Update 10/22/18: Some people are now seeing the tracker in their online login as well. It’s not showing for everyone, and it seems to come and go, so obviously a work in progress.
Original Post:
A reader reached out with an images of an email they received from American Express confirming their signup bonus and informing them of their progress toward meeting their spend requirement. The email also helpfully notes that gift cards and cash equivalents don’t count (this isn’t new). The email came less than a month after getting approved for the card.
Readers note interestingly that the progress bar in the email gets updated continuously as time goes along, so you can just continue to refer to the email along your way towards meeting the spend. There is some delay until the data gets there – not sure if it waits for statement close or if it just takes a few days to update.
Not sure if they are now sending this to everyone or it’s still in the testing stages. Would be fantastic if all banks have a bonus tracker, like Citi and Wells Fargo have. It’ll save lots of customer service time and it generally leaves a good feeling for customers. It might be the banks put off doing this with the hopes there’ll be some customers who forget about it, thus saving them money.
This comes on the heels of Amex adding a signup bonus eligibility checker during signup. Seems like Amex finally decided to tackle the gorilla and just make everything as clear as possible for users, which is great news. Hopefully, they’ll add a tracker in the online login at some point in the future as well.
I asked Amex customer service about this tool to track spending on my new Amex card. His reply: “Yes, there is an option to track the spending on the Home page on online account, however this is a new feature and not available for all the cards so far, very soon it will be activated for all the cards.”
Hello. I don’t know how to send a tip but I signed up for an Amex offer of spend $1000 and earn 500 bonus points up to 3 times and today I received an email with a progress tracker for that offer. I can send proof if needed. Thanks.
Thanks. I believe we wrote about this (either before or after you wrote this comment). You can send tips to chuck@doctorofcredit and will@doctorofcredit
I was auto-approved. Unfortunately the gift card has not come over immediately. Its been over an hour now.
Really dont think you can talk trash to amex when they are literally the ultimate cash cow bank..
kind of on/off topic: I got an upgrade offer for BC to BCP and took it. Does anyone know if spend on AU card counts to the upgrade bonus spend? I do not get these progress mails – so no way to figure out how close I am without knowing if spend on AU card contributes or not. TIA for responses.
From memory, I believe it does count. Check the terms, it might say something explicitly about this.
The image updates as time goes on? This means the data being pulled doesn’t need authentication. Sounds like a major security issue for AmEx.
I’m not sure if I’d like it if anyone had the ability to see exactly how much I spend on my card.
i have had two emails. The newest one says $7k spent. The previous one dated exactly two months prior STILL SAYS TODAY $6k, which is what it said before when originally sent. For Biz plat $10k bonus.I have spent $9k+ making the newest one inaccurate.
Amex doesn’t do anything helpful for customers.
I got this email in June. The spending however is current until 07/19 for me. Try opening your old email if you got one, I think the email shows real time progress.
That sounds too crazy to be true. You sure?
Not at all. If it’s an html code querying a remote server it’s quite trivial.
Oh, it doesn’t surprise me that it’s possible. My surprise is that they’d put out that kind of data continuously running into an email.
In fact the HHonor monthly statement is just like that – therefore making it utterly useless because when you try to see what your previous balance, it will show the CURRENT balance, making it impossible to make sure HHonor has posted points accurately because you always see the Current regardless how many months ago the monthly balance email was sent.
As Andrey posted below, it has an html code that query the remote server of your account balance each time you click on it. Therefore it is always current.
I received an email in June. Just reopened and it’s updated through yesterday.
Thanks Matt and Arun, I’ll update the post.
All I wanted is ED preferred 30k bonus. I’ve tried everything but no good. I can only get the no annual fee version 25k to show.
I guess it’s comforting to know what they think it is, but in reality, it probably won’t be real time. Also, if you can’t add up the average 3k-5k minimum spends by yourself, your probably not cut out for churning.
Churners can count for sure. I’d say the email is a good reminder for someone who accidentally forgot. Lots of regular customers don’t pay attention to this stuff.
I just like the transparency.