Recent Amex Surpass Retention Offer Was Mildly Insulting

Recent Amex Surpass Retention Offer

I have talked a few times on the MTM Travel Podcast about how my wife and I have 6 Amex Surpass cards between the two of us. For one thing, I find the quarterly credits fairly easy to use – and at a net negative cost versus the annual fee. The second reason we have so many is that I was able to spend towards a $15K free night certificate for each of them. They are (by far) the most valuable free night certificates out there after all. Even with all of that, I decided it was time to trim a little fat in our lineup. Except, I wanted to see what a recent Amex Surpass retention offer looked like first.

Why I Decided To Start Closing Some Of These Cards

Even though keeping all of our Amex Surpass cards makes sense from a value perspective I decided to change some things up. After doing this for a few years I have a nice stash of Hilton Honors points and free night certificates. I have also decided to shift my spending to other cards that better fit my needs more right now.

Even more so than than, I think that a couple of our Amex credit card slots (limited to 5 in total per person) could be better used elsewhere. We were unable to take advantage of some no lifetime language offers for Delta and Marriott because we were up against the cap. I would like to free up some space in preparation for when those options come back around.

Lastly, if I decide to get back into the Amex Surpass game hot and heavy again then getting a referral from my spouse (and vice versa) would be more beneficial. That is, unless there is a juicy retention offer on the accounts.

Our Recent Retention Offer Data Point

The annual fee just posted on one of my wife’s Amex Surpass cards. As we had already hit the $15K free night certificate on the card this year, it was the perfect option for a culling. I wanted to see what the recent retention offer looked like for the Amex Surpass card first though. If it was a good enough offer we would keep it and kick the can down the road to when the next Surpass’ annual fee posted.

Here is what we were presented as our retention offer via the Amex chat rep:

• Earn 6,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $1,000

No, I did not forget a zero there. Yes, the offer was for just 6,000 measly points – worth a whopping $25. I requested the chat rep close the account after they said there was nothing else available. For some reason I think no offer at all would have been more respectable. However, if we had not finished the $15K free night certificate spend yet I probably would have accepted it and kept the card another year.

Recent Amex Surpass Retention Offer: Final Thoughts

My goal is to get us down to one Surpass card for each of us. I’ll be going over my gameplan going forward on these cards (and their replacements) in my MTM Diamond podcasts and write ups over the next month or two. I am still hammering some of that out though.

This Amex Surpass retention offer was kind of a slap in the face. Getting 6,000 Hilton Honors points is basically like a hotel check in amenity. It doesn’t go very far in their program – that is for sure. Not to mention that American Express is requiring $1,000 in spend. People have been saying American Express has gotten stingy on their retention offer, and this data point seems to track that.

Timing is everything though. If this had been an offer on a card I still had spend left to do on I probably would have taken it on my way to earning the $15K free night certificate. Then I would have prioritized the card on January 1st to earn another free night certificate before the annual fee hit again next year. Instead, we have one less Amex Surpass card and three more to drop.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress as we work through them. I’ll also add all of our offers to the retention offer data base we maintain with hundreds of data points for all major banks.