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EXCLUSIVE: No more pro-rata fee refunds for UK American Express cardholders

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American Express has traditionally offered one feature which other UK credit card companies did not.

If you took out a card with an upfront annual fee, you would receive a pro-rata fee refund if you cancelled your card part-way through the year.

This is now ending for most cards.

No more pro-rata fee refunds for UK American Express cardholders

It isn’t ending today. The change will take place on 2nd October 2023.

From that date, you will no longer receive a pro-rata fee refund after cancelling certain American Express cards. You will still be allowed to cancel your card but you won’t get any portion of the annual fee back.

Anyone who took out a card before 31st May 2023 will receive formal notification of the changes in the next few weeks.

Anyone who took out a card from 1st June 2023 will not receive any notification, because the option to receive a pro-rata refund was quietly removed from the T&C for new applicants on that date. However, you are still allowed to request a pro-rata refund before 2nd October 2023.

Does this change apply to all American Express cards?

No.

The change only impacts credit cards.

If you still hold a charge card – although all personal charge cards have been withdrawn from the market over the last couple of years for new applicants – then nothing changes. You will still be able to cancel it at any point for a pro-rata fee refund.

What happens if American Express cancels your card?

You will still receive a pro-rata fee refund if your card is cancelled by American Express for any reason.

No more pro-rata fee refunds for UK American Express cardholders

How will this change the card market?

That’s a good question, especially as you also need to factor in the appeal of competing products – the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard, for example, has a fee of £20 per month and so can be cancelled at any time without penalty.

Let’s look at a few of the cards:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is free for the first year, so the appeal of this card (you currently receive an increased 25,000 Membership Rewards points bonus, £120 of Deliveroo credit, four airport lounge passes) is unchanged.

The Platinum Card from American Express

The Platinum Card is more complex, but at a non-refundable £575 for the first year it remains a good proposition (30,000 Membership Rewards points bonus, £300 of dining credit, £100 of Harvey Nichols credit, two Priority Passes, travel insurance etc).

During special offers such as the recent ‘60,000 points + £200 of Amex Travel credit’ promotion it becomes exceptional value for the first year, even at the full £575.

British Airways Premium Plus American Express

The British Airways Premium Plus card becomes less attractive for a quick pump and dump, with the 25,000 Avios bonus equalling but not exceeding the £250 annual fee on our valuation.

However, because of the value of the annual 2-4-1 companion voucher, it is by far the most common card for HfP readers to keep for the long term. I doubt many people who read HfP cancel this card quickly.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Most HfP readers who have the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card will have it because of the 15 free elite night credits you receive. This is an annual benefit, and anyone who gets the card purely for the elite nights is probably in it for the long haul.

The 15 elite nights even count towards lifetime status.

No more pro-rata fee refunds for UK American Express cardholders

Conclusion

My gut feeling is that American Express will see an improvement in the ‘quality’ of cardholders who sign up for The Platinum Card and – for non-HfP readers who don’t understand the value of the 2-4-1 voucher – the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card.

The acceptance criteria for The Platinum Card has already been quietly tightened up this year to improve ‘quality’ but this move goes further.

It remains to be seen if blocking British Airways Premium Plus refunds will make the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard more attractive for people looking for their first Avios credit card.

These changes probably won’t make much difference during special promotions. The offer of 70,000 Avios for getting the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card which ran earlier this year remains astonishing value even when you are locked in to a £250 first year fee. The same goes for the ‘60,000 Membership Rewards points + £200’ offer which recently ran on The Platinum Card.

What interests me is whether some people will still choose to cancel their cards quickly even when they don’t get a fee refund. This would make sense in some scenarios, since the quicker you cancel, the quicker the two year clock for reapplying comes around.

There is some upside too. It is possible that American Express will increase sign-up bonuses further on its paid cards because it knows that cardholders are committed to a full year.

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In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

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You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (219)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Gtellez says:
    19 Jun19 June 05:24

    Although it completely makes sense from the POV of Amex, it is going to change significantly my Amex strategy going forward… sad days (although not as sad as 2019 when they introduced the 24 months limit)…
    The only question that comes to my mind is, what happens to people that pay the Platinum fee monthly? Can they still cancel at any time? It would be interesting to know and I would probably consider changing the payment terms in my Platinum before October if that is the case.
    It is interesting to note the different strategy that Amex is following in the UK vs Spain (where I also hold a card). In Spain, all the cards (including the Platinum) have monthly fees nowadays. It changed recently, although I don’t know exactly when.

    • BJ says:
      19 Jun19 June 05:53

      On the whole it may be for the best for the majority of customers too, not only amex. With the drain plugged there may be more cash to deploy to more benefits. With luck we may evrn see some easing on the 24 month rule. Personally I always kept amex cards gor at least 6 months, more recebtly I have not churned at all. Thus? If amex gives back something with this change I’m generally happy with it.

      • JDB says:
        19 Jun19 June 06:18

        Indeed, the Amex policy of pandering to the ‘players’ of BAPP and Plat in particular vs looking after loyalty has always seemed absurd and unfair in the FCA principles sense. Hopefully they will in due course withdraw retention bonuses as well so that finally we all get treated equally. Either you want the card and pay for it or you don’t.

