Putting Spend on your American Express Cards can Make you Eligible for Signup Bonuses Again

A lot of people have been complaining about getting the Amex eligibility popup denial when applying for a new American Express card, despite the fact that they are seemingly eligible for the bonus due to never having that card before.

Many reports indicate that if you put some spend on your Amex cards, the eligibility checker may change over to allow you the bonus. Some have spent as little as $600 over the course of just a few days and gotten the system to give them the okay when they tried again. This doesn’t work for everyone, but anecdotal evidence suggests putting some spend can really be effective.

We wrote about the popup issue a few weeks ago and mentioned this idea of putting spend on the card, but some more confirmations have come in and I figured it’s worth highlighting.

From a business perspective it makes sense that Amex would only want to reward actual spenders with signup bonuses, though I’m honestly surprised that they have coded into their eligibility checker to check the person’s history. It’s possible they have somewhere in the backend your ‘Amex Score’, sort of like your Uber Rating, which is dynamic based on various factors like your spend history, and the eligibility checker only gives the green light to someone with a certain score.

Regardless, it’s good to know that by simply being a better Amex customer and actually using your Amex cards can put you in good graces.

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Jeremy
Jeremy (@guest_1161301)
March 15, 2021 16:31

DP here: Just put $10 of spend on an AMEX Delta Blue card that I’ve had for over 10 years but never used (statement didn’t even post yet, but the charge just posted). Was getting the pop-up last week after trying to apply for an Amex Platinum and Amex Gold. I’ve had an AMEX plat a couple years back, but I closed it. I’ve never had an AMEX gold. I applied today and was approved without the pop-up.

ktc
ktc (@guest_1091227)
November 14, 2020 18:11

If you dont get the popup, does it guarantee you will get the bonus?

VIncent
VIncent (@guest_1291936)
November 30, 2021 11:53

No

dizzy
dizzy (@guest_1033724)
August 10, 2020 17:12

I’m still getting the pop up…what’s annoying is I am now even getting it on cards that I am apparently pre-approved for.

My last amex opening was in May with biz plat. I currently have a <1 yr old delta gold biz (why would i spend on it right now?) and a 4yr old hilton no AF (upgraded once and then downgraded- did a tiny amount of spend late 2019/early 2020). I've spent couple hundred on each of these since popups started in May, no dice.

Someone suggested to me to try calling- I'm wondering if that got me around the May card opening (like was I even pop up then? I hadn't applied for anything in a while)

In 2016-2017 I do admit I did have a couple amex cards- AGC, Biz Gold, SPG, SPG biz all of which I did close after 1 yr. No other cards since then other than the above.

Mike
Mike (@guest_759132)
May 14, 2019 00:24

I’m trying to plan a honeymoon around a Hilton stay, so really need an AMEX to make it happen. Keep getting the RAT popup. Problem is, I have no other AMEX cards to put any spending on…

Thoughts on whether or not it’s worthwhile getting another card *without* the bonus (assuming I get the same popup) just so I can put some spending on it and then give a card with a better bonus (Aspire, etc.) a shot? If so, any particular card that is recommended?

Alex
Alex (@guest_742822)
April 3, 2019 05:02

Got RAT messages on Delta Platinum and Gold. Approved for Hilton Ascend. No recent spending on my 5 Amex cards.

Jacob
Jacob (@guest_667175)
November 3, 2018 08:13

DP: applied Sept 30 and I was not eligible for sign up bonus. I put $600 on my ABCP card and applied again on Nov 3 and I was approved.

psh
psh (@guest_667165)
November 3, 2018 03:40

Following up on my DP above… approved!

Probably just coincidence, but I noticed that I applied 366 days after my last successful Amex application (which was instantly approved). Both business cards. Pure speculation, but perhaps a 1 year time-frame plays some role in Amex’s black list formula.

DM
DM (@guest_666989)
November 2, 2018 16:31

I think they may also just be getting more lax in general.

I have 3 AMEX cards and am active in putting spend on them. However, my wife used to have 2 (Plat, SPG) and closed them after a year since they would have been duplicative with cards that I held at the time). This was 2-3 years ago.

When the new Gold Card bonuses came out a few months ago, she started applying for the card but got the popup telling her that she would be denied the bonus, and so she held off from submitting the application. Tried this every couple of weeks for 2 months, and got the same result. Today, just tried again, and she was approved without the popup.

Nothing changed between her initial applications (where she was being denied the bonus) and this one (where there was no such denial). She doesn’t have any active cards and so wasn’t able to put any spend on them. Perhaps AMEX just relaxed their algorithm.

trimal
trimal (@guest_673872)
November 16, 2018 11:13
  DM

Same thing happened to my wife. but she does have active card, but no spend was put on them. She got approved without popup but but bonus got denied anyway.

Bobby
Bobby (@guest_666460)
November 1, 2018 16:21

I registered on my Hilton Ascend card for 20,000 extra points by spending $2,000. A few days later, on a phone call to Amex, I was offered a 150,000 point bonus to do a prorated upgrade to Hilton Aspire and spend $4,000.
My question is, does that mean I will get 170,000 points on my Aspire card after spending the $4,000?
Thanks!

sdsearch
sdsearch (@guest_666424)
November 1, 2018 15:23

One things that’s not clear from many reports is the timing. Ie, do you have to wait for the statement to close (on a card you just started using again) before it works? Ie, are they checking the statement close amount, or the current unpaid purchases amount?

And many datapoints are also not mentioning how many cards they had, how long it had been since EACH one had been used, etc.

Without such rigor in datapoints, trying to figure this out from ‘hazy” datapoints is going to be more difficult.

But of course, Amex may be changing things on the fly, too, which would also make figuring this out from datapoints tricky.