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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- PayPal games didn’t cause this<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Employee cards didn’t cause this<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Referrals didn’t cause this<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Back-button didn’t cause this<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Lots of sign-up bonuses didn’t cause this<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fitness club history didn’t cause this<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The floosies were a common denominator and probably came back to bite<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Notes and lessons from American Express shutdowns in general:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- You can’t add new transfer partners once a shutdown happens*, so add partners now
*… unless you have an AmEx business checking account<\/li>\n\n\n\n - You can only transfer 999,999 Membership Rewards per day per transfer partner<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- AmEx doesn’t close other players at the same address for guilt by association<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- You’ve got until the end of the day to cash out your points when you’re shutdown<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- If you cash-out with gift cards, only the physical ones work post shutdown<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- AmEx won’t refund annual fees for shutdown cards on their own<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- You can accelerate pending Membership Rewards points if you make a payment, call, and get lucky<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Don’t trust the reasons for shutdown from commenters that weren’t part of the shutdown<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
And finally, my advice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- You can’t add new transfer partners once a shutdown happens*, so add partners now
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