Diplomatico

Ouch! No sign up bonus and a $450 annual fee.

newdaybegin

Did you login in when you apply for new card? I just wondering if the pop up screen will pop up if you are not login? thank you!

sdsearch

It sounds you're not very familiar with the Aspire card if you think of it as having a $450 annual fee. For many people, it's a near-$0 or even negative "net" annual fee, it they can make use of both the $250 airline credit and/or the $250 resort credit and/or get enough value out of the free night.

In fact, it's quite possible for someone to be more easily be able to afford the Aspire (because of the "net" fee being so low or negative) more than being able to afford the Ascend (which doesn't have any offsets to the $95 AF).

Also, this isn't the first person to get the Aspire with no bonus. Back in January and'or February, several people posted about going for upgrade offers from Surpass->Ascend to Aspire, when there was no upgrade bonus available. Isn't upgrading with no upgrade bonus about the same as signing up with no signup bonus?

Diplomatico

I don't "think of it as having a $450 annual fee". It does. Pretty much indisputable.

I'm well aware of the benefits that accompany the card, thanks.

sdsearch

But IMHO only a "net" annual fee that high, not the "actual" annual fee being that high, should rate an "ouch". Why should a (potentially) $0 "net" AF rate an ouch?

So what I meant is that you tying the $450 AF to an "ouch" implied that you were thinking of the card's actual AF only, and not thinking of it's net AF. I know the actual AF is $450, but I think it's misleading to mention it in alone, when so few other cards that have AFs that high have such simple-to-explain ways to lower the net AF to or below $0.

pallhedge

It was clear to me that the "Ouch" in question referred to the permanent (7+ years) forfeiture of the signup bonus on this $450 AF card. Indeed, that's a painful choice. The need to belabor the benefits of this particular card in this particular thread seems petty at this point. At the very least, it's far off topic.

josephstern

According to the rep I just spoke to, when applying for a card, you are told, before your application is submitted, and before your credit is checked, whether you are eligible for a sign-up bonus or not.

She claims that CSRs have been briefed over the past few days and that this is a new notification in their system as of 8/1/18.

I was clear that I had had the card in question in the past, but that I hadn't closed it; I upgraded it. I applied with her on the phone. I was told there was no problem with me being eligible for the bonus. I'll know in a month or so whether this is really the case.

I didn't not get a chance to ask if this eligibility would be visible in an online application.

mia

It is. Begin reading at post 21.

ksingh0311

I have a similar situation. Had Gold many years before (for 1 yr), which I product changed to Plat (got no bonus on upgrading AFAIK), kept it for 2 years, then downgraded it back to Gold, which I kept for further 2 years then cancelled. Before applying, I called Amex and they said they only could see Gold in my card history. So I applied for Plat again earlier this month, with trepidation that I will nevertheless get the "ineligible for welcome bonus" popup. As it turned out, I didn't get that ineligibility message. Will know too in a few weeks if the bonus shows up.

PS: in your case, I guess you'll know very soon if the bonus showed up, so please update it here.

mangoMan

I got popup for Amex Blue Business card application when logged in. Tried again a couple days later without logging in and still got pop-up.

mia

At what stage in the application process does the pop-up appear?

ksingh0311

In my case, I had long forgotten my old account login information, so had applied logged out and got no popup (using the cardmatch link).

ksingh0311

AFTER you click submit the application, I am sure.

josephstern

I didn't quite hit the $5k in my first month, so it'll be another few weeks before I know. I'll try to remember to post back.

hurnik

According to Doctorofcredit, it's supposed to pop up after submitting the application, but before the credit check.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ameri...ation-process/