American Express Membership Rewards - SPG Card with low limit

You will probably find this funny but I applied for both the personal and business SPG card and was immediately approved with, get this, a 2k and a 3k limit.

This is going to make getting the 15k bonus very hard indeed.

Luckily i have a some options. I might just pre-pay over the limit to say 5k each and then go visit the US Mint.

We'll see but I want my 15k points.

Any other ideas out there?

There are plenty of information on this forum how to do it and it also has been reported in this forum on several occasions that Amex is issuing cards with a very low limits. I have received my SPG Business card 11/09 and only have 3k credit line and was declined a credit limit increase. I had to pre-pay or pay in before the statement closing day to free up my credit line in order to achieve 15k spend in 6 month. GL

That's exactly what I plan on doing. It'll be a pain but I can do it.

Yes, I think AMEX is ratcheting in credit lines. I have a very generous SPG credit line but when I recently applied for the DL AMEX gold card to take advantage of a sweetheart promotion of 40,000 miles with the purchase of $1,000, I ended up receiving a card with a $5k credit line, too low for serious use when I travel. I suspect when it comes up for renewal next year with an annual fee, I'll cancel it after having reaped the sign up bonus and then register for a higher tier card when I need the EQM sign up bonus in the future.

Yes, I think AMEX is ratcheting in credit lines. I have a very generous SPG credit line but when I recently applied for the DL AMEX gold card to take advantage of a sweetheart promotion of 40,000 miles with the purchase of $1,000, I ended up receiving a card with a $5k credit line, too low for serious use when I travel. I suspect when it comes up for renewal next year with an annual fee, I'll cancel it after having reaped the sign up bonus and then register for a higher tier card when I need the EQM sign up bonus in the future.


I recently received my Costco Amex,which I had planned to use as my primary card for most purchases.Unfortunately,it came with a paltry 2K credit line,which is basically useless to me. One trip to Costco and single airline ticket will reach it.I will use it to the max for a while,hoping they will raise the limit quickly.Does anyone have experience with this card as far as credit limit increases?

another data point here. received my personal SPG today with 2k limit

for reference, my blue, blue sky, true earnings biz are 25k each. also have a gold rewards that someway somehow found out it was 20k+. never missed a payment or carried a balance on any of the 4 cards.

cant even buy an intl roundtrip on the spg card, a little ridic.

Here's my story.

Recently got a Hilton Amex, $2000 limit, waited the 2 months before they allow a credit increase, max they would offer is $6000, something about a new policy being that they can only raise limits 3X. I just declined and told them to leave it at $2000. I can take my business elsewhere.

A little background. I had a SPG personal card with a 50K limit until this past Feb. I cancelled it because the annual fee was due and I just never used the card because I put all my spending on my Asiana Amex issued by BofA, which also has a 50K limit. I know its only $45 but they wouldn't allow credit allocation to another card with no annual fee and what can I say, I'm a cheap guy and I didn't want to pay a fee on a card I never used and I have a couple of other cards with high limits, so no need for it as a credit booster.

Well, I didn't know they would never give me another high credit limit again. Nothing has changed in my credit file, FICO is high, utilization is under 5% of total credit available, etc. etc.

Oh well, my main card will be my 2% Schwab Visa now.

I had to pre-pay or pay in before the statement closing day to free up my credit line in order to achieve 15k spend in 6 month.

After a lot of searching (promise!) I'm going to give in and ask: how do people get AmEx to accept payments between statements?

I've just got a new SPG AmEx, which came with a $2,000 limit. I couldn't get the online payment system to accept any kind of payment before the statement date. That came after just ten days, but the system won't accept anything more than the $600+ statement balance. So I'm rather at a loss as to how to crack the $15,000 and get the start-up bonus.

Thanks in advance for any tips, including pointers to useful threads hidden behind unlikely subject lines.

Mail a check or use your bank's online bill pay.

And I applied for the Hilton Surpass card to get top-level elite status after a $40,000 annual spend. I have very high limits on my Starwood AMEX and, for Pete's sake, a Centurion card.

That didn't stop them from giving me a card with a $5000 limit and refusing to increase it. Like other posters, I'll let this lapse after the first year. Did get a load of bonus points that made it worthwhile but very annoying.

Mail a check or use your bank's online bill pay.

Thanks. These are probably obvious options to most people in N America, but before today I'd only ever paid US card issuers via their online "pull" systems.

After a lot of searching (promise!) I'm going to give in and ask: how do people get AmEx to accept payments between statements?


I use Amex site pay bill option. As long there is a balance on the account and your bank account that you use for payment was enrolled with Amex more then 30 days, you can make a payment online.

I use Amex site pay bill option. As long there is a balance on the account and your bank account that you use for payment was enrolled with Amex more then 30 days, you can make a payment online.

Thanks. I was obviously experiencing some restrictions that only apply to new accounts. Getting past my first statement date and first payment seems to have made a difference.

After making a "bill pay" push payment yesterday, I returned today and tried the AmEx pull option again. It worked, although my account is not yet 30 days old and my bank account has only been registered for 10 days or so, and (the best bit): the payment amount was instantly added to my "available credit".

So it should now be easy enough to get the start-up bonus. Then it will just be a question of seeing whether, after a few months, AmEx wants to up the credit line so that it actually covers things like international flights for two.

the payment amount was instantly added to my "available credit".



That is correct. You get an increase in your credit line right away.

That is correct. You get an increase in your credit line right away.

That is not always the case, particularly if you push payments of 10k or more. I was told by Amex just the other night that they can hold the payment for up to 7 days.

That is not always the case, particularly if you push payments of 10k or more. I was told by Amex just the other night that they can hold the payment for up to 7 days.

That might be true if you push the money, however if you use amex bill pay service you will get an immediate increase in your credit line.

I've had the SPG card for a while with an OK limit, but when I applied for the Hilton AMEX I was given a pathetic $3600 limit. That was at least 8 months ago so the other say I asked for my limit to be raised to $5000 and got approved. I tried to stay under their radar by not asking for too much.

Is it possible to pay in before the first statement is in? I got the same low limit as the OP on SPG recently, but I've got plenty more I want to do before the first statement is in (and I'd rather not it show 99% utilization :D)

Is it possible to pay in before the first statement is in?

Post number 9 in this thread pointed me in the right direction. Thanks again skofarrell. No reason why it won't work for you as well.

After a lot of searching (promise!) I'm going to give in and ask: how do people get AmEx to accept payments between statements?
So I'm rather at a loss as to how to crack the $15,000 and get the start-up bonus.
Thanks in advance for any tips, including pointers to useful threads hidden behind unlikely subject lines.

Sign up autopay
Immediately after statement, log in and pay bill.
The autopay will also kick in a few days later.
Also,
Prepay by paying from your online checking account.
Small amounts credit at once, large amounts are on hold for 1 week.

I had a 1 K spg I managed to pre-pay 14 k on and managed to get the bonus in 2 months. The good thing about Amex is that if your limit is 1k and you prepay 10k, they let you charge up to 11k after 1 week.
Think of is as a debit card for 1 month, not a credit card.

There was fraud previously, by people sending in checks, and then at once charging expensive items. Hence the week delay.
With Visa esp Citi, each transaction has to be near your limit, unless it is a signature card. Same with MC unless world elite MC.