Call Results: My Retention Offer for the American Express Everyday Preferred Card (2019)

Just like with the Platinum Card by American Express for Ameriprise Financial, it’s already been another year the American Express Everyday Preferred Card.

As such, the one-year mark is when an important decision must be made about the card: keep it or cancel it before the $95 annual fees hits?

Call Results: My Retention Offer for the American Express Everyday Preferred Card (2019)

Before making any “keep or cancel” decision, I’ve found it wise to always call the card company and see if there are any retention offers available.

I called the American Express Retention Line at 1-800-452-3945. I quickly got a representative, told him I was trying to determine if I should keep the card. He read me the laundry list of card benefits, at which point I told him I was unhappy with the 30 transactions per month requirement to earn the 50% point bonus.

Immediately he came back and said, “well, I do see one offer,” and he came back with the following:

Offer #1:  15,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $3,000 within 90 days.

Note: I had about $4,000+ worth of spending on this card during year the last year.

To Keep Or Cancel?

I actually find great value in this card and use it as one of the “go-to cards” in my arsenal due to the wide ranging bonus categories it has and it’s magical ability to earn 4.5 points on groceries.

This is also a great card to add authorized users to because of the 50% extra earning potential when you have 30 or more transactions in a billing period and because its free to do so.

Did I Accept The Retention Offer?

Yes!

Basically, I effectively get 3 months of 6x points minimum on all unbonused spending up to $3,000.

On gas and groceries it’s even better – 8x on gas (with the 50% bonus) and 9.5x on groceries (with the 50% bonus).

By my math, I valued Offer #1 [conservatively] at $150, so this offer was even better than the retention offer I received last year.

Whats-more, with my American Express Platinum Business card and the 35% more value I get on airfare, this offer is really worth $231 to me!

Here’s The Math On The Annual Fee:

$95 annul fee + 15,000 Membership rewards points = $55 net gain on the year

(or $136 due to the American Express Platinum Business card’s 35% bonus)

The Bottom-Line: Call Results: My Retention Offer for the American Express Everyday Preferred Card (2019)

As you can see, retention offers can be more than worth a call if you are the fence about keeping or canceling your card.

In this case, I came out about $136 ahead on the American Express Everyday Preferred card annual fee alone, and that’s not even factoring in the Amex Offers I’ve used throughout the year. 

Of course, next year I’ll have to repeat this process. But for now, I’m keeping this card for sure.

Cheers!