Amex (USA) restricts bonus based on number of accounts opened/closed (June 2018)
Apr 29, 2019, 10:29 am
#301
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
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May 1, 2019, 3:54 pm
#302
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 6,607
I was thinking of getting the HH biz card ( she has never had a AMex biz card of any type) for my wife.
Hopefully they would tell us before we apply if she is not eligible for the bonus but it seems that may not be true 100% of the time.
May 2, 2019, 10:44 pm
#303
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 1
Happened to me
well, I got the dreaded box today applying for Hilton Biz.
Data: 1 personal, 3 business cards with Amex in past 12 months. Spending slowed considerably after bonus on each but still has intermittent activity. The amazon one gets used a fair amount and the others have a couple small bills on auto pay. Credit report is fairly clean as I’ve been targeting non-reporting biz cards.
Thoughts: it bums me out because I wouldn’t consider myself a churner and I only apply for cards I intend to keep two years or more. Amex has tons of good bonuses and cards and I’m going to pretty bummed if I can’t get them. I really want the Hilton aspire as a long term keeper card but no business really really bites.
Data: 1 personal, 3 business cards with Amex in past 12 months. Spending slowed considerably after bonus on each but still has intermittent activity. The amazon one gets used a fair amount and the others have a couple small bills on auto pay. Credit report is fairly clean as I’ve been targeting non-reporting biz cards.
Thoughts: it bums me out because I wouldn’t consider myself a churner and I only apply for cards I intend to keep two years or more. Amex has tons of good bonuses and cards and I’m going to pretty bummed if I can’t get them. I really want the Hilton aspire as a long term keeper card but no business really really bites.
Jun 11, 2019, 8:39 pm
#304
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,419
Now that this has been going on for a while, do we have any more info on whether one can get out of the penalty box, or if there are workarounds? Got the dreaded pop-up trying to apply for the DL Reserve, which surprised me since I don't have that much history with Amex (worst thing is probably a DL Gold card which was spent just for the minimum spend and then sock-drawered for a year). Honestly considering just applying anyway since I don't care that much about the welcome offer, but would be nice to have..
Jun 12, 2019, 1:10 am
#305
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: New York
Programs: Navy A-4 Skyhawk, B727 FE/FO, S80 FO, B757/767 FO, B737 CA
Posts: 1,342
Now that this has been going on for a while, do we have any more info on whether one can get out of the penalty box, or if there are workarounds? Got the dreaded pop-up trying to apply for the DL Reserve, which surprised me since I don't have that much history with Amex (worst thing is probably a DL Gold card which was spent just for the minimum spend and then sock-drawered for a year). Honestly considering just applying anyway since I don't care that much about the welcome offer, but would be nice to have..
Jun 12, 2019, 6:03 am
#306
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,857
Yes...I applied 6 months ago to get SO an Amex and was told there would be no bonus (via the pop up message during the app process). A few days ago we received a pre-approved offer for the very same card I had wanted to get back then. Not sure what makes the difference...just time, maybe.
Jun 12, 2019, 7:02 am
#307
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,419
Yes...I applied 6 months ago to get SO an Amex and was told there would be no bonus (via the pop up message during the app process). A few days ago we received a pre-approved offer for the very same card I had wanted to get back then. Not sure what makes the difference...just time, maybe.
Jun 12, 2019, 7:40 am
#308
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: New York
Programs: Navy A-4 Skyhawk, B727 FE/FO, S80 FO, B757/767 FO, B737 CA
Posts: 1,342
No, not yet. We have way too many other cards to apply for atm. The other option is a referral from me which would give us both 10,000 points and I would rather have most of the points since I have about 80% of them between us. Since that has consistently been 20,000 combined (2 x 10K) it's basically the same as the 20K for SO alone.
No idea about that.
No idea about that.
Jun 12, 2019, 8:18 am
#310
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: New York
Programs: Navy A-4 Skyhawk, B727 FE/FO, S80 FO, B757/767 FO, B737 CA
Posts: 1,342
Because I tested the app page and got as far as the point where the pop-up showed up before...and it didn't. I just didn't finish the app since I didn't want the card yet. Sorry, should've stated it that way.
Jun 12, 2019, 8:59 am
#311
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,857
Jun 12, 2019, 8:08 pm
#312
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Join Date: Nov 2014
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Following up on my own suggestion, I tried applying by phone and it was pretty clear the CSR was going through the same system and got the same result. I was transferred to another department who claimed that I am ineligible because I have previously received a SUB from the same family of cards, and would never be eligible for a lifetime-limited offer on another DL card. I have no way of knowing if this is actually true, but it sounded like as far as I could dig.
Jun 12, 2019, 8:25 pm
#313
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: New York
Programs: Navy A-4 Skyhawk, B727 FE/FO, S80 FO, B757/767 FO, B737 CA
Posts: 1,342
Following up on my own suggestion, I tried applying by phone and it was pretty clear the CSR was going through the same system and got the same result. I was transferred to another department who claimed that I am ineligible because I have previously received a SUB from the same family of cards, and would never be eligible for a lifetime-limited offer on another DL card. I have no way of knowing if this is actually true, but it sounded like as far as I could dig.
Jun 13, 2019, 5:28 am
#314
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Part of the art of working in customer service, at any company, is the ability to invent plausible explanations for unexpected outcomes. An algorithm makes the decision. The agent does not necessarily know why.
Jun 13, 2019, 8:00 am
#315
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I tend to agree - my impression was that the agent was making things up to get rid of me. Her initial "explanation" was that I did not get the card because I canceled the application when seeing the no-welcome-offer popup (no duh). However, my real conclusion was that (a) you can't get around this by applying over the phone, and (b) no one at Amex is going to tell you why you're getting rejected.
I saw some data points from r/churning suggesting that a few weeks of regular transactions on your existing accounts may get around this, so I think I'll put some daily charges on my currently sock-drawered Blue Cash cards and see if it helps.
I saw some data points from r/churning suggesting that a few weeks of regular transactions on your existing accounts may get around this, so I think I'll put some daily charges on my currently sock-drawered Blue Cash cards and see if it helps.