Confirmed: American Express Does Have A New 4 Card Limit
Last week I wrote about the rumblings that there was a new 4 card limit being cited from American Express. Several people had reported the 4 card limit as the reason they were being denied on their new applications. The Amex reps even cited the 4 card limit as the reason. It was believed that this included charge and credit cards so I reached out to AskAmex on Twitter for clarification. And they confirmed that American Express does have a new 4 card limit and it is for credit cards. The charge card limit is still 10 cards.
Yes, we do have limits on Lending Consumer and Lending Business cards. The limit is four total of Consumer or Business lending cards. The limit for charge cards is ten.
— Ask Amex (@AskAmex) May 19, 2020
Final Thoughts
I went into more detail on why this will be an issue for many in the post last week. But it is good to see that they are not including charge cards in the count, or at least they are not supposed to be included. I know there have been reports that they were included on some of the denials.
It is also possible that the rep is inaccurate, that would not be a shock. But I think it is likely correct. They took a day to respond, which I assume was to get the info correct. It also falls in line with them limiting the charge cards allowed several weeks ago to 10 per person. And they have always treated credit cards and charge cards differently. So this all lines up with American Express’ M.O.
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[…] are doing business. American Express has not been quite as stringent, but as reported previously by Miles to Memories, they implemented a 4/10 limit. You can only have four credit cards and ten charge cards. We broke […]
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the post. I just read a post on Value Penguin by Brent Holzauer (dated 9 July, 2020) stating that Amex biz CCs don’t count toward the 4-card limit. That’s different than what I’ve seen on other sites stating that the 4-card limit includes biz and personal credit cards from Amex.
You thoughts?
Thanks!
They count for sure Drew. Only thing that doesn’t count are charge cards.
Mark, Thx for the reply.
Does an AU/employee card on an AMEX biz card count toward the 4-card limit?
I didn’t even think to check how many cards I had before I just applied for one. I’ve been really slacking when it comes to closing out cards. I have 6.
1 charge card (biz)
2 business cards
3 personal cards
and was just denied for a business card.
Only the credit cards matter so the charge card doesn’t count. That has a separate limit of 10. Would still need to eliminate 2 credit cards to be approved though 🙁
I bet they are considering business cards separate from personal cards. That would explain Js approval.
I don’t think it is a hard and fast rule yet. I think you may be able to skirt by on auto approval but if it goes to underwriting you will get denied because of it. Just a guess on my part.
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While it’s great that you confirmed it, I’d still be a bit skeptical of Amex’s Twitter reps. I recently asked them if Amex’s revamped benefits apply to new card applicants and they led me down the wrong path by telling me that they don’t. I realized that Amex’s Twitter team had dropped the ball when The Frequent Miler shared a pdf with the actual fine print contradicting their claim.
100% and that is why I put it in there. But pairing this up with everything else we have seen and I think it is more likely than not it is the new norm or will be shortly.
How do you think this works with authorized user cards? Would my wife adding me as an AU on her Hilton card add to my card count?
I would think it won’t count since that is how it worked in the past.
It’s definitely a YMMV situation. I applied for the Hilton Surpass yesterday even though I have four other credit cards with AX (HH Aspire, Hilton Business, Marriott Business, and Marriott Brilliant) and got an instant approval.
Yup I think it is just rolling out etc. and there will be cracks for sure. If anyone was considering a credit card and is sitting at 4 I would give it a go sooner rather than later.
They may also be counting your business cards separately from your personal cards.