Boards›[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous

American Express Serve RP+ is being cancelled

DeadlyQuestion·10/29/2014, 2:53:30 PM·10 votes·2,043 views

A while back Riot Games and American Express advertised an agreement where if you opened a reloadable prepaid American Express Serve debit account with a valid bank account, they'd give you 10,000 RP, plus 100RP for the first 10 purchases you made, and then afterwards you gained small increments of RP for every purchase you made using the card (as little as "cashback" and debit reward points usually are). There was a $1 monthly account fee, but that was waived if you arranged at least $20 direct deposit from your employer into the account.

Anyway, I just received an email stating that starting December 1st of this year (2014), users will no longer receive RP points with purchases. I just wanted to inform the good public who used this service, who may not check or use the email they signed the account up with, about this notification.

I, personally, spend about $100 a month alone in fuel for my vehicle. I enabled direct deposit to this card and used it for buying fuel. Using an extra card for a specific purpose adds some tediousness, but the RP gains were worth it (in my opinion). However, when the rewards stop coming in, my incentive to use the program will be gone and I will be cancelling my American Express Serve account.

Some additional information found in the comments of this thread:

[{quoted}](name=a Fatality,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=Mbtlkgkq,comment-id=0007,timestamp=2014-11-28T04:19:04.819+0000)

Let me clarify a few things. American Express routinely loses money on the reward programs that the offer. American Express has developed a brand that cares about quality and it's members, which is why it is the highest rated bank in the world. American Express charges the merchant a higher fee per transaction, so that they don't have to bill the member as much. Compare the fees for any other comparable rewards program.

Usually these programs end because the partner decides to not continue the contract. After my recent call to Amex, I was redirected to Riot. Seems this is the issue, Riot did not find enough intrinsic value in the program. I for one, am disappointed. I only hope Riot reconsiders

9 Comments

Besteau10/29/2014, 6:10:15 PM1 votes

I cannot seem to remember my account login for that. I never knew it had a 1 dollar charge per month. I had nothing on it and it said it would pull fees from my linked account, in which i have none. I think ill call and cancel it anyway. When i deposited money onto the card it just took forever (2 weeks) to transfer. So i said screw that im not using it. hopefully if i call the number i can cancel it that way.

Aerothal10/29/2014, 7:01:18 PM1 votes

...but the RP gains were worth it (in my opinion)...<

did you ever actually do the math? because if you did you would have noticed that with below 0.5% return rate on the $ you spent, this was one of the worst (if not the worst) rewards card on the market. The only thing that made this card worth owning was the 13k RP you received initially. But the most money wise plan of action was to pocket the RP, use up the cash you had to load on the card, cancel it and use other cards with better reward programs.

Aerothal10/29/2014, 9:07:56 PM1 votes

i would not be surprised if amex/serve lost money on this deal! it takes a whole lot of transactions to make up for the equivalent of 13000 RP (which coincidentally is $100). I doubt that the target group spent enough cash to make up for the enrollment bonus. IMO that's the reason why just one month after the card was introduced, a monthly fee was charged and subsequently the program was cancelled.

CZK10/30/2014, 4:58:33 AM1 votes

So how do you explain to the cashier when you whip out that Lux card?summoner 21 for the virginity.

MilkFish10/31/2014, 1:49:22 AM1 votes

Is there even any reason the program is being cancelled? I'm pretty upset about this whole thing, being told suddenly that I can no longer earn rp but without any kind of reason why. I need to know WHY. item 3070Viitem 3070

Sparkled11/5/2014, 8:29:01 AM1 votes

Shame this isn't getting more attention. Only reason I had this card was for the RP rewards. AMEX otherwise is pretty much a pain in the ass to deal with. :( I love my Vi card.

PikminGod11/27/2014, 2:38:21 AM1 votes

I use my Serve card as my daily card. Probably over $1k a month. I love the RP I get and the flexibility of the card. I'm probably going to cancel it now and reopen another Serve account that has a different deal. I am pretty sad to be losing my thousands of free RP I've been getting.

a Fatality11/28/2014, 4:19:04 AM1 votes

Let me clarify a few things. American Express routinely loses money on the reward programs that the offer. American Express has developed a brand that cares about quality and it's members, which is why it is the highest rated bank in the world. American Express charges the merchant a higher fee per transaction, so that they don't have to bill the member as much. Compare the fees for any other comparable rewards program.

Usually these programs end because the partner decides to not continue the contract. After my recent call to Amex, I was redirected to Riot. Seems this is the issue, Riot did not find enough intrinsic value in the program. I for one, am disappointed. I only hope Riot reconsiders