Warning: Watch Out for American Express Transaction Reporting Glitch
Good evening everyone, I hope you are all having a good week so far. Are you looking forward to Labor Day Weekend? I know I am. I’m flying to Portland, Oregon this weekend with my family. I’m planning to hit up some local breweries (any recommendations?) and walk around the city. Anyone interested in meeting up sometime during the weekend for lunch/drinks? Let me know in the comments.
Anyway, back to the title of the post. I am not sure if this is technically a glitch or an anomaly or whatever it is called, but I thought it was strange so I figured it was worth sharing.
I am an authorized user on my friend’s SPG card (I’m such a good friend) and was helping him make some purchases while he is traveling outside the US. When I look at the credit card account online, I see 3 purchases and a payment for the current period (August 2 through today). I thought everything was good until my friend said that I owed him $500 for a purchase I made that I didn’t pay him back on. I was confused. I made approximately $2,000 in purchases and paid him back approximately $2,000. What is the problem?
Apparently, when I look at the previous statement period, there is a $500 “grocery store” charge that was made on July 30 at my local Ralph’s. That seems to make sense, since July 30 falls within the July 3 through August 1 statement period.
But then I went back to the current statement period (remember it is from August 2 to today), there is a Gift Card Mall purchase from July 30 that made it into the current statement. For the record, July 30 is on a Wednesday, not a weekend or holiday, so this makes absolutely no sense to me. I checked on GCM and the purchase was made at 8pm on July 30, well within the August 1 cutoff day/time.
Now that I discovered the problem, I did a custom search for all transactions made from June 1 through today. Now I see all the purchases in one place. I’m not sure why this happened, but this just seemed strange to me.
Moral of the story, track your transactions better and make sure you keep your authorized users honest! For the record, I immediately did a bill payment for $500 to the SPG card.
The only new AMEX Offer I’ve seen this week is for Carter’s (not too impressive, I know).
If you are running low on paper (I’m sure you more likely to run out of room to store all the free paper from Staples), but if you need some paper, here is another free after rebate and coupon deal on paper from Staples. Make sure to give the cashier the coupon code when you check out.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
P.S. As I promised a reader a few days ago, I will work on my post showing why the Chase Sapphire Preferred is *not* worth the $95 annual fee. Check back tomorrow for the post.
When I gave the cashier the free code for paper it came up with a fee of $4 something after tax, and when I asked him he said that I have to pay first and then the rebate will come out with the receipt….is the rebate not instant and have to be filled online or mailed ?
Awesome idea on CSP post, look forward for it and keep it up!
Yes, that is correct. The price of the paper is around $7 (crazy expensive), then you give them the coupon code and you save $3 instantly, so your total is $4. Then the receipt prints out and you have to submit the rebate (do it online, it is really fast and easy: http://travelwithgrant.com/how-to-guides-cash-back/staples-easy-rebates/). Then in 1-2 months, you get a check for $4 in the mail. Sometimes they offer Staples gift cards or Visa gift cards or the occasional PayPal payment as a rebate. Seems like a lot of work for $4 (don’t let the rebate companies get in your head!), but I end up with 20-30 reams of paper over the year and sell them for $2 at my local garage sale. Plus, if you do rebates every few weeks or so, you will also be submitting one rebate and getting the rebate paid off a previous rebate at the same time (therefore the wait seems shorter). Not sure it is worth it actually, but I get paid in Staples gift cards from other rebates I file, so I just use the gift cards to buy the paper #circleoflife #toomuchfreetime
Recommend Stormbreaker brewery in Portland. Owner is son of good friends in suburban NYC. Hope you enjoy the brews.
Thanks for the recommendation Bob, do you have a favorite beer you can recommend for me? Maybe I will do a Portal Beer Report after this weekend (unlikely, but still possible).
We went to Cascade Brewery for a bachelor party – Highly recommended if you like Sour Beers
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cascade-brewing-barrel-house-portland
We also went to Hair of the dog – This place has a great selection, and is next to a great brunch place (Olympic Provisions)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/hair-of-the-dog-brewery-and-tasting-room-portland
Thank you for the recommendations. I’m not sure what Sour Beer tastes like, so I might have to give that a try and find out!
We just spent a week in Portland. There is a nice bike path along the river on the east side. You can rent bikes. Look for VooDoo doughnuts! Portland has more food trucks per capita than any other city. Cheap great eating and fun. Big Saturday outdoor market on the campus that is foodie heaven. Portland has happy hour dining specials everywhere. They are usually listed on each restaurant’s website. Gluten free readily available. Can’t help with the brewskies because I am gluten intolerant. You will have a wonderful time. It has to be the best city all around in the US.
Wow, what a recommendation! My brother loves riding bikes, so he will probably want to ride around the lake. VooDoo donuts sounds really good. I’ll check out the food trucks (will they be around on the weekend?).
“…I will work on my post showing why the Chase Sapphire Preferred is *not* worth the $95 annual fee.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m new to this game but always thought the CSP is the most overhyped card out there. I look forward to your write up.
It’s up now! Check out the home page to see my “exclusive” review. I hope you enjoy the read ProjectX :)