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Does the $450 Annual Fee Count Toward AMEX Hilton Aspire Minimum Spend? Maybe Yes

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Good morning everyone.  On May 15, I received my 100,000 Hilton Honors Points from my new American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card (referral link).  This credit card requires $4,000 in minimum spending within 3 months to get the 100,000 Hilton Honors Points.  The strange thing is, I think I got the 100,000 Hilton Honors Points before I completed the full $4,000 in minimum spend.  I believe I was a few hundred dollars short by May 15, but it looks like the $450 annual fee counted toward the $4,000 minimum spend.  My friend recently got his 100,000 Hilton Honors Points and noticed the same thing.  Let me see if I can dig a little deeper and see what is going on.

a screenshot of a travel program

When I signed into my American Express online account, the $60,000 progress bar toward a Hilton Free Weekend Night Certificate showed a dollar amount less than $4,000.

a screenshot of a credit card

I dug a little deeper and looked at the transaction level details.  I clicked on the Statements & Activity tab, selected the dates of April 1 (roughly when I got approved for the credit card) and May 15 (when the 100,000 Hilton Honors Points posted to my account).  I had 60 transactions between those dates, including the $250 in airline fee credits and the $450 annual fee.  It shows that the total during that time period was $4,120.01.  If I subtract the $450 annual fee, I spent $3,670.01.

a screenshot of a computer

If anyone else got the American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card recently, did your 100,000 Hilton Honors Points post sooner than you expected?  I would still recommend spending at least $4,000 on this credit card before the annual fee posts (just to be safe), but if your Hilton Honors Points post sooner than expected, that is a nice benefit too.

If you have any questions about the American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!


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3 thoughts on “Does the $450 Annual Fee Count Toward AMEX Hilton Aspire Minimum Spend? Maybe Yes

  1. Pingback: When Does the AMEX Hilton Aspire Free Weekend Night Certificate Post to Your Account?

  2. Jed

    I’d definitely recommend spending the full $4000 (in addition to the annual fee). Amex could claw back the bonus if they gave it to you then realized that you only met the minimum spend because they counted the annual fee.

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