The welcome bonus mistake that almost cost me $1,000

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Chasing a big credit card welcome bonus or an Amex/Chase offer is usually straightforward. You spend a certain amount, get the points or cash back, and move on. But a couple of rules in the fine print can quietly blow up the whole plan.

For instance, I had a close call that almost cost me over $1,000 in rewards. The problem is that the numbers you see on your statement don’t always match what issuers count as eligible spend.

The annual fee on a new card never counts toward the spending requirement. It posts as a normal charge, so it’s easy to miss. But banks exclude it. If you pick up the Amex Business Platinum on a targeted 200,000-point offer that requires $20,000 of spend, the $895 annual fee gets you exactly zero dollars closer to that spend. You still have to hit the full $20K spend. If you glance at the account and see a $20,000 balance, you might think you hit it, but you didn’t. You are $895 short.

Many issuers, including Amex, offer a “bonus tracker,” though not all cards do. This should be accurate and reflect your actual spend toward your bonus.

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Refunds can also be a real danger zone — and you can’t always see them coming. Amex, for instance, counts your minimum spending on a net basis (net of refunds).

If you put $20,000 on the card and later a vendor refunds $2,000, Amex now sees $18,000 in eligible purchases. That recalculation happens when the refund posts, not just when a statement closes. This can disqualify you from earning the welcome bonus, even if the points already hit your account (they could be clawed back).

There are long Reddit threads with examples of cardholder bonuses being denied or clawed back after a refund reversed a charge that originally helped meet the requirement.

The safest move is to keep some buffer above the minimum and continue putting spend on the card until the welcome bonus is well behind you.

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My situation started with a large furniture order. It helped hit my minimum spending requirement for a huge bonus and triggered an Amex Offer that required $3,000 of spend for $500 back. Then the vendor messed up the order, I complained, and they offered a partial refund of $500 to reimburse my shipping charges.

Initially, I was thrilled and almost accepted but then stopped myself. If that refund had hit my credit card, my net spending would have fallen under the requirement. The Amex Offer would have been invalid too. Between the lost Membership Rewards points and $500 less toward the minimum spending requirement, this would not have been a small mistake.

I explained the issue to the furniture company manager and asked if they could issue store credit instead or route the actual refund amount to a different card. They agreed. That kept my Amex spend intact, protected the welcome bonus, and preserved the Amex Offer.

Big welcome bonuses are still one of the best ways to build up points quickly. But you have to treat the spending requirement as a net total, not a gross one. Annual fees don’t count toward the minimum spending requirement. Refunds reduce the total. And Amex is especially quick to claw back points if something changes after the fact.

Give yourself more room than you think you need. Track your progress. And avoid relying on any single large purchase unless you are certain it will stick. The bonus only becomes real once the issuer decides your spending truly met the requirement (and they have the right to reverse it).

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