gspurr

Does anyone know when the $200 travel credit for 2018 for the Platinum card will appear? I have a booking to make and it is not showing up on the amex travel website. I know where it should appear on the amex site as I used my 2017 credit only a few days ago. Thanks.

JJonahJ

If you don't see the 2018 travel credit online you could go ahead and book first and then call AMEX to get the $200 credit applied afterwards. Or, if you want to do it in one shot, just to be sure, then call and ask a rep to help you with the booking and the travel credit at the same time.

JetLife

How long do you need to wait before churning the same AMEX product? Is it based on when you signed up for the last card or when you cancelled?

JJonahJ

It depends, but the simple answer is, you should wait at least 3 months after cancelling before reapplying for the exact same card product, minimizing the chances that they re-open a recently closed account. Many people have reported much (MUCH) shorter wait times with success, but I can't recommend that you take that type of risk.

There are other factors the come into play too, such as Personal vs Business card churns, but that's another chapter.

Smiley90

Officially churning isn't possible at all, so really, anything is fair game... but I'd recommend at least 6 months since closing.

JJonahJ

Hmmm. Officially? Maybe on the personal cards, which have wording such as "we may approve your application, but you will not be eligible for the welcome bonus". But that wording doesn't appear on the Business Gold MR nor Business Platinum MR cards' footnotes. Also, I can't recall seeing anyone report that an existing account was re-opened when reapplying beyond 3 months after cancellation, but fair enough, I can agree on the YMMV factor.

Smiley90

True about the Business, but OP only specified "same amex product", so if it only works on two cards (or 3, I don't recall if the SPG Business has the language added by now), then that's the minority! But as someone who's gotten an extra Personal Gold signup bonus just in the last few months after having had it before, it still works on personal cards too.... but I wouldn't count on it. Definitely YMMV.

JJonahJ

Well, FWIW, the business churns are definitely still alive and kicking in our household. It was my 6th stab at the Biz Gold, and was my 3rd churn after the July 2015 Amex "Thou-Shall-Not-RinseRepeat" Declaration day (one-welcome footnotes ), and all three times I had reapplied within a month after cancelling (1 week, in once instance).

I've pretty much lost instant approval status years ago, and in years past I would have called them the next day to get the application pushed through, but with recent reports of additional review requirements by a "back" team, I decided to wait for confirmation without calling. Plus, even though it is a business card churn and technically Ok for churning, the phone reps have demonstrated an ability to mix-up the one-welcome rules so I didn't want to poke them into doing something unfavourable to my application. The first hint of approval came in the form of bonus points for my wife's source referring card, two days after my application. Met the $5K spending right away with a planned large expediture, and the 40K welcome points posted without delay.

heraclitus

It sounds like business churns have a reasonable shot at success, but is personal dead in the water? I'm feeling an itch for another SPG personal, but $120 is a lot if all I wind up getting is 5,000 referral points from my SPG biz... what to do, what to do.

JJonahJ

Hey Greekie,

I would say Business churns have a VERY good shot at success, whereas Personal card churns have a reasonable shot, based on the continued reports from within our circle of family/friends, as well as from datapoints of others in the public forums. Does that make sense?

And I'm basing my "reasonable" assessment of Personals in light of the reports of some people saying that when they called in to get the application status, they were notified that a "back" team would review further - at this point, some said they were told they would NOT get the welcome bonus again as they opened the card recently, while others said that they were approved and things went swimmingly as planned. So, YMMV, but reasonably good mileage still available.

heraclitus

That's roughly how I understood things to be... I figure that between the 5,000 referral points + whatever I get from the spend, it's not like it would be a total bust even if I was refused the signup bonus. So I guess I'll roll the dice and hope that the Amex gods are smiling down on me

JetLife

Whenever I call AMEX to get an application approved, they always tell me I've been identified as a "high value" customer of AMEX. Today the guy said since I'm high value they want to ensure it was actually me that applied to protect me. Is this "high value" thing something they say to everybody or is it some sort of designation they give certain customers? As a point of reference, I just churn AMEX cards but have spent tens of thousands on them over the years.

SurlyJoe

jasdou

It's been close to a whole month since I self-referred to the Business SPG from my personal SPG and haven't heard anything from Amex. Should I be worried or just chalk it up to the Holidays period? I am not very keen on calling Amex to enquire. Or should I call?

nli007

Sounds like BS to me, I spend $150k/yr and never been called "high value"