February 10th, 2013
What Do You SM For?
Secure messaging (or SM for short) is incredible. It’s a time saver and it works miracles.
Some examples of what you can do:
-Have an application reconsidered.
This was a new one for me, but a DDF member related that they sent a SM to Chase and got a Sapphire Preferred card approved by offering to move over part of the credit line from their United Explorer card.
You can also employ the strategies I wrote about in this Reconsideration post when writing a SM to be reconsidered. Explain why you want the card for its benefits (for United to get free bags and primary car rental insurance, etc) and if you are willing to move over part or all of the credit from another card to get the new card approved.
-Cancel a card.
First of all you really shouldn’t do this via SM. Rather than cancelling a card unilaterally you should apply for a new card (or multiple new cards) and work to get them approved by moving over part of or all of the credit line of the card you want to close anyway.
Also if you call to cancel a card you may be offered (or you can ask for) a retention bonus to keep the card open.
But if you are sure you just want to close down the card and don’t want to waste time fighting to close it you can just send a SM to ask that it be closed. Add that you simply don’t have the time to call in and would appreciate it if they can close it for you.
-Get credit for a promotion.
A few of my $25 Costco Link Like Love credits didn’t post automatically. I sent a SM and they manually posted them. Strangely enough a few months later they showed up automatically.
Many DDF’ers posted similar stories with Small Business Saturday as well.
-Request a waiver for a late fee and interest.
If you miss a payment once and get hit with a late fee and interest you can ask via SM that it be waived as a courtesy. Don’t forget to also request that interest on the next bill be suppressed as well.
-Have pending points posted.
Most cards post the points together with the statement. On AMEX charge cards they’re only posted after you have paid your bill. Once you pay your bill you can SM to have your points posted right away instead of having to wait for them.
You can also ask AMEX to allow you to borrow Membership Rewards or Starpoints which you will have 12 months to pay back through purchases or signup bonuses.
-Match a bonus.
While this no longer works with AMEX, people have been able to match some bonus offers with Chase and Citi. Can’t hurt to ask!
-Receive a refund of a credit balance.
Pretty straightforward. Just SM to get a check sent out to you for a credit balance left on your account. You can even request that the credit balance be sent to your checking account via ACH.
What else do you SM for?
1
February 10th, 2013 at 8:55 pm
Which cards have bonuses that can be matched?
2
February 10th, 2013 at 9:00 pm
@Sue:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/26128
3
February 10th, 2013 at 9:05 pm
If i give the SS# of the additional card holder for my AMEX account, will that result in a credit pull for her? If not, why do they ask for it? If not,is there any reason not to provide this information?
4
February 10th, 2013 at 9:14 pm
@Me:
No pull.
It will show up on her report which will either help her (like if it has a low utilization, etc) or hurt her (if it’s maxed out, etc).
You can add an AU without an SSN, just say you don’t have it handy.
5
February 10th, 2013 at 9:15 pm
Dan,
Is blue cash preffered still have signup of 150 I’ve had the card since dec and havnt got it and they told me it wasn’t my offer what is best way to get them to honor it? Sm??
Thanks.
Reply
6
February 10th, 2013 at 9:20 pm
@Mike:
Showing $150 for me: http://www.dansdeals.com/go/bluecashpre/
You can SM them.
Send a screenshot of the $150. You may have to browse incognito to see it: http://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards
7
February 10th, 2013 at 9:38 pm
@Dan: I did get it with a DOB only, but now they’re bombarding me with letter, emails for the SS#. Can I ignore that, or will that result in a FR which i would rather avoid at this point. Also, if I’m planning on a 3BM in her name soon, should I avoid giving her SS#?
8
February 10th, 2013 at 9:40 pm
@Me:
You can ignore it.
If she has never had an AMEX before it can be beneficial to first be added as an AU. It will backdate her credit file until when you first had an AMEX, which can greatly help someone;s score.
9
February 10th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
dan,
how can i send a screen shot in a sm?
10
February 10th, 2013 at 10:08 pm
@mike:
There should be an option to attach a file.
11
February 10th, 2013 at 10:13 pm
on amex secure message? where?
thanks
12
February 10th, 2013 at 10:59 pm
Hi Dan,
Great site with wonderful updates. I get your twitter updates too. Highly recommended!
I did the 4BM a few weeks ago. 2 Consumer and 2 Business. Got the Business approved right away. THey denied both consumers saying my income to debt ratio was too low. Tried reconsideration and HUCA a few times, trying to move debt from one card to another. 5 different agents said no can do. Finally increased my income level and an agent called me back saying they can only issue a max of 4 cards and that was the problem. That includes business cards. I had to close one Starwoods (the one that was generating a fee this month for the first time). Can you weigh in on this? Ever heard of it? How did you get around it?
Thanks!!
PS I’m also in Ohio
13
February 11th, 2013 at 10:17 am
well, first, move out of Ohio.
14
February 11th, 2013 at 1:08 pm
“On AMEX charge cards they’re only posted after you have paid your bill”
My bonus points just posted before I even paid my bill
15
February 11th, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Did SM for reconsideration and worked for me. got united. United bussiness and sapphire got denied. Called a few times,nothing, after that I tried Sm worked with no hitch.
That’s with having others before….
16
February 11th, 2013 at 2:21 pm
Has anyone changed a chase sapphire visa into mastercard? if yes, how long after they got approved for the card.
I may have seen Dan mention he did that. however when I called to request that (during a pending app) the rep said I would have to wait a year.
17
February 11th, 2013 at 8:06 pm
how can i send or receive a SM from chase on my phone browser?
i cannot get the chase desktop version.
18
February 11th, 2013 at 10:28 pm
If I got charged $175 for my AMEX Gold annual fee, is there anything I can do thorugh SM or is it better to talk on the phone?
19
February 18th, 2013 at 4:29 pm
citi aadvantage card allow to sm only to order a card agreement, doesnt allow anything else.
any way to contact them in writing?