American Express Membership Rewards - Will this AX offer result in a hard pull on my credit report?

I received an offer in the US Mail from American Express (AX) to earn 2,500 bonus points for each additional card and pay no annual fee for the first year. Up to 12 additional card holders can be added. This requires a discreet offer number (I am not giving it out since this was a targeted offer, I think). AX is asking for the Social Security Number SSN of each new card holder. The requirement to furnish SSN's greatly limits my ability to get more than one additional cards. FYI, I know to cancel cards before the annual fee (non-waiver period) kicks in.

Background, I have a FICO score in the 85 percentile (high 700's), no debt, and fair amount of hard pulls in the last six months (mostly Citibank and AX)

Will this offer result in a "hard pull" on my credit report and/or my additional card holder credit report? Mostly, I want to protect my ability to get Citicards for American Airlines miles.

Your thoughts please.

You won't get a hard pull. The account will show up as a "new account" on the added user's credit report. This can be a very good thing if they have a "thin file". Add away and collect the points.

Anybody know how many points does each "hard pull" cost, off your credit score?

It varies greatly based on the thickness of your report, number of existing inquires, and the time period between inquires( sometimes they only count as one pull if close enough together for loans).

Additionally, the effect of them drops off rapidly after six months. Fico doesn't count them after 1 year I believe, though they remain on the reports for two years.

On average, think maybe 2-5 points, but there are outliers.

Agree with Gamer, around 5 points.

It usually lowers my score by 5 points too. You might want to OK this with the person you are opening an account for too. My Truecredit.com notes:

An inquiry is a notation in your credit history that indicates someone was looking at your report.
There are two types of inquiries: soft and hard. Soft inquiries do not impact your credit standing-they occur when your credit report is checked by you, a prospective employer, or for the purpose of pre-selected credit card offers.

The inquiries displayed in this chart are hard inquiries. They occur when you apply for credit with a bank or retail store. A large number of hard inquiries posted over a short period of time could cause lenders to think that you are seeking lots of credit due to financial difficulty, or that you're overextending yourself by taking on more debt than you can afford. However, it's still okay to shop around for a loan when you're making a large purchase such as for an auto or home. As long as your inquiries for an automobile or mortgage deal are all within a 30-day period, many credit scoring programs and creditors will disregard the multiple inquiries or consider them as only one inquiry.

It usually lowers my score by 5 points too. You might want to OK this with the person you are opening an account for too. My Truecredit.com notes:

The Authorized User will not get a hard pull.