Quick question about cancelling a card- I got the Delta Gold card in January of this year. I'm planning to cancel it in December before the annual fee. Then I remember reading somewhere that you should keep cards for at least a year but I don't remember why? will they block me from getting other Amex cards if I keep less than a year?
With Amex, you absolutely should not close a card you’ve held for less than a year. If you do close a card within a year, Amex could claw back your sign up bonus or worse. You agreed to this under the terms and conditions of the card member agreement when you applied:
If we in our sole discretion determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with the welcome offer in any way or that you intend to do so (for example, if you applied for one or more cards to obtain a welcome offer(s) that we did not intend for you; if you cancel or downgrade your account within 12 months after acquiring it; or if you cancel or return purchases you made to meet the Threshold Amount), we may not credit the welcome offer to, we may freeze the welcome offer credited to, or we may take away the welcome offer from your account. We may also cancel this Card account and other Card accounts you may have with us.
Although this is less likely to happen if your bonus was on a co-branded card like the Delta Gold, because it’s presumably more difficult for Amex to reach into their co-branded partner’s programs to claw back those points or miles, the cancelation is likely to count against your “history” with Amex for the purposes of getting more cards in the future.
Are you aware of the dreaded Amex pop up, which gives the following warning?
Based on your history with American Express welcome offers, introductory APR offers, or the number of cards you have opened and closed, you are not eligible to receive this welcome offer.
We have not yet performed a credit check. Would you still like to proceed?
Closing a card before you've had it a year could trigger the pop up that’ll make you ineligible for the sign up bonus on a new card even if you’re approved.
More generally, if you opened this card (and any Amex card) for the sign up bonus, and spent only enough on it to meet the minimum spending requirement to get the bonus, then stopped or significantly dropped off your spend after you got the bonus, then you may find yourself getting the pop up on new card applications because Amex sees a pattern of you opening cards, spending only enough to get the bonus, then closing the cards after just a year. It's possible to get rid of the pop up, but it's probably easily to try to avoid the pop up in the first place.
As far as the annual fee goes, there's no harm in waiting until the annual fee actually posts to your statement to close a card because Amex gives you 30 days from the closing date of the statement on which the fee is billed to cancel the card for a full refund. Just pay any remaining charge on the last statement minus the annual fee, and canceling the card will get that annual fee charge credited back to zero out your statement.
However, cancelation even after the annual fee has posted could trigger a pop up that'll make you ineligible for future card signup bonuses depending on your overall history with Amex.