American Express cards now clearly contain the following language on their application pages:
Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.
You’d think that language would make who is and isn’t clear cut, but you’d be wrong. There are a number of things to take into account.
- Not all application pages contain that language. These are usually targeted offers, either sent via mail or available by logging in or checking for pre-approved offers. If an application page does not include the above (or similar) language then it means it’s not applicable to that card/bonus and you can get the bonus a second (or third or fourth etc) time. Note: Some people have run into issues with this and haven’t gotten the bonus, so YMMV. I’m trying to find out why this usually but not always works, so if you provide a datapoint please share as much information as possible.
- American Express only count cards within a specific time frame. We believe that time frame is seven years, the issue with that of course is that some people don’t keep very good records (shame on you – use this to make it easier). A solution I’ve seen mentioned recently is that you can ask American Express via chat what cards you have/haven’t had before (Frequent Miler goes into some more detail about this here, rather than asking about one card I’d just ask about all cards).
- Another question people struggle with is what about business cards. For example, if I apply using a different EIN then can I get the bonus a second time? We’ve talked about this question (and answered it before) here. The short answer is that it does work if you use a different tax ID most of the time, but not always.
