Once-in-a-lifetime bonus policy now applies to both personal & BUSINESS cards [USA].
 

I finally got around to applying for new DL Platinum AMEX Business cards today and got an unwelcome surprise. For every link I can find, the following language now appears:

"Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product."

This language had the 12-month exception a few days ago.

When did this go into effect, and can anyone point me to a link that will allow the bonus after a 12-month wait?

Both the Platinum and Gold Skymiles business cards contain that language. It could be a decision made by Delta and American Express, or it could be an editing error.

I spot checked three other business cards (Business Platinum, Business Rewards Gold, Starwood Business) and they still have the old language:

Thanks, Mia. Maybe getting a new Business Gold will make it all better... :D

February 2016: Once-in-a-lifetime bonus policy now applies to Business cards.
 

Seems business cards are once per lifetime now also unless you get a targeted offer in the mail. They all say "Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product."

I now see the once-in-a-lifetime language in offers for:

MEMBERSHIP REWARDS
Business Platinum
Business Gold Rewards
Business Green
Blue for Business

DELTA
Reserve Skymiles Business
Platinum Skymiles Business
Gold Skymiles Business


I still the more liberal "12 month" language for:

Starwood Business (...but the more restrictive language appears on the actual application.)

Bear in mind that American Express considered the INDIVIDUAL to be the applicant for bonus purposes. You cannot bypass the restriction by creating another company. You will get the card, but not the bonus.

I see the same on the SPG card as well:

Earn 25,000 Bonus Starpoints®after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.† Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.

It seems that if you're on the web page that displays all the Amex Business cards, clicking on the "Offer Terms" link for the SPG Business shows the old "12 month" language. However, once you click on the apply button, the new language shows up on both the application page and the "Offer Terms" link on the application page.

I had been holding off on re-applying for this card, so this got me concerned. I sent myself a SPG business card referral from my wife's account hoping that I would get lucky. Success! The referral application link shows the "12 month" language. I better go ahead and apply before it gets taken away, too.

Agreed. If we take The Mileage Millionaire's report on the 19th as the beginning of a transition it would be only a matter of time before they cleanup the stragglers.

On the other hand, I have read several recent reports of targeted (personal card) offers without any exclusion language. It may be that American Express is entering a new marketing phase focused on targeting rather than market-wide offers.

I read about this on doctor of credit, so I checked my current offers which were 75K for the Platinum Business and 75K for the Business Gold. Neither had the once in a lifetime language either in the initial offer or after I logged on to the application.

I got an email on 2/24 offering 25K on the BRG (lame, I know), and it had the 12-month language. I already have this card, so hopefully that means their targeting algorithm isn't too restrictive.

I also found the targeted 75K for the Platinum Business and 75K for the Business Gold which doesn't have the 12 month nor lifetime language. However, I just closed my Biz Gold account last month. Would like to know if the 12 month period is forced or not for the targeted offer.

Yes, 12 month limitation is enforced.

How do you know it's enforced for a targeted offers? Did you apply and NOT get the bonus pts? I think targeted offers are still an unknown until we see empirical evidence.

All, I brought over the wiki from the original (and now closed) thread on the lifetime(ish) limit on personal card bonuses. While I made a number of updates I thought appropriate, I'm sure there's still work to be done.

We don't have enough data points on the targeted offer if a similar product is closed within the last 12 months I guess.