Disclosure: The Points Pundit receives NO compensation from credit card affiliate partnerships. Support the blog by applying for a card through my personal referral links. This article is meant for information purposes only and doesn’t constitute personal finance, health or investment advice. Please consult a licensed professional for advice pertaining to your situation.
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Just a few days back, I wrote about how you could prevent what many in this hobby fear – Amex shutting down your card accounts. However, a few reports trickling in indicate that we could well see another wave of shutdowns by Amex. So what’s going on here?
Another Wave? Amex shutting down accounts again
Doctor of Credit reports that Amex is once again shutting down accounts of customers. In this case, it seems like this wave of shutdowns could well have been triggered by people using PayPal key to make large sums of payment.
American Express is emailing customers informing them about the fact that they’ve shut down all of their accounts. You can also refer to this discussion on Reddit to get an idea of what’s going on.
5 accounts all cancelled via automated email message. Contacted via chat and a long message with the included verbiage of “According to your past account behavior we have concluded that you have a pattern of not complying with our offer terms……. And the account was cancelled on the review of a specialized team.” All I did was pay off an auto loan and made mortgage payments with ppk..
Cannot appeal since it’s an account cancellation.
Ballpark PPK spend was under $20k
Edit: Looks like we found the winner.. Only other factor could be that it was on the tail of the +4 MR referral bonus
Again, we don’t quite know how many accounts Amex has shut down yet. However, the reason for this shutdown seems to be pretty plausible – people using manufactured spend methods to spend heavily via Pay Pal Key.
The Pundit’s Mantra
While the cause for these shutdowns seems genuine, I’m not quite sure about the magnitude yet. However, we’ve seen Amex often enforce these account shutdowns in waves. Only time will tell how broad and sweeping these shutdown will eventually end up being.
Most importantly, one must note the kind of behavior that Amex is cracking down on. As I’ve said multiple times before, the last thing you want in this hobby is to be shut down by one of the biggest issuers. Miles and points aren’t going anywhere, so it’s always prudent to take the long term approach as opposed to a crash and burn strategy.
Hat tip to Doctor of Credit
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The Points Pundit loves these newly relaunched Chase credit cards!
Firstly, they offer you a 0% APR for the first 15 months.
Secondly, they have no annual fee and have a lucrative welcome bonus of $200 or 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $500 in the first 3 months.
Moreover, you can earn up to 60,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus points in the first year if you maximize the bonus points categories.
They’re packed with brand new benefits and bonus points categories.
Overall, a great option to carry in your wallet for everyday spend!
(Chase’s 5/24 rule may apply to these cards)
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