Update 11/05/2018: Second round of e-mails have now been sent out :(.
Amex just sent out an email to some people indicating that they’ll be clawing back Amex Offer credits for offers which were used on more than one card per SSN. Specifically, the 10% off Staples offer (which goes up to $100 credit) many of us saved on multiple cards under separate logins. (Amex used to allow saving one offer per login, and some people even saved it on multiple cards in the same login using the multi-tab trick.) The emails are being sent out to limit each person/SSN to a single $100 credit, not allowing a second credit on an authorized user card or on another primary card.
We may well see a claw back on the 10% Lowe’s offer too.
Not sure if they are only clawing back heavy hitters or everyone. This whole thing is very surprising since they’d typically only change things going forward, like they did by disabling the multi-tab method. Some people are taking a huge loss on this. 🙁
The terms do state: “Limit of $100 in total statement credits per American Express® Card Member,” but that could easily mean per card as each card is typically treated separately. All other limits work per card, e.g. $1,500 Freedom limit, $200 Amex Platinum airline credit, etc. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see in the Chase Freedom terms “limit $1,500 per card member” despite it being tied to the card, not the person. Doesn’t seem ethical to enforce vague terms against all precedent without notice.
No charges are actually showing yet in the Amex account, presumably they’ll show up within days or when the statement closes.
All of this doesn’t have much relevance going forward since the Amex system now limits us to one offer per person. For offers already saved, I’d certainly be wary of using more than one Staples or Lowe’s offer going forward. As for regular statement credit offers: I feel like those are more safe – my guess is the 10% Staples, Lowe’s, etc offers Amex is covering some or all of the cost as those are to be the replacement of the OPEN program. Regular Amex Offers the retailer swallows the cost so hopefully they’ll be fine.
Image from a friend:
Update 8/30/18: More rounds on clawbacks have come out. Also, some people are already seeing the clawbacks showing on their Amex statements.
