With the June 19 deadline looming for Costco to stop accepting American Express cards, it’s interesting that American Express announced a change to its policy regarding annual fee refunds.
Previously, American Express provided a pro-rated refund of its annual fee upon account closure. The recently announced new policy is:
“Closing your Account Effective September 1, 2016, in Part 2 of the Cardmember Agreement, we are amending the Closing your Account sub-section in the Other important information section by inserting a new paragraph after the first sentence: If an Annual Membership fee applies, we will refund this fee if you notify us that you are voluntarily closing your Account within 30 days of the Closing Date of the billing statement on which that fee appears. For cancellations after this 30 day period, the Annual Membership fee is non-refundable. If an Annual Membership fee applies to your Account, it is shown on page 1 and page 2 of Part 1 of the Cardmember Agreement. “
Coincidence? I think not.
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