Last February, I applied for several new points and miles cards. I can’t believe how fast a year can zoom by – before I knew it, I realized all of the annual fees have posted. Of course, I immediately got on the phone to see if the fee could be waived or if I would be offered some type of retention offer. In the past, I’ve been offered some pretty generous retention bonuses, so I was pretty optimistic this time around; however, I feel my retention bonus offers were quite “blah” to say the least. Here’s how I made out…
Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Visa: I applied for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Visa (not the Southwest Airlines® Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card with the $99 annual fee) during the time a lucrative 50,000-point sign up bonus last year (offer now expired). The card came with a $69 annual fee which was not waived. Of course, paying $69 for 50,000 Rapid Rewards points was definitely a great value. When I made the call to cancel, I went in with the expectation that the retention specialist would at least offer to credit the $69 annual fee since I am in good standing with Chase, and I had already paid a $69 fee upon opening the account. However, that was not the case. It took me a long time of going back and forth before getting offered anything. Finally, the agent said she would throw in 3,000 extra Rapid Rewards points if I remained a card member. Since Southwest is a fixed-value rewards program, I value each point at ~1.67 cents, which is an approximate $50 value. The card also comes with a 3,000-point bonus for each year of membership. Was this a “wow” retention offer? No. But, I figured ~$100 in Rapid Rewards points was worth the $69 membership fee.
American Express Business Platinum card: I definitely maximized the value of my American Express Business Platinum card over the course of the year. Not only did I apply during a targeted-offer of 100,000 Membership Rewards points, but I was also able to get my Global Entry fee reimbursed, my $200 in airline credit, lounge access, etc. (I’ve outlined how to truly maximize the card’s benefits in this post). When I called to cancel, I was offered absolutely nada, but I still didn’t go ahead and actually cancel. Why not? Here’s why: I am already getting a $200 airline credit per calendar year (which is in essence – $400 since I plan to utilize my airline credit for 2015 in January before my year is up) on top of another $200 courtesy credit as a result of the loss of Admiral’s Club access. Right there alone is $600 in airline credits for a $450 annual fee. I also will continue to have Centurion Lounge access, no foreign transaction fees, purchase protection, Platinum Concierge, etc. My favorite perk of all still continues to be the AmEx sync promotions and Small Business Saturday as a way to get “free money”.
Ink Plus® Business Card: The Ink Plus was one of my favorite cards because I loved earning 5x Ultimate Rewards points while buying Visa gift cards at Staples. I definitely was hoping to get another year out of it. When I made the call, I knew it was going to be blah from the start. Not only was I on hold for 28 minutes before being connected to a customer service rep (was everyone calling to “cancel” or what?), but when I finally did connect to one, she wasn’t exactly the most pleasant. Before I even finished my spiel about wanting to cancel, she interrupted me saying “Ok I will close out the account and issue you a $91.82 check for the value of your points that are sitting in your account. Whoa there lady, not so fast. I told her I’d prefer to hold on to the points and transfer them to a travel partner instead since I value the points much higher than 1 cent per point. I then said, “listen, I’ll hold on to the card, but can you at least offer me some type of retention bonus for being a customer in good standing?”. She put me on a long hold and then told me she can offer me a bonus of 10,000 extra points if I can spend $5,000 on the card within 3 months, aka a “spend challenge”. I personally find it annoying to have to complete yet another “minimum spend”, but I can easily knock of $3,000 with Amazon Payments and the rest I could do with normal spend, so I agreed. Plus, 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points is valued at $220 (2.2 cents each) in my eyes, so it was “worth it” to pay the $95 fee.
How has your luck been with retention bonuses recently? Did I just get the short end of the stick this time around, or are you finding that offers are just becoming more “stingy” all around? Would love to hear about your experiences.
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Sophisticated begging it is,,,,,,the only way this is worthwhile is if you are able to put the call on speaker phone and do other work while waiting……I think chase is getting “gimme fatigue” With Jamie getting his hand slapped for Madoff/Whale Trading etc I feel the company has gotten a little less aggressive……..perhaps the momentum is about to shift back to AMEX……..
