Lessons from the Big Axe: American Express 2025 Edition

American Express shut down the accounts for a large number of churners yesterday. If you were affected, I’m sorry, that sucks and I hope you’re back with AmEx soon. What happened exactly? Let’s start with vitals:

• Shutdowns happened between 1 PM and 5 PM Eastern
• Shutdowns didn’t occur simultaneously, they were spread throughout the day
• The Apple Pay early warning system didn’t work this time
• Shutdown emails used the reason “accounts […] not being used for the intended purpose”
• Applying for a new card after shutdown was instantly denied with the reason “previously engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming”

Now, let’s talk causes. I don’t work at American Express so I can’t offer definitive evidence, but we have plenty of data points that all point in the same direction. Those say:

• PayPal games didn’t cause this
• Employee cards didn’t cause this
• Referrals didn’t cause this
• Back-button didn’t cause this
• Lots of sign-up bonuses didn’t cause this
• Fitness club history didn’t cause this
• The floosies were a common denominator and probably came back to bite

Notes and lessons from American Express shutdowns in general:

• You can’t add new transfer partners once a shutdown happens*, so add partners now
  *… unless you have an AmEx business checking account
• You can only transfer 999,999 Membership Rewards per day per transfer partner
• AmEx doesn’t close other players at the same address for guilt by association
• You’ve got until the end of the day to cash out your points when you’re shutdown
• If you cash-out with gift cards, only the physical ones work post shutdown
• AmEx won’t refund annual fees for shutdown cards on their own
• You can accelerate pending Membership Rewards points if you make a payment, call, and get lucky
• Don’t trust the reasons for shutdown from commenters that weren’t part of the shutdown

And finally, my advice:

• Shutdowns probably aren’t over yet
• If you rank high on the floosie scale and aren’t yet shutdown, consider a sneak-attack-strike-back
• If you end up shutdown and a rep tells you they can’t help you transfer your points, HUCA
• If you have lots of posted charges and pending points, try and get them accelerated
• Don’t forget about the arbitration clause for pending points that haven’t posted

Good luck out there!

A small post-shutdown brew to lighten the evening.