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Amex seems to have made a change around Earning points on their credit cards Which could be a big hit to anyone Playing the credit card points and Miles Game could this be the start of the Decline of American Express Hey credit Warriors welcome to the show My name is Ben Hedges aka the credit Shifu and in this video I want to talk About a recent change that Amex seems to Have made that will ruin a strategy that I have relied on to earn a huge amount Of American Express points to use for Free travel over the past few years so Yesterday YouTuber Mark Reese who is a Friend of mine uploaded a video with the Title new rules Amex sign up bonuses Will never be the same interestingly on His videos thumbnail are two cards with The exact bonuses that I got okay the AmEx business Platinum with 150 000 Points and the AmEx business gold with 90 000 points so uh it kind of hit home For me and it seemed like a video I Should watch so anyway the gist of what Happened is that Mark got an offer for 90 000 points on the business gold card He had to spend ten thousand dollars in Three months in order to get that Welcome bonus of 90 000 points and he Used a two thousand dollar tax payment To make up part of that 10 thousand Dollar spend requirement then within Like a week of the cutoff for the
Three-month period for the spend Requirement he discovered that he Actually hadn't met the spend threshold Even though he'd spent over ten thousand Dollars so he contacted an Amex rep and They told him this these charges are not Eligible as it is considered a cash Equivalent and that was with regard to His two thousand dollar tax payment that He'd used to make up part of that ten Thousand dollars in spending now this Game is a big shot to me because back in April I made a 21 000 tax payment on my brand new Amex Business platinum in fact it was the First charge I ever made on that card And I was able to qualify immediately For the 150 000 Point bonus so I replied Like this No that ruins a big part of my strategy And Mark got back to me saying came here However put a comment by another viewer In the comments section I quote I've Heard that as long as a tax payment is Not the transaction that puts you over The spend threshold it usually counts Towards the spend bonus then Mark says I Don't have data to back this up but it Would make for a very compelling test Spend requirement 15 000 tax payment 14 000 XXX wait for it to post see if it Qualifies then finish up the spend Requirement with standard eligible Purchases now I'm slightly skeptical of
That but in theory you could make a few Tax payments and then as long as it's a Different charge just regular spend that Pushes you over that threshold you'd be All good but no matter what this seems To be a new change because like I said Back in April I did make a twenty one Thousand dollar tax purchase on my Business platinum and that was the Purchase that pushed me over the fifteen Thousand dollar spend requirement I did It in one transaction and it was fine so We know that it used to not matter Either way but now the change that has Happened is that tax payments are either Not allowed tall towards bonus spend or You could make a tax payment but as long As it isn't the payment that pushes you Over the threshold it's not going to Attract attention we need more data Points to really find out what exactly Is going on now let's talk about why Amex might have made this change Why do you do it and then we'll get into If there is a way around it so I'm Guessing American Express made this Change really because of people like me Okay so I got the uh the AmEx business Platinum okay and I spent 21 000 on it In April just in one transaction and Then each month I've spent maybe three Or four hundred dollars Um since then okay and I did the same With the gold I got that 90 000 Point
Bonus that uh Mark got as well okay I Got that a couple of years ago and I Didn't really use the gold that much I Use it bit for gas Um but then I canceled it after one year What Amex probably wants and why they're Doing these massive bonuses with high Spend requirements is that they probably Want to attract people who have high Business spending to put on their cards Okay they don't necessarily want someone Who's gonna spend twenty thousand Dollars one month of the year to get the Bonus and then they're gonna spend a few Hundred bucks on the card uh you know The other remaining 11 months of the Year that's that's my guess so I think They're probably gonna make it so that Tax payment don't count so that when People get the card all right people Sign up for these cards Um it's businesses that actually do have Ten or twenty thousand dollars per month In spend that they can put on a card on A regular month it's not just someone Like hey I could put my taxes on that And get my bonus way and then they never Use it again it makes sense From amex's Perspective but unfortunately it's bad For people like you and me so is there a Way around this like using the card Through a different payment processor That codes differently in order to pay Your taxes well we're going to talk
About that but before we do if you have American Express cards and you want all Your Amex offers activated automatically And added to your card you gotta check Out the sponsor of today's video max Rewards their pro version Max rewards Gold does just that adds all your offers To your card so you never miss a deal Cool thing is once you add all of the Available offers new offers that you Otherwise wouldn't get appear in your Account and those get added to your card Too and that means you can save even More money the average user saves over 700 per year you guys can get a free Month of maximum towards gold with my Link below you can also use my link to Just download it and check out some of The free features such as keeping track Of your transactions your balances your Points and rewards balances across all Your credit cards even if they're from Different issuers in one easy to use Dashboard link is below so is there a Workaround well first I thought of Plastic which turns credit card payments Into checks that they then send out on Your behalf however plastic no longer Accepts American Express then I thought Of melio but it seems that milio Although they do accept American Express It's only for certain types of payments And taxes is not one of them so it seems To me there isn't an obvious way around
This if you can think of another payment Processor that will a accept American Express and B the payment or code as Something that Amex isn't going to flag Okay when you pay your taxes with it do Leave a comment below and let us know But for now this Avenue of using tax Payments to get bonuses on Amex credit Cards especially the business ones that Have high spend requirements seems to be Kind of dry hang out there will still be Some circumstances under which it may Make sense to pay taxes with an Amex Credit card provided there's no greater Opportunity cost if you've got another Card from say Chase or city with a bonus And that would be things like when you Get a certain benefit if you spend a Certain amount of money on the card each Year I'm thinking for example the Delta Platinum where if you spend 25 000 on The card you get 10 000 Medallion Qualifying miles for Delta status and You'd earn some points on the card as Well I'm guessing not 100 sure but Guessing that tax payments would still Be valid for things like that okay Annual bonuses that you get every year But just not welcome bonuses but guys no Liability there do keep an eye on data Points on Reddit and YouTube Etc and Guys I would suggest if you do use a tax Payment to try to get a welcome bonus or To get things like the Delta Medallion
Qualifying Mars Etc do it at the Beginning of your three-month period so You're gonna know if it doesn't count And then you're gonna have time to come Up with a backup plan all right a big Thank you to mark for calling our Attention to that I'll put a link to his Original video on the screen now he goes Into a lot more detail I also have a Link to a video I did with him last year Collab video we did that you can check Out as well don't forget to check out The sponsor of today's video max rewards Subscribe on YouTube and if you want to Follow me on all the other social media My social media handles are on the Screen now thanks for watching guys We'll see you next time bye
