Get a refund to your American Express card? Here’s how it impacts your vouchers and bonuses

A recent email from a reader reminded me that you may not be familiar with how American Express treats refunds when you have a spend target to hit.

The answer is simple:  all American Express spend targets are based on NET spend, not GROSS spend.  Your spending is adjusted for refunds, irrespective of when the original transaction took place.

The “irrespective of when the original transaction took place” bit is important. Here is an example.

My British Airways American Express Premium Plus membership year runs to late May.  I need to spend £10,000 between late May 2022 and late May 2023 to receive my next 2-4-1 Avios companion voucher.

Let’s assume that I am about to receive a £2,000 refund from British Airways for a flight booked in April 2022. Because it was booked in my previous card year, it counted towards my 2021/22 companion voucher.

When this refund turns up, it counts against my target spend for the current year.  This means that I will need to spend £12,000 this year – not £10,000 – in order to trigger my 2-4-1 voucher.

It makes no difference that the original purchase took place in my old membership year.  Amex deducts the £2,000 from my gross spending in this membership year so, to hit £10,000 of net spend, I now need to hit £12,000 of gross spend.

More obviously, the refund would also count against my £10,000 total spending if the original purchase has taken place in my current membership year.

The identical situation applies if you are working towards any other American Express spend bonuses:

• Any sign-up bonus on any American Express card (see below)

• Up to 12,500 Membership Rewards points for spending up to £25,000 in a year on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold 

• 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points for spending £10,000 in a calendar month on American Express Business Platinum

• Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status for spending £15,000 in a year on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express 

• A 25,000 point free night voucher for spending £25,000 in a year on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express 

What happens if you trigger an Amex sign-up bonus and then receive a refund?

This is a situation which can create additional problems, unfortunately.

Amex will remove your sign-up bonus if a refund is received which takes your net spending during the (usually three months) bonus period below the bonus threshold.

There are two scenarios here:

• if you are still inside your three month bonus period, you can get the bonus returned by doing additional spending which takes you back over the net spend target

• if you are OUTSIDE your three month bonus period – which can easily happen if you cancel a flight a few months after booking it – you’re stuck. Amex will remove your sign-up bonus and you have no way of getting it back.

This can cause your points balance to become negative. This is very likely in the case of British Airways or Marriott Bonvoy American Express cards, where your sign up bonus has already been transferred. American Express cannot pull back points from British Airways or Marriott. You can easily end up with a points balance of ‘minus 20,000’ in your American Express account which will take a number of years to whittle down to zero through fresh spending.

If a Membership Rewards points bonus is removed, it is likely that the points will still be sitting in your American Express account unless you transferred them to a partner. This means that you won’t drop into a negative balance.

British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion vouchers are treated differently

This situation does not apply to 2-4-1 vouchers on British Airways American Express cards. If you have triggered your voucher for the current card year and subsequently receive a refund, the voucher is NOT removed from your BA account.

Does this apply to other card issuers too?

I don’t know, unfortunately.  It will vary on a case by case basis, but you should assume any award is based on net spend and not gross spend.

This would include:

• A free night for spending £10,000 in a year on the IHG Rewards Club Premium Mastercard (no longer available to new applicants)

• 40,000 HSBC points for spending £12,000 in your first year of holding the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard 

• An upgrade or 2-4-1 voucher for spending £20,000 in a year on the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard 

• An upgrade or 2-4-1 voucher for spending £10,000 in a year on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard 

PS. This article (clicks) looks at all of the most valuable UK credit card sign up bonuses.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.