In this article introducing Negative Balance, we explained how to move a refund-generated Negative Balance from one credit card to another AMEX card online by yourself, without having to receive a check or force yourself to spend it down.

Recently, I redeemed $300 in Rewards Dollar on my Blue Cash Everyday, which made the Balance go negative. So I used the online method above to move that Balance to my heavily used Platinum. With an "In AMEX We Trust" mindset, I ignored it after transferring the Balance. But this time, things went wrong. When I checked recent Transactions using the Personal Capital financial management tool, I was shocked to discover something.

How did this happen? BCE was charged $300, meaning the negative balance was removed, but the receiving Platinum card was also charged $300! In other words, not only did I lose the $300 from BCE, but AMEX also took another $300 from Platinum. I was suddenly out $600.

So... I was furious and quickly contacted customer service.

  • The rep calmly said their system caused it, and that they would add it back within 7-10 days.
  • I said it seemed way too easy for AMEX to just take money away like that. The rep explained that the system reconciles things automatically, and if it finds the accounting is wrong, it will correct itself. Then the rep added: since you happened to catch the error today, I can submit a ticket to fix it for you.
  • I then asked: what if AMEX never notices? The rep actually said of course it would be noticed, because I had already submitted a ticket for you.... Could the rep really not hear the sarcasm in my question?
  • Fine, I decided to believe customer service for the moment. After all, In AMEX We Trust.
  • Then came another blow: why didn’t I get the same lucky outcome? In the later example, both balances were credited and neither one was clawed back! So much for AMEX’s "automatic reconciliation system."
  • Fortunately, the money did eventually come back... plus $300.
  • If I hadn’t checked in Personal Capital, I have no idea when I would have noticed these Transactions.

In short, just a reminder: moving a negative balance does carry risk, so be careful.

A few more thoughts on financial tracking platforms like Mint and Personal Capital. Some people worry about privacy being compromised or don’t want to enter their passwords into a third-party platform. Personally, I think banks have already sold our data over and over again... AMEX OFFER and Chase offer are basically ways for banks to test their algorithms. Rather than worrying too much about that privacy angle, I’d be more worried about whether the bank has quietly clawed back your rewards! I’m not an expert on password interfaces, but for a system like AMEX where passwords are case-insensitive, I don’t think logging into online banking is necessarily that much safer. In any case, major banks generally cover fraudulent charges, and if fraud does happen, financial management software can help you spot it quickly and deal with it in time.

Choose based on your own situation: