Will you still get the signup bonus if you cancelled the card to avoid the annual fee?

Credit Cards & Credit Card Programs
1

I’ve just got an Amex and MasterCard bundle. I will achieve the required spend of 6k before the first statement which is when it says the annual fee is payable. If I cancel the cards prior to the fee being due will I still be eligible for the 100,000 points?
Thanks in advance for any help.

2

Quick answer: No. It normally takes more than 6 weeks for points to come through; once you cancel your cards, there is no where for points to go. This question had been asked million times before in several different forums, credit card companies are already on to this long ago, hence your bonus points never come immediately.

3

Hi Paulm,

This is exactly the same as asking, “If I buy a TV from a department store and then decide to ask for a refund, can I get the refund and still keep the TV?”. Bonus points aren’t “free”: the payment you make for them is in the form of the annual fee, and the required spend. If you don’t make the payment, you don’t get the product.

1 Like
4

Thanks for your replies.
I thought it may have been asked before but when I drafted it only one previous one came up from two years ago and there was no definitive answer provided.
The tv analogy is a bit of a stretch. There have been plenty of card offers with no annual fees. The main stream of revenue is obviously interest but I take your point.

5

Wait what if the points aren’t going on the card. They are going to a FF Program like Qantas?

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6

I disagree. I’ve got refunds for plenty items and still kept the points.

7

Points always go to the card first, then at certain time, normally at statement time, they will be transferred to airline program.

Normal points earned from spending appear quite quickly on your cc portal. Bonus points are deliberately delayed to stop people doing this so the quickest for you to see bonus points is the 2nd statement
.

8

Yeah that makes sense. I’d imagine they would have systems in place to stop things like this. But if they go to your CC first then is it just 1:1 ratio? As I thought CC Points & FF Points or any points for that matter aren’t a 1:1 conversion rate? E.g. if you are supposed to get 100,000 Qantas points are you really going to see 100,000 AMEX points on the card first?

9

I think you are over-complicating things: when I look at my Amex account, my points are accrued Qantas points. They are transferred to my Qantas account at later date. So the points you see are the points of the scheme you selected, not Amex points unless you pick that scheme, which will not go anywhere until you tell Amex to convert to your airline of choice.

1 Like
10

Ah I see!
The points don’t go on your CC as the providers points (AMEX for example). They go on the card as Qantas points and then just transferred to your Qantas account after you’ve paid the first years fee etc.
Thank you