last year (20×2) as an incentive just for context
Sorry to hear that…
You’re actually the second person to tell me that today.
On the phone I was also asked if monthly repayments would help.
I said it wasn’t a lack of funds but rather a lack of perceived value that concerned me.
As soon as I said that the lady said that she could offer 50,000MR points to help improve the value proposition.
Got nothing last year nor this year just offered to downgrade not even having any offers for last 6 months
That’s terrible.
On that basis I would definitely cancel and consider reopening the card at a later date.
Amex Platinum have really come up trunks with some outstanding offers for customers recently.
With retention bonuses and cashback offers I can see them alone paying for the annual fee.
That’s how I feel, although it certainly seems like a mixed back in terms of the success rate!
Worth noting that I had just paid my annual fee, which may be why they were so keen to negotiate.
Do you think they would been so keen to negotiate retention bonuses with you if you were paying by monthly instalments?
I’m due to join up soon to get my benefits extended but was thinking of paying by monthly instead of annual fee upfront.
Honestly I don’t think it makes a huge difference, since you receive a pro-rata refund when you cancel anyway.
Received an offer of 35k earlier this year, albeit I always viewed it as compensation of sorts for some issues I have had with the card (has never automatically received any statement credit offers, has had the refer-a-friendly enrolment cancelled without reasoning). Reached out to cancel last weekend and was offered a further 50k retention offer to stay. Was a little surprised at the generosity of that, and almost said as much to them, but accepted. Today I receive a call advising they can’t issue the 50k, it was a mistake to offer it, and they can not issue a further retention within 12 months. I have been offered 5k for the miscommunication. I have rejected and escalated the ‘issue’ for further review.
Safe to say that if you come away with 85k in retention bonuses after all of this, you’ll have beaten even the most generous US credit cards!
There’s no doubt in my mind that if an FCA regulated institution makes the offer on a recorded line, they should be bound by it.
If they made a mistake then the onus is on them to better train their agents, not on customers to expect less…
Called to cancel the Platinum card – was promptly put through to their “Loyalty Team”, and was offered 50k MR to keep the card open – no conditions attached. The points took 36 hours to arrive in my account following the phone conversation, but can confirm they landed.
A great result, well done!
Is there normally condition to the retention offer? Ie cannot cancel until next annual fee.
I was offer 35k points, and I turned it down because i didn’t know if I would be commited to full year. I signed up for platinum purely for the point and cancel after 2 months. I’m getting £480 prorata fee back and the 35k only worth £280(avios to nectar)
There’s never any conditionality attached.
Social conditioning probably leads very few people to immediately cancel after receiving a retention bonus.
There’s no small print though, it’s always a ‘gesture’ from Amex.
You could transfer all the points to avios the next day and immediately cancel if you wanted.