Maximizing The Amex $150 Back AT&T Offer

I know many, many people had received the Amex Offer for spending $150 on a AT&T statement and receiving a statement credit for $150  (I was fortunate to have it across a few accounts). The biggest problem might be for people that don’t have an AT&T contract. What do you do to be able to get that $150 of free money?

Maximizing the Amex $150 Back AT&T Offer

Transfer To AT&T – An Extra $150 Credit

First off, you may think that if you are not an AT&T customer you are out of luck. Far from it! In fact, if you are not currently an AT&T customer, you stand to make even more by making a move right now. AT&T is running an offer that will give you a $150 statement credit if you port a number over to AT&T and sign up for a plan along with a smartphone with the AT&T Next program. AT&T Next is basically spreading the payments for your new phone over the course of a contract instead of paying a subsidized amount up front and then having that price built into the contract. If you sign up for that program (and port in a number), you will receive a $150 statement credit within 3 billing cycles. The way to combine these two offers to receive the best deal is to overpay on your first month’s bill with your American Express card that has the AT&T offer saved to it and pay a minimum of $150 towards the bill. That should be at least two months worth of free phone and plan coverage (depending on your selected phone and plan). Shortly after that, you will receive the $150 statement credit from AT&T (credited to your cell phone statement) for porting your number in. That should take you through another two month period (at least). So, by shifting over to AT&T, you could potentially get your first 4 or 5 months of a plan and phone free!

Bonus Option: Another option that I know people are using the offer for is to actually pay a bill for a friend and then having them reimburse you – with a little discount to help the both of you out. The Amex/AT&T offer does not disallow you from paying a bill in someone else’s name.

Getting Out Of Contract

Of course, if you are an AT&T customer, that makes it easy how to use this offer! One way that might be potentially helpful is if you are in a contract and want to get out. You will be required to pay an early termination fee (ETF) which is a total of $325 minus $10 per month of activated service on that line. So, if you have been in your contract with your phone (smartphone) for 12 months already, you will be required to pay $205. This $150 Amex offer comes pretty close to wiping that out!

If you do want to leave AT&T to go to another carrier, check the carriers you may be considering a move to. T-Mobile will pay your early termination fee (and you need to turn in a phone, many people turn in some old, cheaper phone) if you switch to T-Mobile. So, they give you a prepaid Visa card for the amount of your ETF, you pay the ETF with your Amex card, and you just got some free money! Plus, you may get some extra money by selling whatever phone you used on your old carrier, so this could make it a somewhat lucrative time to switch to T-Mobile.

But, Wait!

One more tip – don’t be in a hurry to do anything just yet. With Black Friday just around the corner (and the Christmas shopping season), wireless carriers often offer some really good promotions. You may be able to get a high-end smartphone for under $100! Your time to redeem this Amex offer does not run out until April 15, 2015 (though you better have saved the offer to the card by now). If you are content with your plan and it is with AT&T, just go ahead the pay bill whenever. But, if you have the offer but do not have AT&T (or are thinking about switching), just wait another month or so to see what your holiday shopping options may be.

Any other methods of maximizing this deal that you have taken advantage of?