Update: It looks like you can get the bonus on both of these cards. Lantean as able to recently. Let us know your personal experiences in the comments.
Hi, I’m wondering if it’s possible to get the sign up bonus on the American Express Platinum & Mercedes Benz Platinum cards?
First of all it’s important to note that these are both personal American Express credit cards. You can only get the sign up bonus on each personal American Express credit card once per lifetime (whereas other credit cards are churnable).
In some cases American Express will consider two products the same, meaning you can only one of those bonuses per lifetime. This is always clearly spelled out in the terms & conditions.
Terms for both cards:
Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had a Platinum Card® account enrolled in the Membership Rewards® program
Because they are both technically Platinum cards, you would not be eligible. The second part of Peter’s question was:
Is this actually enforced?
All of the data points I was able to find suggest that this rule is actually enforced. Because American Express personal sign up bonuses are now once per lifetime it’s really worth waiting until an exceptional offer comes along before signing up.
People have received bonuses of 100,000-150,000 membership rewards points on the Platinum card. I wouldn’t apply for it until I received one of those offers. You can check for those offers here. I hope that answers your question. If anybody else has a question, let me know and i’ll do my best to answer it either by e-mail on through a dedicated blog post such as this.
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BTW I think that since the Amex site went through a redesign the linked article on checking to see if you have any targeted offers process doesn't work as described. At first there isn't even a "CARDS" menu entry once you are logged in. You can get that to appear but then when you select it there's a drop down that doesn't show an "offers for you". And if you click your direct link that just takes you to the generic cards list.
where are you getting this misinformation from? if you read FT thread you'd know that this rule is NOT enforced for MB card. Amex still considers it a different product.
Did you read the recent data points which are from after AmEx moved to once per lifetime bonus system?
BTW
so my statement on my MB plat card has not even closed... and I already got 50K bonus despite having multiple pers plat cards in the past (regular, MS, etc). this is consistent with recent posts on FT.
so either the rule is not being enforced or MB is still considered a different product. in either case, if you have never had MB plat card, you can apply and you'll get 50k points after the min spend.
Hi Lantean,
So can I get the MB personal platinum, get the sign-up bonus, cancel the card a year later, apply for the regular platinum, and get the sign-up bonus for that?
Thanks so much.
that i don't know because i did it the other way around... sorry.
OK, i guess you're referring to this thread?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/1426635-alternating-personal-mercedes-business-platinum-cards-usa-9.html
but there is later information after that that indicates it still does work if you've never had MB card in the past.
in any case... i'll find out after my next statement closes.
can you please post a link where you read that?
everything i read indicated people are having success with MB card even if they had the regular plat card before.
thanks.
once per lifetime regardless of when the first bonus was received?
or once per life starting from the date (april 2014) when the new rule was created?
thanks
The Ameriprise card is the card with no AF for the first year.
I thought the MB never has a bonus, just a waived AF
It always has a bonus, usually higher than the regular platinum with a lower AF. You might be thinking of another platinum card (name escapes me at the moment) which had a lower annual fee?
Amex denied my wife a bonus on a second Delta card late last year (prior one closed 10 months prior), so it would appear there is at least some level of actual enforcement happening. Which suuuuuuucks.
@doctorofcredit
interesting.
-so if i received a bonus from a personal premier rewards gold account in 2013... i can never receive another bonus from another premier rewards gold account?
-but a if i received a bonus from a business premier rewards gold account in 2013... i can receive another bonus in the future?
thanks