American Express Adds Sign Up Bonus Qualification Tool
American Express has been cracking down on people who are abusing their rewards program the last few years. First they added the once per lifetime rule and then recently they added new terms that allows them to deny a welcome bonus for any reason.
It hasn’t been all bad with American Express though, they recently beefed up their purchase protections for cardholders. And now The Points Guy reported that they have added a welcome bonus qualification tool!
Details
This new tool will let applicants know if they are available for a sign up bonus on a particular card without having to use a hard pull. If you have had the card before you will see a message saying you are not eligible for the sign up bonus. It will also ask if you would like to proceed anyways. If you are eligible then you will also get a message telling you so.
According to The Points Guy even though they got the message that said they weren’t eligible and canceled the application they still got an email that their application is under review. So there may be some issues for the time being.
Conclusion
This is great news for people who don’t keep good track of their application history. This is also helpful for people who haven’t had a card in 6 or 7 years (when it is believed the lifetime ban on the bonus is up) and want to see if they could get it again.
I am curious to see how this works with the different flavors of the Platinum card in particular. Will it register them all as one now are will you still be able to get one of each kind. If you give it a try let us know in the comments how it works for you.
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I’ve been able to check if I’m eligible for a sign-up bonus by calling and asking.
I would rather not have to call in – wouldn’t you?
I will hold calling it awesome until we have more data points confirming that this works as intended, and that Amex isn’t still pulling credit even if you decide to not proceed with the application. It’s always a good idea to wait until the kinks are worked out.
True – but once the kinks are worked out I think it will make things a little easier for us.
I currently have the MB Platinum, and it didn’t give me either message when I filled out an application for the regular Platinum.
Interesting – thanks for the DP
“Awesome”???
You don’t think it is great to be able to tell if Amex will give you the bonus or not before applying? Especially with the new rules they recently put in place on applications.
You state: “This is also helpful for people who haven’t had a card in 6 or 7 years (when it is believed the lifetime ban on the bonus is up) and want to see if they could get it again.”
This is the first I have seen where the lifetime ban is possibly not a lifetime ban. Can you elaborate as to where you received this information and how it could be verified? TIA
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/american-express-consider-lifetime/
Thx
My pleasure