Costco AMEX Replacement Card

[gromit]

Anyone figured out who/how to pay for the last AMEX statement? My payment is due 6/22. AMEX has cancelled my autopay and Citi won't allow setup to start until after 6/20. The statement says to pay Citi. Citi says to pay AMEX.
The best I can figure after several rounds of talks......before 6/20 , pay AMEX
manually; 6/20 and later , pay Citi and if you pay by mail, good luck with the uncertainty of when it will arrive.

My autopay date is the 23rd and the last day of my billing period was yesterday. I plan to just go online today and make the payment. I've early paid balances before with no problems. Autopay normally adjusts for the payment, and if the balance is 0 then no Autopay payment is made. (In this case, there won't be an Amex Autopay after the 20th.) New charges to the card between now and the 20th will be in the next billing period and rollover to Citi for billing. Since I have another credit card, I plan to just keep things simple and not use the Amex card anymore, eliminating any rollover balance.

 

[cathy63]

If you want to pay Amex before 6/20, then you need to login and setup a single online payment. If you want to pay on the 20th or later, then you will need to setup your Citi online account and the payment then.

If you want to pay by check, I'd mail it to Amex no later than 6/13.

The timing worked out pretty well for me. Our monthly closing date is the 20th and payment due date is the 15th of the next month, so my 6/15 payment is going to Amex as usual, and I won't have another statement until the 21st which is just after the transfer to Citi. Will be interesting to see if their payment dates are different.

 

[gromit]

I wonder how smoothly the card transition will be overall. Some customers need to be aware of autopay timing, remember to set up the new autopay, remember to change recurring charges before those billers try to charge to the expired card and of course remember to take the new card when they go to Costco after the 20th. Many people will have no problem, but some will.

 

[Ready]

I'm curious as to why the switch to Visa would cause AMEX to cancel existing credit cards, rather than allowing them to remain active for purchases made for everything other than Costco transactions. Do you think there was some clause in the Costco agreement that states if the partnership ended AMEX doesn't get to keep the relationships with the members?

Most people would likely want to have both an AMEX and Visa card, so it seems inconvenient to make people sign up with AMEX again when they already have an AMEX card. I've had mine for 16 years. I also have the Fidelity AMEX so for me it doesn't matter much, but if I didn't, I would be looking around for another AMEX card even though the Costco one would be perfectly good for me.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm curious as to why the switch to Visa would cause AMEX to cancel existing credit cards, rather than allowing them to remain active for purchases made for everything other than Costco transactions. Do you think there was some clause in the Costco agreement that states if the partnership ended AMEX doesn't get to keep the relationships with the members?

Most people would likely want to have both an AMEX and Visa card, so it seems inconvenient to make people sign up with AMEX again when they already have an AMEX card. I've had mine for 16 years. I also have the Fidelity AMEX so for me it doesn't matter much, but if I didn't, I would be looking around for another AMEX card even though the Costco one would be perfectly good for me.

It's because the credit account is being transferred, along with any accrued card rewards that can only be redeemed at Costco as well as the automatic Costco membership renewals. I guess Costco has the say since it's their co-branded card and they decided to end the relationship with AMEX. So that requires a new account to be opened if a customer wants to maintain an AMEX relationship independent of Costco.

 

[Chuckanut]

I can't wait to get that 3% back on travel expenses (domestic).

Currently I get 2.2% back from my Barclay Card. 2% for the actual expense and 10% back for any points I use to pay for travel expenses. I can redeem points for expenses with a minimum use of 2500 points. But....

Barclay, if I understand correctly, is going to move everybody like me to their new policy which is 5% back for points used to pay travel expenses. And, the minimum amount of points one can redeem goes up to 10,000. Not so good. The Costco 3% travel cash back will make using the Barclay card a poor choice for me, IMHO.

 

[audreyh1]

If you want to pay Amex before 6/20, then you need to login and setup a single online payment. If you want to pay on the 20th or later, then you will need to setup your Citi online account and the payment then.

If you want to pay by check, I'd mail it to Amex no later than 6/13.

The timing worked out pretty well for me. Our monthly closing date is the 20th and payment due date is the 15th of the next month, so my 6/15 payment is going to Amex as usual, and I won't have another statement until the 21st which is just after the transfer to Citi. Will be interesting to see if their payment dates are different.

Good point. I went ahead and scheduled the payment for next week, and cancelled the ebill.

Our closing statement date is 6/21. Payment was due 6/16, but I moved it up. It was small. We only have about $4 in rewards to transfer too.

 

[Chuckanut]

FWIW, I have heard nothing from AMEX about getting a replacement card for the soon to be useless Costco card. I have the Fidelity Amex, but it is a different beast from regular Amex cards since it is issued by another bank. And the Fidelity AMEX card will be going away later this summer.

I must be on their list of undesirables.

