American Express Retention Offers: A Complete Guide

When it comes to miles and points, the most consistent way to earn them is through credit card welcome bonuses and spending on your credit cards. However, there are other ways to squeeze a few additional bonus points out of your credit cards, such as retention offers.

The concept of retention offers is not covered as frequently in the miles and points community, which is unfortunate. These offers, particularly with American Express, present a unique opportunity to earn a few extra points, especially if you were planning on keeping your credit card for another year.

Let’s take a look at American Express retention offers and how you can squeeze a few more miles and points out of your existing credit cards.

What are American Express Retention Offers?

Retention offers are exactly what they sound like, a tool American Express uses to retain you as a customer. They are used as a last-ditch effort to keep a customer who is looking to close a credit card, by offering miles, points, or a statement credit. These retention offers may require additional spending on the card over a period of time or might be awarded with no spending requirements.

American Express retention offers are coded to your account or card, so there is no guarantee you will receive the same retention offers as others. This aspect makes retention offers a bit of a black box, as it can result in situations where you spend the exact same amount of money on a card as your P2, but only one of you gets a retention offer.

There has been speculation that your likelihood of receiving a retention offer depends on how much is spent on the card over the past year or the length of holding the card, but I’ve seen (and have received) many retention offers that go against that idea.

How to Get an American Express Retention Offer

If you are looking to close an American Express credit card or are seeking a retention offer, you can either use the live chat function on the American Express website or call the number on the back of your credit card.

If you are on the fence about a credit card and are curious if there are any retention offers, you can approach this conversation in one of two ways. Either you can ask outright if there are any retention offers on the card, or you can say you are going to cancel the card and see if they present any retention offers. I prefer being upfront, and just inquiring about the retention offers. As with many things in miles and points, it’s much easier to ask for exactly what you want.

Oftentimes, Amex Canada will direct you to call in if you trying to cancel via chat so you can speak to their retention department or loyalty department. There is no real way around this, so if you are looking for a retention offer on an American Express Canada card, it is probably best to call and not even bother with the chat function.

On the other hand, American Express US chat is a very different experience as they will do everything over chat, including providing retention offers and closing credit cards. Using the chat function with Amex US is much preferred since it means you don’t have to actually talk to a person and can take your time to consider the offer without the pressure of a phone representative.

American Express Canada Retention Offers

While American Express Canada does offer retention offers from time to time, they do feel much more infrequent than American Express US. Many have had success in receiving them, but the quality of the retention offer or the actual chance of receiving an offer is a gamble, and I would say it is much less likely to receive one in Canada.

If you accept a retention offer, you should expect to hold the card for a full-year post-retention offer. The point of the retention offer was to keep you as a customer, and you risk souring the relationship with the financial institution or having your retention points clawed back if you cancel early.

Data Points of Retention Offers

American Express Canada offers points or statement credits as retention offers. These offers are often tied to completing a set amount of spend in a period of time (similar to a welcome bonus), but also may not require any spending at all.

The data points listed below are there to give you an idea as to what has been awarded in the past on various American Express Canada cards, but do not expect nor be entitled to receiving the same offers as below. It depends on what is available on your specific card and account. 

The data points listed below are also not all-encompassing, and regardless of the card you hold with American Express Canada, you should inquire about a retention offer because there is no downside to doing so.

American Express US Retention Offers

Retention offers tend to be stronger and more frequent with American Express US, but they also come with a few more caveats to be aware of.

If you are offered and accept a retention offer on a card, you will not receive another retention offer until 13 full months after the last one was accepted. Additionally, if you accept a retention offer, the card needs to be kept open for another full year or else the retention bonus will be clawed back. Once you complete the spend, the bonus will post just as a welcome bonus would, typically a few days after the last qualifying transaction posts.

When it comes to inquiring about a retention offer, I always tend to message them via chat once my annual fee posts. Others have had success reaching out before the annual fee posts, but ultimately, it doesn’t matter all that much. Either you will have a retention offer available on the card in question, or you won’t.

Data Points of Retention Offers

Similar to American Express Canada, American Express US offers points or statement credits as retention offers. These offers are often tied to completing a set amount of spend in a period of time (similar to a welcome bonus), but also may not require any spending at all.

This list is not all-encompassing but instead serves as a way to give you an idea as to what people have received as retention offers in the past.

Is It Worth Keeping a Credit Card for a Retention Offer?

The answer to this question is very similar to many other questions in the miles and points world: it depends and depends on what you value and your personal situation. Ultimately, you want to determine if keeping the credit card, with a retention offer, will leave you better off financially than if you cancel the card.

If you are on the fence about keeping a credit card for an additional year, a basic calculation can help you figure it out:

(Cash equivalent value of the retention offer + estimated cash value of the benefits/perks from the credit card) – the annual fee = total value of this credit card for the next year

If this simple formula results in a positive number, it more than likely makes sense to accept the proposed retention offer.

For example, with my recent experience of obtaining a retention offer on my American Express Gold (US) card, I received 30,000 Membership Rewards points upon spending $3,000 USD in 3 months. This was completely worth it, even when you consider the annual fee of $250 USD, as I know I can get far more than $250 USD worth of value out of those points with a transfer to a frequent flyer program and a good business class redemption.

Retention offers can make even more sense with the more premium cards that command higher annual fees, where you can extract additional value from perks such as lounge access, statement credits, and more. For the non-cash benefits, it would be up to you to place a value on them. If you only travel a handful of times a year, you might place less value on airport lounge access from a credit card than someone who travels frequently for work.

Even if you are going to keep a credit card for another year, it never hurts to ask if there are any retention offers available. At worst you get nothing, at best you get a small retention bonus of points or cash for zero effort outside of some additional spending.

When you are considering a retention offer, look at your current American Express credit cards to determine if you might need to reduce the number of Amex cards you hold. Remember, American Express US has a maximum of 10 charge cards and 5 credit cards per individual. 

If you are at the limit of five credit cards with Amex US, accepting a retention offer might not make sense, when you could cancel the card and apply for a new credit card with a bigger welcome bonus than what the retention offer is.

Conclusion

American Express retention offers are always worth asking about if you are on the fence about keeping a particular credit card. Even if you know you are going to keep the card for another year, it never hurts to ask if any offers are available. If anything, consider this another tool in your miles and points toolkit as a way to increase your points balances that much further.