Pulled the plug on my Amex Gold card and saved $150

As previously posted, I was disgruntled to find that my last Amex bill included a $20 "late payment" fee, plus my annual $130 membership fee. Since I only charge my monthly $150 family basic hospital insurance to this account, it makes no sense to pay these sorts of fees. So I phoned the health insurance company and arranged to have future monthly debits taken from my NAB Visa card, which I use for everyday purchases and bill payments, and checked the date of the last charge made to my Amex card.

I then phoned Amex. Closing the account was quick and painless, after the obligatory questions about why I was choosing to close my account and getting a reminder that the Amex card has lots of extra features (which I never use), and I was invited to reopen a Charge card account in future if my requirements changed. I was pleasantly surprised that rather than just giving me a pro-rata refund on the annual fee that had been charged in March, they refunded the entire annual fee AND reversed the $20 late payment fee that was on my last monthly statement!

This means I now just have a Gold Amex Credit Card (with $0 annual fee for life). I don't use that card either, but at least it isn't costing me anything.

Copyright Enough Wealth 2008