All information about American Express cards has been collected independently by Miles to Memories.
American Express Card Reconsideration
My wife and I enjoy picking up new American Express cards. This often means we’re playing a high-turnover game with them, and making phone calls are part of the deal. Historically (and conveniently), reps with American Express card reconsideration are some of the most customer-friendly ones, in our experience. But the reps threw us curveballs on a couple recent reconsideration attempts. Luckily, we didn’t strike out. Here’s one new item to watch out for when you reconsider your Amex application.
American Express Card Reconsideration Process
When my wife and I have called Amex reconsideration in the past, we provide a reference number to the rep who then reviews the situation. The agent shares why the application wasn’t initially approved (often due to application rules), and we discuss changes to our card profile since the application. Inevitably, the rep puts us on a quick hold, and more often than not, the perky agent returns and happily informs the application is now approved.
A New Change?
The front end of that experience has remained the same – the reference number, the rep review, and hold. But the past couple times, the rep has returned to say that the manual review will take a bit longer. Each rep quoted a three to five day timeframe to receive an outcome. Agents advised I would receive the decision via email or snail mail. In each instance, my wife and I shrugged, thanked the rep, and hung up.
Watch For That Email!
About three days later, I received an email about my application. What I first noticed about the email was the rather alarming subject title – “You have 48 hours to accept your card!” The email body confirmed I’d been approved for the card, but I must accept it in order to open the account. Additionally, the email contained exact time and date deadline info for accepting the new card. See below:
I clicked “Accept Your Card” and received a “Your application has been approved”-titled email later that day confirming the pending card delivery. Similar to other reconsideration processes, my wife’s referral bonus and my signup bonus triggered without issue. Again, my wife’s experience with her recent card reconsideration was the same as mine above.
What Makes This Concerning
Usually, after the reconsideration call, the applicant’s job is done. With an approval, there’s no follow-up action required to ensure a card is on the way. But here, we needed to click on the button in an email, something new to us. It was simple enough, but not something we were prepared for. Indeed, during our reconsideration calls, neither rep told either of us we had to take any action based on an email.
What makes this new wrinkle concerning is that a new application effort occurring over multiple months is cancelled if someone misses this email for two days or so. Luckily, we avoided this scenario, but I could’ve totally seen a negative outcome for us or others. We’re all busy with life – traveling, not checking email often enough, etc. – and this email is easy to miss.
Here’s My Educated Guess….
…to why we received emails to accept the new cards. I think this may have to do with the Amex card applications where they advertise, “Know If You’re Approved for a Card with No Impact to Your Credit Score.” Thinking back on our applications, my wife and I each recalled applying with this process in both cases where we had to accept the card after reconsideration. Of course, this is a small sample size of two, and correlation doesn’t equal causation. But I have no better theories on what could’ve done it.
American Express Card Reconsideration – Conclusion
Long story short, keep your eyes peeled for Amex emails throughout the application process and take action, if necessary. I haven’t seen this new wrinkle with other Amex applications, but we should beware of this process spreading to more situations. This extra step for prospective cardholders is as easy to accomplish as it is to miss. Don’t lose out!
Have you needed to accept your card after reconsideration? What do you think causes this?
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Good information. I’ve not had that experience yet.