We recently mentioned on Frequent Miler on the Air that we’d heard a data point about Chase extending the minimum spending requirement for someone who asked. Amex recently announced that they are extending the time limit to meet spend by 3 months for those accounts approved between 12/1/19 and 5/31/20. Chase thus far has not made any public announcement, but data points from the Travel on Points Facebook group reported at Miles to Memories indicate that people are being granted a 3 months extension to meet spend when they send a secure message to ask for it. There is obviously no guarantee you’ll get an extension, but I can guarantee that you won’t (yet) get one if you don’t ask.
The key here is that you’ll need to request the extension, it doesn’t appear that Chase is (yet) offering an automatic extension (I’m surprised they haven’t yet done this — maybe they don’t plan to or maybe they will eventually extend this to everyone). You could probably call to request it, but with wait times extra long (and call centers likely understaffed due to COVID-19), you will likely save yourself some time waiting by the phone by just signing in to your account and sending a secure message. I also like the fact that the secure message puts it in writing to refer back to in the future.
With the current environment changing all the time, I’d recommend that anyone working on a Chase minimum spend requirement who isn’t almost completely done with it go ahead and send a secure message to request the extension. With many businesses closed and in some cases even warehouse clubs and superstores being asked not to sell non-essential items like electronics and toys, you never know when your ability to spend may get suddenly curbed. Getting the extension gives you a buffer.
See the post at Miles to Memories for more detail and then log in to your account and send a message if you’re working on the minimum spend for a bonus.
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Today when I called for another question about my new United Business card I also asked about extending the time and she seemed to indicate it was automatically done if you have opened between 1/1/20 and 3/31/20. I asked if there was anything I needed to do and she said no. Would like more confirming data points on this but that was mine.
Confirmed that this works. I tried to get it extended few days ago with Chase after seeing the message on amex site extending theirs. It takes some days for them to respond due to high volume, but they extended for me by 3 months for total of 6 months.