Search Results for: retention

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My Credit Card Retention Calls for AMEX Business Platinum, Chase IHG & Chase Hyatt

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I apologize for not writing much lately, but I do have a few posts in the pipeline, they just take a while to get all the necessary details and dates.  Anyway, my December credit card statements just closed and a few of my credit cards had annual fees that posted.  Most of the time, I have already mentally decided if I will keep a credit card or cancel way before the annual fee posts, but even if I mentally decide to keep a credit card, I still call and see if there are any retention offers available.  It never hurts to call, the worst that can happen is that they say there are no offers, and if you never ask, you will never receive.  During this round of retention calls, I called regarding my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card, Chase IHG Rewards Credit Card, and Chase Hyatt Credit Card.  Here is how those retention offer calls went…

Retention Call 1 and 2: American Express Business Platinum Charge Card
I called American Express on Wednesday afternoon and told the rep that the $450 annual fee just posted on my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card and I wanted to close the card, but before I close the card, I wanted to see if there were any retention offers available.  She put me on hold for a few minutes, but then said that the department that was responsible for retention offers was really busy and that I should call back at a later time. 

I then called back Thursday morning and told the second rep the same spiel.  He put me on hold for a few minutes to check my offers and came back with no offers.  I told him I put a lot of spend on my no annual fee American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card (true) and earned lots of Membership Reward Points on that card and put very little spend on my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card (true), so why did I need both cards?  I told him I get good value out of the $200 airline incidental credit and occasionally visit the Centurion Lounges, but that did not justify paying the $450 annual fee.  He asked me what type of offer I was looking for and I said statement credits to offset the annual fee.  He didn’t have any statement credit retention offers and said that I could redeem my Membership Reward Points for statement credits.  No… that was not what I wanted.  He said he would transfer me to that department and then I hung up in annoyance.  Ugg, I will hold on to this card until get another AMEX Plat.  I’m currently eyeing the 60,000 point signup bonus on the American Express Platinum Charge Card from Charles Schwab.

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US Bank Club Carlson Business Credit Card: 40,000 Anniversary Points + 2,500 Retention Offer Points

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Good morning everyone, happy Saturday.  I hope your weekend is going well so far.  I have a short post today about my US Bank Club Carlson Business Credit Card and the small retention offer I received.  My $60 annual fee posted on July 6 and I decided to call US Bank to see if they would be able to waive the annual fee or issue me a statement credit to offset the annual fee.  Both of those requests were rejected, but then I asked if there were any retention offers available for bonus Club Carlson Points.  Yes, she said, but she could only offer me 2,500 bonus Club Carlson Points.  I accepted her retention offer and thanked her for her help.

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Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card Downgrade & Retention Offer

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Good morning everyone, happy Memorial Day! A few days ago, I called Barclays to close my Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More World Elite MasterCard. The $79 annual fee was coming due soon and I barely spent any money on the credit card after completing the minimum spending requirements last year. After calling the number on the back of the credit card and explaining that I wanted to close the credit card because the annual fee was posting soon, the rep transferred me to a different department (I don’t remember the department name, but let’s call it the Barclays retention department). After explaining my situation to the second rep, she asked me if I would be willing to downgrading the credit card to a no annual fee version of the Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card. Sure, I said, that sounds good to me. The downgraded credit card will earn 1 Lufthansa mile for every $2 spent and the conversion would be completed on June 5.

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Amazing Retention Offer on my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card

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Buenos dias everyone. The annual fee posted on my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card on April 26, and since I hate making phone calls, I waited until the very last minute to call about canceling the card. American Express will only refund your annual fee if you cancel or downgrade within 30 days of when the annual fee posts to your card.

Once I finally resigned myself to getting on the phone, I told the representative that I wanted to speak with someone about closing my account because of the recent changes to the Membership Rewards Pay with Points rebate. She mentioned the fact that the card now earns 5 points per dollar spent on amextravel.com, then placed me on hold for several minutes and then handed me off to someone from their OPEN Membership Consulting team.

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My Recent Citi Forward & Premier Credit Card Retention / Targeted Spending Offers

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a festive Drinko Cinco de Mayo yesterday. A few weeks ago, I called Citi to convert my Citi Prestige Credit Card into a Citi Dividend Credit Card. During that call, I asked the rep if it were possible to convert my Citi Forward Credit Card to another Citi Dividend Credit Card. She checked the card’s offers and told me that no product change / conversion offers were available. Undeterred, I asked if she saw any other offers on the credit card and she read off a few retention / targeted spending offers. After going through all available offers, I accepted an offer for 3,000 bonus Citi Thank You Points after spending $300 in the next 30-90 days (I don’t remember the exact number of days, since I was planning on completing the spending requirement the following day).

To complete the spending requirement, I loaded / reloaded my Amazon gift card balance with $301 using my Citi Forward Credit Card. A long time ago, the Citi Forward Credit Card used to offer 5x Citi Thank You Points at restaurants and bookstores (including Amazon). But unfortunately, on June 4, 2016, Citi changed the earning rate of the Citi Forward Credit Card from 5x to 2x at restaurants and bookstores, thereby reducing my spending on the card from a lot to $0.

Fun fact: The rep mentioned that as long as there is a purchase once every 25 statement cycles (~2 years), Citi will not close the credit card for inactivity.