Tips to hit Amex Platinum £6,000 spend target

[Peter K]

SteveJ wrote:

Thanks for the insights all, good to know others have seen councils carry forward any overpaid.

I didn’t expect them to fight the free advance of money, but you never know sometimes!

Last time I overpaid the council by a substantial amount they actively contacted me to prepay it. This was into my bank account but it was awkward.

[Nigel Keya]

That’s awkward like my wife sees awkward. She hates any kind of confrontation or actually discussing things with people who have any kind of authority.

Of course you can do whatever you like in life, within the law. Such as over-paying your Council Tax bill, your Octopus Energy Bill, your Southwestwater bill – and often, your credit card bills. I do all of those things, I’m not doing anything illegal – and if I get a silly phone call, I tell them (politely) to bog off.

It actually helps to condition yourself to welcome confrontation. Eg you have been refused your Shop Small reward. Phone them up and argue your point! without being rude/ you will always be scrupulously polite, honest and fair if you want to get on in life. But welcome the confrontation and get yourself a good result.

[MattB]

I think he meant its awkward to get the overpayment back from a system perspective as you will have no direct debit setup.

I will have the same issue soon as I’ve paid for the full year but will be moving out in a few weeks and so will be owed a third back.

[Nigel Keya]

I doubt it. But they’ll just send you a cheque if that’s what you prefer.

It’s your money and of course they’ll refund you any overpayment – always and without meaningful questions.

[WillPS]

Not sure it fits in with the snooty vibe on here but Asda Christmas Savers bonus applies after close of business on Sunday.

£15 added on a £280 top up. I’ve bought five…

In other news Asda sell Amazon, M&S, JL etc gift cards.

[HelenM]

WillPS wrote:

Not sure it fits in with the snooty vibe on here but Asda Christmas Savers bonus applies after close of business on Sunday.

£15 added on a £280 top up. I’ve bought five…

In other news Asda sell Amazon, M&S, JL etc gift cards.

Were you able to do this instore with Amex? I tried to do it online yesterday and they don’t take Amex on the online asdagiftcards portal.

[Peter K]

HelenM wrote:

WillPS wrote:

Not sure it fits in with the snooty vibe on here but Asda Christmas Savers bonus applies after close of business on Sunday.

£15 added on a £280 top up. I’ve bought five…

In other news Asda sell Amazon, M&S, JL etc gift cards.

Were you able to do this instore with Amex? I tried to do it online yesterday and they don’t take Amex on the online asdagiftcards portal.

I think WILLPS meant that you top up a xmas saver account with Amex, then use the money/vouchers from that to buy gift cards in Asda. Buying gift cards direct won’t get you the £15 bonus.

[WillPS]

HelenM wrote:

WillPS wrote:

Not sure it fits in with the snooty vibe on here but Asda Christmas Savers bonus applies after close of business on Sunday.

£15 added on a £280 top up. I’ve bought five…

In other news Asda sell Amazon, M&S, JL etc gift cards.

Were you able to do this instore with Amex? I tried to do it online yesterday and they don’t take Amex on the online asdagiftcards portal.

Yep. Asda accept Amex, these gift cards go through normal tills like anything else. You can even top them up at self checkouts although the UX is hardly optimised.

The only issue I had yesterday was Amex blocked my card after the third or fourth £200 transaction, luckily P2 was on hand with her supp card to finish the job.

I wouldn’t muck about with the online gift card portal to be honest, it just adds restrictions which don’t exist if you do it all in store.

[HelenM]

I went to the ASDA online account to purchase an xmas saver card and they only sell them online from the ASDA giftcards page – so I bought one – and then I went to top it up online and it directs you to the giftcard website to top it up, but they don’t allow you to top up with Amex online. So is there anyway to open and top up an Asda christmas saver account online with Amex? or if you want to use Amex does it have to be done in store only?

WillPS wrote:

HelenM wrote:

WillPS wrote:

Not sure it fits in with the snooty vibe on here but Asda Christmas Savers bonus applies after close of business on Sunday.

£15 added on a £280 top up. I’ve bought five…

In other news Asda sell Amazon, M&S, JL etc gift cards.

Were you able to do this instore with Amex? I tried to do it online yesterday and they don’t take Amex on the online asdagiftcards portal.

Yep. Asda accept Amex, these gift cards go through normal tills like anything else. You can even top them up at self checkouts although the UX is hardly optimised.

The only issue I had yesterday was Amex blocked my card after the third or fourth £200 transaction, luckily P2 was on hand with her supp card to finish the job.

I wouldn’t muck about with the online gift card portal to be honest, it just adds restrictions which don’t exist if you do it all in store.

[Nigel Keya]

Not really sure about that, HelenM.

I’ve been a big Aldi/ Lidl user for a few years – ever since they started up (and it was somehow shameful to shop there). We don’t actually have a Waitrose closer than 20 miles away, though when I went there to check out offering it looked very poor value.

We were never big Asda supporters – pretty poor quality IMV – Morrisons v good quality, though – obvs rather expensive since they got bought out and increased prices by about 15%.

Now a firm Aldi/ Lidl shopper & I urge all who disdain them to hold nose and go have a look. Fresh fruit/ veg/ bakeries/ meat/ booze incl wine extremely good. Got a £1.50 tray of fruit & veg this morning with 8 big red apples, bag of green chillis, bag of carrots, bag of 2 lettuces, 6 bananas – my mate on the till said he’d been on the generous side but I left the other boxes for the pensioners, otherwise I wd have got 2.

[HelenM]

Nigel Keya wrote:

Not really sure about that, HelenM.

I’ve been a big Aldi/ Lidl user for a few years – ever since they started up (and it was somehow shameful to shop there). We don’t actually have a Waitrose closer than 20 miles away, though when I went there to check out offering it looked very poor value.

