New Amex Cards Without Welcome Offers – When It Makes Sense
During the most recent years of this lucrative hobby, American Express has consistently remained my favorite card issuer for many reasons. I enjoy the relative ease of earning high amounts of Membership Rewards points, simple redemptions which work for me, and hotel/airline currencies from their co-branded card partners (Hilton, particularly). During the pandemic, Amex has provided huge everyday rewards options for value beyond travel. We have obtained multiple Amex cards without offers over the past few years for a variety of reasons. Why? Here are a few examples of when it may be worth pursuing new Amex cards without welcome offers.
More Spend Capacity
Amex is fairly generous with their bonus earning categories across their card portfolio. Unfortunately, the spend caps for some of the best categories are limited. For example, a Gold cardholder is limited to $25k in annual spend in the 4x grocery store category. A Blue Business Plus cardholder earns great 2x everywhere, but only up to $50k annual spend. In each situation that’s a solid 100k Membership Rewards points, but many of us would like to do better.
What to do? Simply open up or product change another card account. Sure, you won’t get the welcome offer, but your rewards from ongoing spend can easily outweigh other options (depending on your specific situation, of course). We’ve done so with multiple cards. While our favorite move was product changing our Amex Green cards to Golds, we’ve also successfully applied for a given card type while already holding the same one. If you’re lucky, you may be eligible for an upgrade offer when product changing, but don’t count on it. Regardless, the ability to efficiently earn more Membership Rewards (or other currencies) via increased 2x (or more) spend capacity may be worth it in your situation.
Outstanding Card Benefits
Example #1: Amex Hilton Aspire
Certain cards can be worth holding even without significant (or maybe any) spend. For instance, Hilton fans easily come out ahead with the Aspire and its $450 annual fee simply from these benefits:
- Annual Free Weekend Night Reward
- $250 Hilton Resort Statement Credit
- $250 Airline Fee Credit
- Hilton Honors Diamond Status
- $100 Property Credit at Waldorf/Astoria or Conrad Properties
- Priority Pass Select Lounge Membership
Example #2: Amex Gold
While the airline fee credit disappears in 2022, Amex Gold cardholders will achieve one-time access to outstanding, overlapping benefits in 2021. If you pursued a Gold without a welcome offer now, you’d still get access to the following for a $250 annual fee:
2020:
- 4x grocery store spend capacity up to $25k
- $100 Airline Fee Credit
- $10 Grubhub/etc Credit (Dec)
2021:
- 4x grocery store spend capacity up to $25k
- $100 Airline Fee Credit
- $120 Grubhub/etc Credit
- $120 Uber Eats Credit
Summing up, that’s $450 in credits plus an additional $50k of 4x grocery store spend capacity for one $250 annual fee!
Referral Offers
From my perspective, Amex has the best referral offer program among the major credit card issuers by far. Long story short, the referring cardholder can obtain their preferred Amex credit card rewards currency (Membership Rewards, cash back, or airline miles/hotel points) regardless of the card the individual referred chooses. There are caps, but you have separate capacity to refer from each of your Amex card accounts.
Amex has been historically generous with referral offers – I routinely have had 15k-20k Membership Rewards referral offers consistently available, and sometimes 25k. But this year, it’s been even better – I, and many of you, have received 30k and 35k referral offers. For those hobbyists in two player mode with your spouse or domestic partner, those referral offers alone may even make pursuing a card without a welcome offer worth it. Indeed, the referral offer is better than some Amex welcome offers in the past!
And Don’t Forget This Good Stuff!
Holding more Amex cards provides extra flexibility to product change. At times, cardholders have received upgrade offers that rival welcome offers. Indeed, many Hilton cardholders receive Surpass and Aspire upgrade offers that match current welcome offers – I know I have. Many also received upgrade offers to Amex Gold and Platinum, as well. And the list goes on.
Also, with more Amex cards comes more referral offer capacity. While obtaining another Amex card may not directly provide a welcome offer, you can effectively obtain something similar via increased referrals.
Caveats for Pursuing Amex Cards Without Welcome Offers
Of course, we all value benefits differently for our own specific situations, so ensure you appropriately estimate your spend patterns and potential redemption values to determine if pursuing an Amex card without a welcome offer is a good move for you. And if you aren’t a big spender, don’t pay for extra spend capacity you don’t need if you aren’t otherwise benefiting. Also, even with the extra benefits, deliberately reflect on whether a more convoluted Amex game with multiple card accounts is worth your time and effort.
Amex Cards Without Welcome Offers – Conclusion
The above are just a few examples and reasons some may find obtaining new Amex cards without welcome offers a worthy endeavor. Of course, I haven’t highlighted the benefits of each Amex card, but you can easily apply these areas as you consider the variety of other Amex cards for potential signup without an offer. Indeed, we have pursued multiple Amex cards without welcome offers, and plan to do so in the future! Have you obtained new Amex cards without offers? Why or why not?
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Interesting. I have a Blue Business Plus – can I open a second one?
R Johnson,
I do not have two Blue Business Plus card accounts in my name, but I have heard of others doing so. Another alternative could be product changing another business card to a second Blue Business Plus. I don’t have firsthand experience with this, though, beyond the Business Green, Gold, and Platinum.