I’m weeding out the credit cards that I’m no longer using as I refocus on financial simplicity, bring my personal balance sheet back to reality, and replenish my cash coffers so I can start tip-toeing back into a focus on miles and points. OK, I’m doing some of this because team MJ on Travel is getting ready to relocate, but I digress. 🙂
Next on my list of cards: The Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express. I’ve dithered with the idea of keeping this card. I do appreciate the utility of SPG points, but limited earning potential coupled with Starwood stays becoming a relative rarity for me made this the most likely card to go.
Amex Retention Call: The Results
I dutifully rang up American Express. While I really wanted to cancel the card, I’ll always entertain a retention bonus if it’s offered. The end result: it wasn’t. While I’m fully aware that I could have pressed “0” to talk to a representative, the Amex phone system never even bothered to patch me through to a human being. I told the robot what I was calling for, and it walked me through the process without any human intervention….at all.
I’ve heard retention offers are a relative rarity with this card, so I can’t say I’m surprised. That’s two responses in a row from American Express that mirror each other, though one was at least delivered by a person. “Your account is now closed.” Can’t say I’m surprised given how little I’ve spent on the card recently.
One more business card on my list, and I’m likely done with account closures. I realize what I’m doing is probably the antithesis of what a “miles and points” hobbyist should be doing, but it is something I had to do to get my financial house back in order. So far, I’ve seen no impact on my credit score from my decisions. Still sitting at just over 800.
-MJ, August 25, 2016
Interesting, particularly since apparently no decision has been made yet on the future of this card when (subject to China) the merger with Marriott is finally executed. I would have thought Amex might want to retain users to improve their leverage.
This has been my card for daily use for many years and my only Amex Card. Since my relationship with Amex goes back to 1970, it sort of has sentimental value. Nonetheless, I’ve found myself more and more staying at independent hotels on my twice/year international trips to/from a cruise as either I’m not enamored with the Starwood properties (Tokyo) or they don’t or the points or points/cash options don’t represent good value (Miami). Therefore, we think alike, albeit for different reasons, and I recently took advantage of the bonus points offered on transfers to AA and received 30,000 AA miles for every 20,000 SPG points transferred. I’ll think about closing the card when I return from my Celebrity transpacific cruise toward the end of next month, as I now find myself more and more using my Chase Ultimate Preferred card for daily spend. (I know if I were really into the points/miles game I would have analyzed the AA bonus against award levels with Alaska Air, but it some point it’s just not worth the effort).
Stu,
I expect if I were using the card more, I might have gotten kicked to a retention specialist….or at least a person to talk to. I really didn’t want to keep the card, so I’m OK with my outcome. However, I tend to agree with you on the Marriott angle.
I don’t understand what closing a card you don’t use gets your financial house in order. I would have thought it’s the cards you do use that causes the problems…
It doesn’t. I’m focused on simplification and building up cash reserves. Offloading the card means there’s one last thing I have to keep up with. However, the primary reason I wrote the post was to share my amazement that you can close a card and not talk to a person at Amex nowadays.
Hi Marshall,
Thanks for the post. Amazing that you can cancel a card without human interaction these days! I was curious if you were closing a personal SPG AMEX or the business version?
I have contemplated closing the business card as I don’t put much (or any) business spend on it, but didn’t know how it might hit my credit score.
Thanks,
Kevin
Hi Kevin. This was a personal card I closed. Neither of my business cards is actually reported on my credit report…and most don’t report on your personal credit report. Doctor of Credit has an excellent article on this.