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.
