For several years now, Amex wouldn’t allow people to have more than 4 credit cards. Extra charge cards were fine, but if you applied for an Amex credit card and already had 4 open credit cards (business plus personal combined), they wouldn’t approve the new card unless you cancelled an old one. In just the past couple of days, I’ve heard from a few readers who have been approved for a fifth credit card. Here are some examples:
Via a blog comment, John wrote:
I went ahead and applied for the SPG personal. (Already have 4: Amex blue, Everyday, Hilton and SPG business). Went to pending and was immediately approved! Also applied for a targeted Gold PRG 25K (Have had this card and 50K bonus before, so figured would use the combined inquiry) Approved.
So yeah now I have 5 open credit cards and 1 charge card with amex.
Via Twitter, Will wrote:
@Drofcredit @FrequentMiler Got my girlfriend her 5th opening amex cc. Thought they would force her to close one, but they didn’t…
— Will (@shamroxk) March 29, 2016
@Drofcredit @FrequentMiler she has hilton, spg biz, delta, delta biz. The 5th one is spg personal. Confirmed by other people as well.
— Will (@shamroxk) March 29, 2016
Also via Twitter, Dino wrote:
@Drofcredit @FrequentMiler @shamroxk same thing happened to my sis. She had spg p, OBC, Blue & Hilton. Got approved for HH Surp w/o closing.
— Dino Feliciano (@glysdi1) March 29, 2016
@Drofcredit @FrequentMiler @shamroxk HH Surpass being the 5th open Amex card.
— Dino Feliciano (@glysdi1) March 29, 2016
Has Amex changed their policy recently?
The same Will that Tweeted about his girlfriend, above, wrote:
@Drofcredit @FrequentMiler I applied a month ago and had to close one card. She applied yesterday, called today and got approved instantly — Will (@shamroxk) March 29, 2016
When Dino was asked when he applied for his 5th card, he wrote:
@Drofcredit @FrequentMiler @shamroxk about 10 days ago. — Dino Feliciano (@glysdi1) March 29, 2016
From these few data points, it appears that Amex has changed their policy somewhere between a month ago and 11 days ago. However, in this Reddit thread, a number of people report that recent applications were denied due to already having four credit cards.
Credit Cards, not Charge Cards
The Amex 4 credit card limit is with credit cards, not charge cards. With credit cards, the card issuer extends a line of credit and you are allowed to pay off your balance over time. With charge cards, you must pay your balance in full each month. In general, it is good practice to pay in full each month anyway.
Examples of popular Amex credit cards include:
- Delta branded cards
- Hilton branded cards
- Starwood branded cards
- EveryDay cards
- Blue Cash cards
Examples of popular Amex charge cards include:
- Platinum cards
- Gold cards
- Green cards
- Plum card
Basically all cards named after a color are charge cards. Exceptions include cards named after the color blue and Delta branded cards which are credit cards, but also have color names: Gold and Platinum.
Conclusion
It’s too soon to say for sure, but it appears to me that Amex still has their 4 credit card rule in place, but that they’re failing to apply it in all cases.
I have no idea why Amex has this rule in the first place. I can understand wanting to limit the amount of credit extended to each person, but they can manage that with any number of cards. The optimist in me hopes that this is the beginning of the end of the Amex 4 credit card rule.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
[…] spring reports surfaced at FrequentMiler and Doctor of Credit that this was not longer being enforced, sometimes. Internet self-reports are […]
[…] been the Amex limit (they allow more charge cards, but only a limited number of credit cards). There have been hints recently that Amex has expanded the limit from 4 to 5, but I didn’t want to take a chance. My annual fee had come due for my Hilton Surpass card, so […]
Tnx for the mention! More data points, yesterday me & my wife just got our approval emails for the Amex Hilton (no A.F.). We both applied for it Wed, the 30th. I have SPG, OBC, HH Surpass, & Simply Cash. So the new 1 is my 5th. My wife has SPG, OBC, HH Surpass, & Blue Sky. From what Ive read it looks like Amex will approve it if u just let the system do it without calling. My wife, sis, & I never called recon.
[…] Denied on March 30th […]
Same here. Had 4 cards, and applied for SPG personal. Approved instantly. I figured that Amex may not be counting the Costco card, since it will be gone in a few months. I also noticed that I am now getting frequent targeted offers in the mail from Amex. I just wonder if they are getting more aggressive to keep their Costco customers.
I received instant approval for the spg bus. And personal cards (not on the same day) when they had the last 30k offer, despite already having 4 open am ex credit cards.
I have been with am ex for over 30 years – so that might influence their actions with me.
This is weird since my wife got denied for having too many cards when she only had 3…had to close one and then was approved a week and a half later.
Was declined immediately for an Amex credit card yesterday because I had too many cards. After MANY phone calls with reconsideration line and representatives, was required to cancel a card if I wanted the new card to be approved. I have 4 Amex credit card and was not approved for the 5th.
My oldest open accounts are with Amex so having to close one hurts. Eventually they’ll realize that the hard 4-credit-products per ssn rule is costing them business. Of course, from their perspective keeping open a large number of accounts that don’t get used is a potentially expensive risk. But making your customers happy is generally smarter. If they would let us convert old products to new ones (and get the signup bonus if applicable) or perhaps cut the cl on the old card to something minimal (like $500) it would make a lot more sense.
Hmmmm… I’ve got 6 and most are relatively new.
AMEX SPG personal – forever
AMEX SPG business – almost that long
AMEX Platinum – Aug 2015
AMEX Gold business – Aug 2015
AMEX Delta Platinum – June 2015
AMEX Delta Gold business – June 2015
I believe some of these are actually charge cards and not credit cards, and do not count towards the maximum
As far as I know they are all credit cards… but I’ll check into it.
Thanks
Gold Biz and Plat are charge cards not credit cards….I have 7 total cards but 3 are charge cards.
Your Gold and Platinum cards (not the Delta versions) are charge cards, so you only have 4 credit cards.
Thanks for the info… not that I really ever use them.
Amex forced me to close one of my cards before they’d approve my SPG card. I talked them through why I need each of those cards (which were true reasons, I do use all four of my cards to some extent) but they wouldn’t budge and I had to cancel one of my cards before they’d reconsider my SPG application. I had the Costco card (which I told them will close in a few months anyway! they still wouldn’t budge!), Delta plat, Delta Gold Business and Blue Cash.
I should have added that this was less than a month ago.
And some have 5+
My husband applied 2 days ago for Starwood Business and he already had 4 cards but was denied the fifth card. He called and talked to so many people and finally was forced to close an 18 year old card if he wanted to get approved.