About This Round of Shutdowns

Today we saw quite a few reports about AMEX shutdowns, so I wanted to share a quick summary. Most of the discussion can be found on Reddit. In this post, PPK refers to PayPal Key, which we have also covered in a dedicated article on our site:

M2M also has an article about this round of shutdowns, though it doesn’t really provide much especially useful information. Recently, many PayPal Key plays have also died in quick succession. If you’re interested, see KUKU’s 101 update:

Shutdown DPs

First, a disclaimer: these DPs were all posted by users online, so there is no guarantee they are 100% real. Still, they are worth paying attention to.

  • All accounts were shut down. Suspected reasons include using AMEX+PPK to pay rent (Plastiq) or to pay credit cards, and even using AMEX CC+PPK to pay AMEX C.
  • There are reports of shutdowns on private forums, mainly involving using PPK to meet minimum spending requirements and quickly earn points through the extra 3x from referrals.
  • Received an email saying all accounts were shut down. Customer service said the activity did not comply with the offer terms. The user had used the extra 3x offer tied to PPK+refer.

Possible Reasons

Right now, it is still hard to say for sure whether these shutdowns are definitely related to PayPal Key. But from a risk perspective, a large volume of card spending or sudden large purchases are inherently higher-risk behaviors. On top of that, some people referred AMEX cards and received an unlimited 3x MR offer. Using that method, they could accumulate a large amount of MR quickly. A sudden flood of points is itself high-risk behavior, so AMEX reviewing accounts is certainly possible.

What Should You Do?

If you used this method before, especially on a large scale, I would suggest first paying off all balances. Paying down what you owe can significantly reduce risk. Also, if you have accumulated a large amount of Membership Rewards, you may want to consider cashing out or transferring to airline miles. Based on how AMEX handled the Hilton 6x grocery example before, those points could potentially be clawed back.

If you were also unfortunately shut down, feel free to share your DP in the comments. We will continue to follow this situation.