We were never big Asda supporters – pretty poor quality IMV – Morrisons v good quality, though – obvs rather expensive since they got bought out and increased prices by about 15%.

Now a firm Aldi/ Lidl shopper & I urge all who disdain them to hold nose and go have a look. Fresh fruit/ veg/ bakeries/ meat/ booze incl wine extremely good. Got a £1.50 tray of fruit & veg this morning with 8 big red apples, bag of green chillis, bag of carrots, bag of 2 lettuces, 6 bananas – my mate on the till said he’d been on the generous side but I left the other boxes for the pensioners, otherwise I wd have got 2.

I am also a big fan of Aldi and Lidl but when i need a big online shop delivered I tend to favour ASDA once in a while. I do love Aldi for the copycat items – you cannot tell the difference – their olive spread instead of Bertolli at a fraction of the price is one example, Mayo, ketchup – all taste just like the big brand equivalent and a lot cheaper. I am a bit of a supermarket tart really – will go where the offers are – so not loyal to any one place – and this works in my favour – eg i hadnt spent in Sainsburys for a couple of months, nipped in to get a couple of items, and they gave me a £15 off £60 spend voucher on my next shop – they basically try to entice you back if you haven’t Ieen for a while – so now I have to remind myself – even if I go in for a big shop – buy and pay for 1 thing first and scan the nectar – and i may get a voucher for the rest of the shop as long as its been a couple of months since my last shop. LOL

[WillPS]

HelenM wrote:

I went to the ASDA online account to purchase an xmas saver card and they only sell them online from the ASDA giftcards page – so I bought one – and then I went to top it up online and it directs you to the giftcard website to top it up, but they don’t allow you to top up with Amex online. So is there anyway to open and top up an Asda christmas saver account online with Amex? or if you want to use Amex does it have to be done in store only?

I have no idea. Like I said I wouldn’t muck about with it too much online; it’s clearly not meant to be a product they intend for you to hold multiple of but buying in store they have no way of policing that whereas online they can and do.

[zapato1060]

For those interested. Opened Gold for mother in law specifically for 30kMR.

On Monday did £700 spend on flights and 2.3k on VRBO site (formerly known as HomeAway) for a house rental in West End for 3 nights in Oct 2023 with free cancellation.

30k points posted Wednesday. Cancelled VRBO booking immediately. VRBO 100% refund was in Friday.

[StanTheMan]

Hit the 6k a week ago, got the points in relation to the spend, but not the 60k bonus…… Def been 2 years plus since the last Platinum card. Any idea how long the bonus is taking to post?

[janed9388]

StanTheMan wrote:

Hit the 6k a week ago, got the points in relation to the spend, but not the 60k bonus…… Def been 2 years plus since the last Platinum card. Any idea how long the bonus is taking to post?

are you accounting for the fee not being included in spend ? I was £14 short yesterday when I checked, some transactions that were pending flipped over today and 65,000 points are showing immediately.

[TGLoyalty]

zapato1060 wrote:

For those interested. Opened Gold for mother in law specifically for 30kMR.

On Monday did £700 spend on flights and 2.3k on VRBO site (formerly known as HomeAway) for a house rental in West End for 3 nights in Oct 2023 with free cancellation.

30k points posted Wednesday. Cancelled VRBO booking immediately. VRBO 100% refund was in Friday.

And hopefully you applied the the 3k for 1st supp and then transferred out all the points and closed the card before the refund posted?

[JDB]

Love how not only do people proudly advertise how they have rooked Amex with a fake transaction to earn some points but then someone else comes along to make sure they have done it right! Glad not to be a business/personal partner or employer of anyone happy to be so expedient.

[StanTheMan]

janed9388 wrote:

StanTheMan wrote:

Hit the 6k a week ago, got the points in relation to the spend, but not the 60k bonus…… Def been 2 years plus since the last Platinum card. Any idea how long the bonus is taking to post?

are you accounting for the fee not being included in spend ? I was £14 short yesterday when I checked, some transactions that were pending flipped over today and 65,000 points are showing immediately.

Yes, fee hasnt even hit yet. ive spent over 7k. all transactions have gone from pending to my account too… a little bit odd.

[NorthernLass]

@zapato1060, just out of interest, did you move the 30k points before you cancelled the VRBO booking?!

[zapato1060]

NorthernLass wrote:

@zapato1060, just out of interest, did you move the 30k points before you cancelled the VRBO booking?!

correct. I will keep for a year whilst its free. just means i get 12 months to hit the ‘actual’ 3k rather than the advertised “2 months”?!

[zapato1060]

JDB wrote:

Love how not only do people proudly advertise how they have rooked Amex with a fake transaction to earn some points but then someone else comes along to make sure they have done it right! Glad not to be a business/personal partner or employer of anyone happy to be so expedient.

fake?! felt very real.

[confused]

If you cancel a booking and get a refund won’t that mean your points then are clawed back by Amex?

[Bill_B]

confused wrote:

If you cancel a booking and get a refund won’t that mean your points then are clawed back by Amex?

Your MR balance would go negative, but I don’t think Amex can get the points back if they have already been transferred out.

[pbcold]

“Love how not only do people proudly advertise how they have rooked Amex”….. I am so pleased not to be a business/personal partner or employer of anyone who thinks that such a poorly constructed sentence is acceptable.

[Pointsamateur]

Thought I would return to update this thread I started. Somehow, in just under 3 months, we have spent over 5K !!! Not quite sure how; had a few small work trips with hotels but nothing extravagant at all. Clearly we are spending waaaay more than I anticipated, and need to rein things in a bit. So after my initial concerns, and all your helpful suggestions, it won’t be a problem at all.