‘Credit Card Offers’ updated for February 2014 – summary of best deals

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• Mark says:

  5 Feb5 February 14:46

  I’m mulling over the 15,000 MR upgrade offer from Gold to Platinum in order to get Cathay status before it is pulled.

  I’ve had the Gold over a year so am paying the annual fee and am about half way through my current membership year. I’m assuming that will be recognised in some way. Does anyone know if they charge the fee difference pro rata up front for the remainder of the current year or if the renewal date is reset?

  • John says:

    5 Feb5 February 15:52

    I expect you will be refunded half the gold fee and then charged £450

    • Rob says:

      5 Feb5 February 15:56

      Agreed

      • Andy says:

        5 Feb5 February 16:50

        Yes my wife did this, She had just paid the £125 Gold fee renewal. When she upgraded later that month to Platinum she got the £125 fee credited back and then the next statement the £450 Platinum fee was applied

• Mucky says:

  5 Feb5 February 16:59

  I took out the platinum for the CP Gold Card (thank you for the reminder!), but can the platinum easily be downgraded to the gold whilst i work out what to do with my MR points or will i need to apply for the gold and then cancel the platinum?

  • Rob says:

    5 Feb5 February 20:03

    You can ring to downgrade if you want more time to decide about the points. Gold fee may kick in immediately though (£125/yr) – I think you don’t get the first year free.

    • Jfduncan says:

      6 Feb6 February 00:14

      I downgraded my Platinum on Monday night by calling Amex. The Gold Fee does kick in immediately – so i downgraded to Green (£60 annual fee) which i will cancel as soon as the next conversion bonus kicks in…

      • Rob says:

        6 Feb6 February 07:06

        There is an annual fee (£36?) for Membership Rewards access if you are Green and this is presumably not refundable, so Gold may have been the better deal.

        • Olly says:

          8 Feb8 February 15:49

          The Green card at £60 includes Membership Rewards with no additional fee to pay.

          I’ve downgraded from Platinum to Gold and now to Green while I wait for a transfer bonus (sat on about 120k MR points) although I’m not convinced one will ever arrive!

        • Rob says:

          8 Feb8 February 16:58

          That is absolutely NOT what the MR rules say. Fee for Green is £24 plus VAT per year.

        • Olly says:

          8 Feb8 February 17:20

          Agreed but I’ve had the Green card since October and Membership Rewards is definitely included – I clarified this before downgrading.

          Apparently there is another version of the card with a lower annual fee that attracts that charge – the ‘Green’ card you can get now is actually called ‘The American Express Card’ and is a different product. Very confusing!

        • M says:

          8 Feb8 February 18:33

          Wow. The green card in fact comes with a £60 fee/year.

• Petash says:

  5 Feb5 February 22:03

  Hello Raffles,

  Am new to o/seas points use particularly in US. Use Advantage plus here in Australia and it is GREAT, for AUD$280 you get one free night at a 4 or 5 star hotel eg Sofitel Wentworth, dining 2 for 1 all year round and available at most Accor hotels in Asia Pacific!! Unfortunately not recognized in USA. I am traveling to San Fran in June and and seeking a program to join that will help the budget and give us a good holiday. 7 nights planned. Tips ??

  • Rob says:

    5 Feb5 February 22:40

    Did the Omni last time I was in SFO which had just opened. If you could push some nights to Carlson soon their 38,000 bonus points promo is generous and would be handy in SFO. A Carlson Gold match would also let you book their ‘4 for 2’ rates to cover part of your stay cheaply.

• Malibu Stacey says:

  6 Feb6 February 18:41

  Amex Platinum Card holders applying for Gold status need to have RECEIVED their Marco Polo membership cards by 1 March. They need to APPLY to Cathay Pacific by 15 February. Too late if you don’t have an AP in hand already.

  • Polly says:

    6 Feb6 February 19:10

    Thought this had been changed to end of March? It’s been updated, I think there were a couple of mentions regarding this on a different post.

  • Rob says:

    6 Feb6 February 20:32

    No, they’ve changed it. It is now 30th March. Amex (for once) is even printing this on your statements this month.

• Jimmyjimmy says:

  8 Feb8 February 10:54

  When you cancel a fee card that gives pro rata return of the fee, ie SPG. Do they send you a cheque for the amount?
  Ta
  J

  • M says:

    8 Feb8 February 11:10

    Yes, a cheque or this can be credited to a different card if you have one.

• Empers says:

  8 Feb8 February 16:26

  Slightly off topic, I have a question about manufactured spend. I noticed on my Amex Platinum when I received a refund from SVP Gift cards (failed Amex House of Fraser venture), the refund did not deduct my original spend amount for MR points. Therefore I got to my £2k target much quicker than I should have. My question is this; has anyone found a way of using refunds on purchases in a consistent way to manufacture spend?

  I imagine there are many retailers out there offering high value items for sale although it is not in stock. Therefore one could buy an item , have the transaction registered and points target added and then promptly cancel the order for a full refund. I am not sure this is a scenario covered with the cards terms and conditions?

  Anyone know a suitable retailer or product this could be tested on?

  • Rob says:

    8 Feb8 February 16:53

    Normally a refund should trigger a deduction. What you actually want is a retailer who will refund to a different card. Costco used to, may still, be happy to do cash refunds for card transactions.

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