Originally Posted by dval44

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I've had an interesting go with Amex Gold referral.

Summary: I was bored on the plane, checked my amex offers, and rather impulsively applied for and was instantly approved for Amex Gold with 60k bonus.

Within minutes, I panicked. My wife has Amex Gold that we use all the time. I logged into her account and saw the 30k referral offer + $200 home furnishing credits. Oh no, what have I done? Still in a bit of a tizzy, I used her link to re-apply for the same gold card I was just approved for. That application was sent to review.

When I got off the plane I called Amex. First lady was super unhelpful and claimed there was no way for her to even see if the offer was attached. HUCA. Second lady was super helpful. She totally "got it." There is no way to post-hoc ad the offer to the approved card or otherwise manually offer it. She got on the phone with underwriting and presented me the only path forward:

She said there is no way to "switch" the applications, but I could cancel the approved card and the underwriters will get my second application with a detailed note on what happened. That I accidentally signed up for the wrong offer, was approved, then canceled, and that they were basically just approving the identical card. She said there is a risk my application is denied. Which is pretty insane logically because it's literally the same thing that I was just approved for.

So that's where I stand: 1 canceled Amex Gold card after having it for 2 hours; and 1 pending application for an Amex Gold card with referral credit that should be adjudicated in 72 hours.

Thought I would post in case anybody had thoughts or ideas. Thanks!