Your UR valuation of 2.2 cpp is really high (mine is ~1.5). Would you share your rationale in case I’m missing something? BTW I received the same exact Ink Plus retention offer. Went for it b/c 10k points + the card benefits justifies the annual fee for me.
Southwest points arent worth 1.67 cents after March 30. They go down in value to about 1.4 cents. You got about $85 worth of points not $100
Just had a very similar experience with retention calls to Amex (MB Platinum) and Citi (Hilton Reserve). Amex offered me an extra $100 incidental credit on American Airlines based on the lounge access changes. I declined that offer. Citi Hilton Reserve didn’t offer anything. Seems like the card companies are doing better these days and perhaps don’t care to keep customers!
I got the same offer for the Ink Plus – getting ready to hopefully get the same offer for my Ink Bold next month! :)
I recently cancelled my Southwest Plus (and carried over the credit line) to a newly approved SWA Premier. Since it was a different card I got the 50K bonus for $2,000 spend and the future 6K anniversary bonus. So I figure the card will always be worth keeping.
MWL – I’m with you on UR valuation. Transfer to SWA give about your 1.5. Transfer to Hyatt can probably get you more like the 2.2 on higher priced properties, but I don’t do Hyatt that often.
Thank you for your good article. Good to know what others might expect.
I am wondering on the A/E Business Platinum–
would the Global Entry Free credit be extended if purchased for a spouse on the the card?
Thanks!
Got a good one from the AA card. 1K per month for 18 months and a 100.00 credit. Is there a thread on FT about retention bonsus?
I hate these articles. We get mad when the CC companies/airlines change the programs on us – how dare they not fulfill the implied contract.
But then you also fail to live up to your side – aka you got the card with the terms of an annual fee, but don’t want to pay unless you get more rewards??
..”I find it annoying to have to complete another spending challenge” …
Well…. You owe them the annual fee, and you are annoyed because you have to do something, because they offer you an alternative? Come on.
Ink plus in Nov – fee waived. Ink Bold in March? NADA! So I cancelled it. Then yesterday with the Hyatt card (admittedly very little spend, but I’ve had it waived once before).
me: “is there any retention bonus on this for a customer in good standing?”
Rep: “Your annual free night is your bonus”
me: “could I be transferred to a retention specialist please?”
Rep: “Oh that’s not necessary, I can cancel it for you myself”
me: “uhh, I’ll call back (click)”
Sounds like they’ve figured it out.
@justsaying: you’re right – I always do my retention calls while doing other things (aka feeding baby, etc). It helps “feel” productive while doing other things that keep me stationary.
@MWL: I personally have had plenty of redemptions that justify the 2.2 cpp… Singapore suites from NYC-SFO-HKG-SIN-SYD, Andaz Maui, 9,000 Avios for a last minute RT to Toronto from NYC (tickets were pricing over $400) just to name a few off hand. I try to use my UR points for trips that truly maximize the value. I also agree that the 10K UR for 5k spend is worth keeping the card open at least for another year.
@Jason: Yes, you’re right – devaluation is happening in a few weeks & points will be worth roughly 1.4 cents each. I was able to book two LAS-EWR segments on points to secure the current rate now. whew.
@Evan: I agree – they are tightening the rope for sure!
@Carl P: Nice move by transferring the card and getting the sign-up bonus! I will keep that in mind for next year….
@misty: That’s a good question. I would assume so since the credit is triggered when a global entry charge is posted. Maybe call up and just ask if the GE has to be for the card holder only??
@Paul: wow thats a pretty incredible retention bonus!! & yes, there are a few threads on FT that discuss retention bonuses.
@alan: I guess we get excited about the “game” and it’s part of the thrill of the hunt. I still have paid annual fees many years in a row on cards I feel worth it (CSP, Hyatt Visa, IHG Visa, Club Carlson card etc)… just bc I want a good relationship with the banks. It never hurts to ask for something more though!
@James: You hit the nail on the head with the convo!