 

[audreyh1]

FWIW, I have heard nothing from AMEX about getting a replacement card for the soon to be useless Costco card. I have the Fidelity Amex, but it is a different beast from regular Amex cards since it is issued by another bank. And the Fidelity AMEX card will be going away later this summer.

I must be on their list of undesirables.

When you logged on to their website, didn't they offer you to open an American Express Blue cash card? I think lots of people saw this. I'm not sure if they emailed anything.

I decided to get the AMEX blue cash preferred instead, and have racked up quite a few rewards as I needed to buy a new iPhone and got 10% instant rebate.

 

[RockyMtn]

Never had a Costco Amex card but am interested in getting a Costco Visa card. Anyone know when you would be able to apply for one? Can't see anything on the Citi or Costco websites.

 

[audreyh1]

Never had a Costco Amex card but am interested in getting a Costco Visa card. Anyone know when you would be able to apply for one? Can't see anything on the Citi or Costco websites.

Check back on 6/20. I don't think you can apply until then.

 

[Chuckanut]

When you logged on to their website, didn't they offer you to open an American Express Blue cash card? I think lots of people saw this. I'm not sure if they emailed anything.

Nope, not a thing. The only offer is a deal on hotels if I reserve them with my Costco Amex.

 

[audreyh1]

Nope, not a thing. The only offer is a deal on hotels if I reserve them with my Costco Amex.

Well, they weren't making any offers unique to Costco card holders, but they did say I was pre-approved for the Amex Blue Cash no annual fee card.

Any card perks were the standard ones available to anyone who applies and is approved.

 

[splitwdw]

Never had a Costco Amex card but am interested in getting a Costco Visa card. Anyone know when you would be able to apply for one? Can't see anything on the Citi or Costco websites.

I was just at Costco and as you enter the store there are computers set up so you can apply for a new card. I assumed it was the new Citi card. Still haven't gotten my new Citi Costco card.

 

[nwsteve]

I signed in to our Amex Costco account and paid the small balance since it was scheduled for a June 23 auto pay and cancelled the autopay
Tried to then schedule the one vendor using the AMEX account for auto pay and entered our new Citi/Costco Visa info for autopay. Card number would not work! Apparently the Costco cards numbers are not activated until June 20. Apparently you can not setup any autopays until 6/20 has arrived.
Nwsteve

 

[travelover]

.......... Apparently you can not setup any autopays until 6/20 has arrived.........

I was also told this when I called in to activate the new card.

 

[audreyh1]

I signed in to our Amex Costco account and paid the small balance since it was scheduled for a June 23 auto pay and cancelled the autopay
Tried to then schedule the one vendor using the AMEX account for auto pay and entered our new Citi/Costco Visa info for autopay. Card number would not work! Apparently the Costco cards numbers are not activated until June 20. Apparently you can not setup any autopays until 6/20 has arrived.
Nwsteve

I didn't expect to be able to use the card until 6/20, well if I had it. Still not arrived.

 

[Fermion]

I don't know if our card was mailed to our old address or our new mail forwarding address. Oh well, I guess it is out there in the world somewhere. They should have mailed it to us before we set off on our adventures.

 

[audreyh1]

I don't know if our card was mailed to our old address or our new mail forwarding address. Oh well, I guess it is out there in the world somewhere. They should have mailed it to us before we set off on our adventures.

They are not all mailed yet. They have to send out 4 million cards. We haven't received ours yet, but I'm not too worried as we did get the Citi letter with credit card terms and it was also several weeks later than when our neighbors got theirs.

 

[KB]

I got mine today.

 

[HFWR]

I got mine today.

Ditto

 

[redduck]

I don't know if our card was mailed to our old address or our new mail forwarding address. Oh well, I guess it is out there in the world somewhere...

Fermion,
I think your card was sent to my house. I didn't realize you go by only one name (Fermion). Kinda' like Pele or Madonna. Anyhow, your photo on back of the card is almost exactly how I pictured you. Fortunately, we look enough alike that the photo just increases the chances that I will be able to use the card with no questions asked.


Anyhow, if you like, I can try out the card after June 20 and let you know how it works.

 

[RockyMtn]

Was at Costco yesterday. Stocking up on a few things before they ditch Amex. Asked for an application for the new Visa at the Customer Service Desk as my Amex isn't a Costco Amex. They said that they can't even pass out an application until June 20th!

 

[audreyh1]

Was at Costco yesterday. Stocking up on a few things before they ditch Amex. Asked for an application for the new Visa at the Customer Service Desk as my Amex isn't a Costco Amex. They said that they can't even pass out an application until June 20th!

That's what I figured.

 

[Chuckanut]

Apparently, I have been redeemed and allowed back into the hallowed halls of the Amex club.

In today's mail I received an invitation to get a new Amex card to replace the Costco Amex that will be persona-non-grata at Costco later this month.

It's nice to be wanted.