        • Gtellez says:
          19 Jun19 June 06:39

          Don’t misunderstand me, I understand Amex position and I even think this situation last for way too long. However, as many others I took advantage of it, although I have never churned a credit card after the SUB, I usually keep any card for at least 6-8 months. I used to swap the Platinum and BA premium cards with my wife, so we don’t have both of us both cards at the same time. Plus I used to apply for the Marriott Card at the end of the year, keep it few months and then cancel it (so I used to get x2 the 15 elite nights, paying only few months). That way we have been able to get many more points with referrals (never self referrals) and retention bonuses.
          Going forward I guess we will keep both cards, maybe even 2 BA premium cards for the 241… we will just have to pay significantly more in annual fees and receive less points in exchange, but probably still very worth it. Hopefully it brings a new set of rewards… or maybe it will just increase Amex bottom line. Time will tell.

        • Gaz says:
          19 Jun19 June 07:30

          You seem confused.

          A retention bonus is a way of “looking after loyalty”, yet you want them removed… bizarre

          • jjoohhnn says:
            19 Jun19 June 10:09

            But is a customer who has decided to leave a loyal customer?

          • JellyFan says:
            20 Jun20 June 01:52

            Hardly.

            A retention bonus doesn’t “look after loyalty”, it’s a bribe paid in the hopes of retaining disloyal customers (many of whom will leave shortly after receiving their ill-begotten points anyway, if the forums here are any indicator).

      • Andrew J says:
        19 Jun19 June 06:46

        Agreed. As someone who doesn’t churn to make a quick buck, I approve of this change.

      • JDB says:
        19 Jun19 June 07:13

        @BJ – Rob has hinted that we can expect big SUBs in the autumn, presumably linked to this, but the general trend of discouraging the financial travellers is clear, so the prospect of reducing the 24 month rule seems quite unlikely. Indeed, hopefully they will move to the US once in a lifetime policy or at least extend the 24 months, something that can be done without notice. Again, it’s a small group who play the SUB game in various ways, so why should Amex facilitate their activities vs the other 80-90% who act responsibly and ultimately subsidise these games?

        • Rob says:
          19 Jun19 June 07:27

          I have no idea what Amex is doing in the Autumn, I was just suggesting that they may be happier paying out more because they’ve got your £575 / £250 baked in.

        • BJ says:
          19 Jun19 June 07:52

          Ok thanks to both. Currently on my travels and have not been able to keep up as much as I would like this month. My partner and I are both quite settled with our cards and have been for a few years already. I mighf yet swap out gold for platinum later this year though when my travel insurance becomes due and by which time the amex insurance definition of pre-existing condition will become less problematic for me.

          • Yuff says:
            19 Jun19 June 08:23

            I always struggled to cancel a card as soon as I hit a bonus, as it didn’t sit well with me.
            The platinum card has decent benefits now and is reasonably easy to get the card fee back with the various offers.
            I thought the platinum card was a charge card?

    • Milaneser says:
      19 Jun19 June 10:21

      Speaking of Amex Spain, perhaps more significantly, they also recently halved the MR earning rate on all cards below Plat – now 1 MR point per 2€ spent.

      Interesting that Amex is prepared to tinker with the earn rate rather than just the conversation rate, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we see this rolled out to other countries eventually.

      • Rob says:
        19 Jun19 June 10:25

        UK strategy is a bit different – they play down the expensive options (which is why you never get an airline conversion bonus) and try to push people into statement credit and gift cards which cost Amex peanuts.

        • No longer Entitled says:
          19 Jun19 June 12:30

          Why does a statement credit cost them peanuts? If they write off £100 of my debt, is the cost not £100 minus maybe a little bit of accounting if they typically lose a small percentage per customer for bad debt?

          • Rob says:
            19 Jun19 June 12:51

            You get 0.45p of credit per point. Redeem for Avios and they pay 0.8p per point.

            Those who redeem MR points for miles cost Amex almost twice as much.

        • Milaneser says:
          19 Jun19 June 17:00

          Yes, they do exactly the same thing promoting statement credits here in Italy.

          With the changes in Spain, avios conversions there have become almost as ‘profitable’ for Amex (on the majority of cards) as statement credits are in the UK.

          For perspective, compare the avios earning value for Gold card holders across those 3 countries now:

          UK: 1 avios per £ spent (£160 fee)

          Italy: 0.94 avios per £ spent (£205 fee) (1MR per €, 5:4 conversion rate)

          Spain: 0.59 avios per £ spent (£192 fee) (0.5MR per €, 1:1 conversion rate)

          Might cheer up a few people in light of today’s news 🙂

    • Sam says:
      19 Jun19 June 11:41

      I wasn’t aware you could pay the Amex Platinum fee monthly.
      Have Amex changed this recently?
      Thought it was £575 upfront

      • Rob says:
        19 Jun19 June 11:45

        It is not openly offered and you must negotiate it over the phone.

