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IMPORTANT: American Express suspends the scrapping of pro-rata card fee refunds

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American Express informed us on Wednesday morning that it has suspended its plans to stop pro-rata fee refunds on its UK credit cards from 2nd October.

We don’t have any further information at this point. This is very much a last minute change of heart, given that the original announcement was made (in a HfP exclusive story) back in mid June.

This means that there is no longer a requirement to cancel any cards this week if you didn’t want to find yourself locked in for the rest of your membership year.

American Express suspends end of pro rata fee refunds

We believe that Amex does not intend to inform cardholders of this change, but the call centre agents have been told and can confirm this to you. You may want to call to get your own confirmation since there is no public statement that we can show you as verification.

We don’t know what the position is if you have cancelled a card this week and would now like it back.

The plan to stop pro-rata fee refunds is not dead, just resting, but we understand that there will be no changes until at least 2024.

I suggest keeping a regular eye on HfP over the next 2-3 weeks for more news ….


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Comments (328)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • a270 says:

    When does the BA Premium Amex 60,000 offer end. Rob’s article mentioned 10th October, but when I am clicking it is showing 25,000 for the premium one and 5,000 for the blue one.

    • a270 says:

      Just reread and says 60,000 if you are an Executive Club member from a specific page. Does that mean no one can refer you?

  • S says:

    Not good on Amex, damages the brand as their cs was so much better than Barclays / virgin.
    Already cancelled for refund and did not receive any retention offer…..

    Also have kids which greatly reduces 2-4-1 voucher utility – school hols etc.

    May go for the virgin bonus or just stick all spend through chase or John Lewis cards…..

  • Bernard says:

    Too late.
    The fact they wanted to do this, and Amex/Delta PR fiasco in the US says e we here Amex is headed.
    So time to move on to better offers (hello Barclaycard!)

    • RussellH says:

      You are welcome to Barclaycard.
      Without any hesitation, in my experience over the last 9 years, by far the worst customer “service” of any financial institution I have ever dealt with.

  • Lady London says:

    Ok if they’re not divesting then it sounds like the new programme will give anniversary bonuses (for keeping cards as in completed another year).

    I guess they will in some way have to give a better anniversary reward (rather than incentive) to those cardholders who already have many years continuous – either with Amex or with a particular card – for example by issuing first reward immediately or starting them higher if there’s a ladder of higher rewards for more years.

    • RussellH says:

      If by “anniversary bonuses” you mean handing out an additional chunk of points at the start of each new card year, as Creation do for the Marriott M/card, then yes, please.
      It should be an obvious way to stop people churning, if implemented sensibly, which Creation do not – it is a flat 2000 points each year, whether the card sits in the drawer all year, or whether you put significant money through the account.
      Better, surely, would be a low basic anniverary bonus, which you would get provided the card was used during the year, with increments for both the number of years the card had been held and for the turnover on the card in the previous 12 months.

  • jahk says:

    I cancelled last week for pro rata refund. A retention offer was activated about a month ago, but decided to forgo it as my wife was able to take advantage of the 60k BAPP offer.

    For all those complaining about amex customer service. I find it very satisfactory via live chat.

    • Peter K says:

      Only if not complicated. I’ve had to direct them to where to find their own application t&c’s before (at the chat agents request) when they were completely getting something wrong and not understanding the difference between business and personal cards!

  • TobyNow says:

    What if the cancellations that occured in the run up to this deadline triggered some sort of clause for BA and there is new a performance issue from their point of view? Could that be what’s going on?

  • Milaneser says:

    If something bad is indeed coming, my best guess is that Amex UK are about to follow Spain and make changes to the MR earn rate on Gold and the cheaper cards 😜

    • Harrier25 says:

      That would me more suicidal than stopping pro-rata fee refunds, but you never know with the current CEO. She’s awful.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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