Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
This month seems to be our last chance to take advantage of lots of Amex goodies. Here are the top “last chance” opportunities on my mind:
Last chance to signup for personal cards you’ve had before
As of May 1, American Express will no longer offer signup bonuses for cards you’ve had before (see “Amex clamping down on repeat bonuses?”). This new policy seems to be specific to personal cards, not business cards. The Terms & Conditions on the signup offers have already changed to reflect this, but it seems that the new rules won’t be enforced until May 1. At least, that’s my hope as I recently re-signed up for the Starwood personal card with the hope of getting the full 25K bonus. Unfortunately, I won’t know for sure about my bonus until its too late to help others who have had this card before. Note that to see the current signup offer, you may have to first clear cookies or put your browser into Private/Incognito mode. I decided to wait until August to re-signup for the business SPG card since Amex often increases their SPG signup bonuses in late August / early September. For those wondering what to do, here’s a quick “cheat sheet”:
- Are there any personal Amex cards that you’ve owned in the past, but cancelled? If yes:
- Did you cancel the card more than 12 months ago? If yes:
- Consider signing up for the card before May 1. Keep in mind that there is a chance that you won’t get the signup bonus, so there is a risk here.
Last chance to pay $150 for Delta Platinum cards
Starting May 1, Delta Platinum cards from American Express will change a bit:
- The annual fee will go from $150 to $195
- The cards will no longer have foreign transaction fees.
- The cards will have EMV chips for use in the many countries that support chip based credit cards.
If you want to lock in a year at the lower $150 annual fee, you can do so by signing up this month. Each person can have up to 2 Delta branded cards: one personal and one business. Note too that there are three different Amex Delta cards: Delta Gold, Delta Platinum, and Delta Reserve. Please see these posts for my analyses of each card:
- An Analysis of the Gold Delta SkyMiles credit card
- An Analysis of the Platinum Delta SkyMiles credit card
- An analysis of the Delta Reserve credit card
Last chance to use Platinum or Reserve card to bring family or friends into SkyClub
Both the $450 Delta Reserve card and the $450 Amex Platinum card (not the Delta Platinum card) grant cardholders access to the Delta SkyClub when flying Delta. Until May 1, you can also bring in your family or up to 2 guests. Beginning May 1, you’re on your own unless you want to shell out $29 per guest.
Last chance to get $250 signup bonus for the SimplyCash card
The $250 signup bonus on the Amex SimplyCash business card ends on April 28th. If you signup, you have to be approved by that date to get the bonus. So, if you signup on or near that date, be sure to call Amex after you submit the application (877-399-3083). That way, they can process the application while you wait on the phone. This card has long offered 5% cash back at office supply stores and for wireless telephone services, which is not that interesting, in my opinion, if you have a Chase Ink card. Where the card gets interesting is with their new choice of 3% cash back categories. Each year you can choose to earn cash back from one of several categories (currently: airfare, hotels, car rentals, gas, restaurants, select media advertising, or shipping). Since this is a business card, it also qualifies for Amex OPEN Savings. So, consider double dipping by selecting hotels as your 3% category if you stay at Hyatt hotels in the US often (5% cash back from OPEN Savings); or select car rentals if you rent often from Hertz (up to 10% cash back from OPEN Savings).
Last chance to get $20 off $100 at Staples
If you were quick enough to get in on the Staples Amex Sync offer before it filled up (see “Amex Sync Offer: $20 off $100 at Staples!), keep in mind that the offer expires on April 30th. Don’t let it pass by without using it! See also: Staples Gift Cards.
Last chance to use my Amex affiliate links
If you were planning to signup for new Amex cards and were kind enough to want to use my affiliate links, I’m sorry to say that it is too late. Monday (4/14) was the last day before Amex deactivated my links. On Tuesday, I went through my Best Offers page and removed all of the Amex affiliate links and replaced them with direct to Amex links. I don’t have any information about why they severed the relationship and I’m sad to see it end, but please be assured that it won’t affect my reporting of Amex offers. Amex has many great credit cards and deals. As long as that remains true, I’ll continue to write about them.
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FM, did you ever receive the bonus points for signing up for this card again? I am having quite a battle with Amex/Starwood on getting my points added. I signed up on 4/27 and completed my $5000 spend in July, and all I’ve gotten is the 10000 pts after first purchase, not the add’l 15000 points. They’re telling me that their “standard” sign up offer is 10000 pts after first purchase, and that that’s what I applied for. Which I think is bogus since I’ve never seen such an offer, have you?
Yes, I did get the full bonus. I think I’ve seen the 10K offer: sometimes when I don’t use an incognito window and click on the SPG offer it shows that inferior offer. Have you tried the standard hang up and call again until you get a useful rep?
i have closed a couple personal AE accounts 12 + months ago.. and plan to reapply..Thanks for the heads up on this.
? How many AE personal cards do you think a person can apply for –before the end of the month.
I’m not sure how many you can get at once. I know some people like to use the multiple browser method: open up multiple different browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, for example) and apply for a different card within each browser and submit the applications at the same time. The thought is that that approach will increase your odds of an instant approval on each card. I don’t know if that’s true or not. Keep in mind that most people are only allowed up to 4 Amex credit cards (but can have unlimited charge cards).
FM
One simple question
I have a Biz Amex Gold with 97K Amex points. I just applied for the personal Amex Gold. My idea is to keep those Amex points on my account (hoping there will be a nice transfering promotion to either British Airways or Hawaiian) but cancel the Biz Card. Do I only have to register my new personal card on the same online account and that’s it? All my points I made with my previous card will stay in my account with my new personal card?
Thanks in advance to you or to whoever give me a response to my question
Yes, that’s right. As long as you have an open card that earns MR points, your existing points will be fine. Unlike Ultimate Rewards, MR points are all kept in one bucket together.
Any experiences with getting the same business AMEX card again within 12 months for different businesses, and still getting the full bonus?
That works with Chase, but I don’t think it would work with Amex
I haven’t seen a definitive answer to this, but if I hit the MQD $25k threshold on a DL Amex card this year, and then cancel it, do I still retain the MQD exemption for next year? I am not going to pay $195 so won’t renew my DL Plat unless they have a retention offer.
My best guess is that you would keep the MQD exemption, but I don’t know for sure.
You need to increase readership, a lot, a lot.
Do what MMS did, blog giveaway every week, I mean every week. Think of it as spending money on marketing. The return will be affiliate links which will bring in people signing up for cards, which will bring in commission. I notice, that’s how MMS is doing, miles, gift cards giveaway, every week, and that’s how he increased his links.
More Circles
LESS Arrows
I’m scared of arrows.
Not really. View From the Wing and One Mile at a Time lost their links too, but they have huge readership numbers. And, no, I have no interest in making my site like MMS. I enjoy writing content, not running contests.
If you’ve never had a particular Amex card before, should you apply for it now? Or wait on the theory bonuses may go up once they’re one-time bonuses?
If you’ve never had the card before then there’s no hurry. Sign up for it if/when the time is right for you or when there’s an especially attractive signup offer.
Thank you!
You are about the “only” bloger who i trust — all understand you need to earn money but you DO NOT sell your soul
Please do not change ,we trust you
Thanks. Don’t worry, my soul is not for sale. I don’t think eBay permits those kind of sales anyway.
You’re right about eBay. Somebody already tried, and they took that listing down. 😀
You can always trust a TarHeel. 🙂 Sorry to hear you lost your amex links.
Ha ha. Thanks. I’ve been in Ann Arbor for about 18 years now, though, so I’m becoming more and more a Wolverine. Maybe I’m a Tarverine.