        • Sam says:
          19 Jun19 June 12:19

          Thanks Rob. I’ll apply next month when I’m eligible for SUB.
          Thanks to BA changing our internal flight timing we’ll have 6 hrs in T5 to kill, plus with an upcoming Eurostar trip, the Plat lounge access will definitely come in handy. Travel insurance also due for renewal, so timing couldn’t be better (assuming I get accepted!)

  • BJ says:
    19 Jun19 June 05:42

    What happens to fees on annual renewal of existing cards from 2 October? Will we be informed before the fee becomes dues that it can no longer be refunded pro-rata?

    • SteveJ says:
      19 Jun19 June 06:22

      Already in the article:

      Anyone who took out a card before 31st May 2023 will receive formal notification of the changes in the next few weeks.

      Anyone who took out a card from 1st June 2023 will not receive any notification, because the option to receive a pro-rata refund was quietly removed from the T&C for new applicants on that date.

      • BJ says:
        19 Jun19 June 07:30

        I saw that Steve but it’s not quite the same thing or if amex perceives that it is then IMO it is inadequate. Many may overlook or read and forget that notification with the result that they allow autorenewal as usual except that some may find thenselves inadvertently on the hook for up to £hundreds. I think amex should notify customers about a month before their card anniversary date with reminder of new refund rule and invitation to renew or decline for another year.

        • Rob says:
          19 Jun19 June 07:33

          The Government is, I think, currently pondering legislation which would require firms to do this, although you would still be automatically renewed – after all, who wants to actively renew (via fresh form filling) their Netflix sub every month?

          • memesweeper says:
            19 Jun19 June 08:21

            Netflix is monthly. No big deal if you accidentally roll into another month.

            An annual fee fee for Platinum Amex is going to hurt if you didn’t mean it/forgot. Lots of people pay off a credit card, stop using it/cut it up but don’t immediately pro-actively cancel. Not to mention that the package of benefits with Amex cards often changes throughout a twelve month period. I’d be happier with a maximum 12 months then 1 month notice on any credit product that is settled — and not just Amex, Virgin Money’s behaviour in this regard is egregious. Let people leave, if the product is great they wont want to.

        • JDB says:
          19 Jun19 June 07:44

          @BJ an Amex contract doesn’t ‘auto-renew’ it’s a rolling contract, ie has no fixed term. I don’t believe those whose fee anniversaries fell after 1 June have had their contracts changed without the required notice. The terms from 1 June will only apply to new applicants and then to all, apparently from 2 October.

  • Sandgrounder says:
    19 Jun19 June 05:43

    This might hit my strategy of getting an annual retention bonus to reduce the cost of the card. They have previously said you can only have one every 12 months (I know some people have reported otherwise), and this year’s was the day before the fee hit. What incentive do they have to offer a retention bonus if they already have your money?

    • BJ says:
      19 Jun19 June 06:08

      I think they’ll plug that avenue too. With the 24-month rule and now this amex are clearly losing patience with the games. Bottom line is if they provide attractive cards where benefits offset fees then they don’t need to indulge us. However, one size does not fit all, going forward it would be nice if we were able to tailor cards to our needs from a menu of optional benefits in respect of the amex-branded cards instead of just off-the-shelf gold, platinum etc. The issues eith platinum insurance also need further refinement.

  • Eli says:
    19 Jun19 June 06:20

    That’s a real game changer.
    The best feature of pro rata for me was taking out the platinum just over the holidays for its insurance value and cancelling after 2-3 months.
    All good things come to an end

  • Can2 says:
    19 Jun19 June 06:24

    Thank you to all those who cancel their card immediately after the SUB

    • Rui N. says:
      19 Jun19 June 06:56

      If you didn’t, the change won’t affect you much, so no worries.

      • Can says:
        19 Jun19 June 07:33

        No I am genuinely thankful. Eliminating the “easy players” makes the game more lucrative and fun. After all miles inflation and the consequent devaluation affect us all.

        • Rui N. says:
          19 Jun19 June 09:00

          This won’t affect anyone else at all. Anyone that thinks that is completely deluded. The only impact is on Amex’s bottom line. If you missed out getting more points while it lasted, you’ve missed them, you won’t get more opportunities because of this.

  • Joshua Parker says:
    19 Jun19 June 06:29

    What happens if you upgrade from Gold to Platinum would you have to pay for both cards or does the refund still apply in this senerio?

  • Jerry says:
    19 Jun19 June 06:42

    Amex just cancelled my Amex Air France Gold card after 13 years of loyalty without explanation…

    • His Holyness says:
      19 Jun19 June 14:33

      There’s been a massive drop in loyalty cards in the EU due to Brexit… only joking. But yes, I noticed that many airline miles cards have disappeared in the EU.

  • Alistair says:
    19 Jun19 June 06:58

    How will this work with upgrading/downgrading between the BA standard and premium cards? No more option to downgrade after getting the 2-4-1 voucher I presume?

    • DJ says:
      19 Jun19 June 07:00

      I think it just means that you won’t get pro-rated refund when you downgrade.

      • BJ says:
        19 Jun19 June 07:36

        What would be the point of downgrading in absence of pro-rata refund.

        • DJ says:
          19 Jun19 June 07:47

          So that you can downgrade before the anniversary date, and that you can to keep the free card without closing the account.

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