Is American Express Making It Easier to Get Into Debt?

Is American Express trying to get you into debt? I can’t tell you what the company’s intentions are. But its upcoming change to Pay Over Time deserves attention—especially if you’ve always treated your Gold or Platinum card as a bill you pay in full every month.

American Express says that starting February 1, 2027, Pay Over Time will be permanently set to active, and cardholders will lose the ability to turn the setting off. That removes a choice some customers used to keep their spending firmly in the pay-in-full category. American Express’s announcement

You can still pay in full. But removing that setting changes the experience for people who deliberately chose it, and there’s one detail involving automatic payments that makes this more than a cosmetic update.

For me, it also raises a broader question: How much effort should we put into earning rewards when the offers increasingly feel like an invitation to spend more?

The automatic-payment detail matters

Amex’s announcement includes an important warning. If you currently have Pay Over Time turned off and your automatic payment set to “Minimum Payment Due,” that automatic-payment setting will remain in place after the change. A payment that previously covered your pay-in-full obligations could leave a Pay Over Time balance accruing interest. Amex suggests reviewing the setting and considering “Statement Balance,” or “Adjusted Balance” where applicable. Amex’s AutoPay guidance

That’s the part I would pay attention to before worrying about points.

Someone could have a routine that has worked for years: use the card, let the automatic payment happen, move on. Once the underlying payment structure changes, that same routine may produce a different result.

The ability to turn off Pay Over Time gave people a way to reinforce their intention to pay in full. Removing it puts more responsibility on the customer to check how the account is configured.

To be clear, having Pay Over Time active doesn’t automatically mean paying interest. Amex says paying the required full statement balance—or adjusted balance when applicable—by the due date each month avoids interest on those purchases. Also, the Pay Over Time limit is separate from your spending limit; it governs how much can go into the relevant financing balances. How Pay Over Time works

Still, there’s a meaningful difference between choosing to enable borrowing and having that option permanently built into your account.

The points are what make this tempting

I understand the appeal of American Express because I’ve benefited from it.

In one particularly strong year, I earned roughly 1.2 million Membership Rewards points through a combination of welcome offers, business cards, and an upgrade offer. When opportunities line up like that, it’s easy to become enthusiastic about the whole ecosystem.

But an exceptional year can also distort your expectations. You start treating unusually generous offers as the baseline. When the next round is less attractive, the temptation is to work harder—or spend more—to get back to the same result.

In my conversations with readers and other creators, I’ve been hearing more frustration about welcome-bonus eligibility and “pop-up jail,” the shorthand people use for being told they aren’t eligible for an offer. Those experiences don’t establish a universal policy change, but they do reflect the frustration some longtime customers are feeling.

And when a bonus requires more spending than your budget naturally supports, the headline points total becomes a distraction.

Consider a hypothetical offer requiring $12,000 in purchases over six months. That’s $2,000 a month. If you already have that much eligible spending and can comfortably pay it off, the requirement might fit your life.

If your normal spending is $1,200 a month, however, you’re looking at a $4,800 gap over the qualification period.

That gap deserves more attention than the bonus.

A rewards strategy can quietly become a spending strategy

The danger is rarely one dramatic decision. It’s a series of small justifications.

You bring forward a purchase because you’re close to a bonus. You buy something from a particular store because there’s an offer. You keep an expensive card because you’ve already invested time in learning its benefits.

Each decision can feel reasonable on its own. Together, they can make your spending revolve around the card.

This is also how I think about merchant offers and statement credits. A discount on something I already planned to buy is useful. An offer that persuades me to make an extra purchase needs a different calculation.

If I spend $100 to receive $20 back on something I otherwise wouldn’t have bought, I’ve still spent $80.

The same principle applies to annual-fee credits. Their value to me depends on how much they reduce expenses I would actually incur. Adding up every advertised benefit doesn’t tell me whether the card belongs in my wallet.

Amex has to keep earning my business

I’m willing to move spending when another card makes more sense. Familiarity with a rewards program shouldn’t become an obligation to keep using it.

That doesn’t mean abandoning Membership Rewards. It means evaluating each opportunity on its own terms.

Before pursuing a bonus or renewing a card, I want answers to a few straightforward questions:

• Can I meet the spending requirement with purchases already in my budget?

• What will the annual fee cost after benefits I actually use?

• Do I have a realistic use for the points?

• How much attention does the card require to deliver that value?

• Would another card give me a better return on the same purchases?

A simpler setup can be worthwhile even if its theoretical maximum return is lower. There’s value in having fewer deadlines, fewer credits to track, and less pressure to manufacture a reason to spend.

The setting I’m checking first

The immediate takeaway from the Pay Over Time announcement is to review your payment settings before February 1, 2027—particularly if you’ve kept the feature inactive and relied on automatic minimum payments.

The broader takeaway is personal: I want my rewards strategy to follow my budget. Once the budget starts following the rewards strategy, it’s time to reconsider.

I can’t prove that American Express wants customers to fall into debt. I can say that removing the ability to disable Pay Over Time takes away a choice some customers valued.

Amex can decide how its products work. We can decide whether those products still deserve our spending.

A points balance is satisfying to watch grow. It matters a lot less if the bill grows faster.