A few days ago, my son signed up for his third Business Platinum card in three years. If all goes well, he’ll earn his third welcome bonus too. His first Business Platinum bonus was for 75K points. His second was also for 75K points. His third is for 150K points. That’s huge!
How can this be? Amex has its infamous “lifetime rule” where you usually can’t get a welcome bonus for a card that you’ve had before. Most welcome bonus offers include language like this: “Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card.” And then if you go to apply anyway, you’ll usually see a pop-up that tells you that you do not qualify for the card. The general belief is that Amex “forgets” you’ve had a card about 7 years after you’ve cancelled it… or sometimes a bit less (see: Bending Amex’s Lifetime Rule). But on both my son’s second and third Business Platinum applications, he not only had a Business Platinum card before, he still had one open. The key is that Amex often targets business cardholders with offers to expand their membership with a second card.
Expand Your Membership Variations
Offers to expand your membership aren’t limited to those who currently have Business Platinum cards. As long as you have another Amex business card, you may be able to qualify for either of the following offers even if you’ve had these cards before. Below we have included public links so that you can see if you qualify (these are not affiliate links):
Business Platinum 150K after $15K Spend (new link!)
This is a great offer!
If you’re not eligible for the offer, you’ll probably see a message like this once you log in: “This offer is no longer available. If you’d still like to apply for a Business Card from American Express click here.”
Business Gold 90K after $10K Spend
This offer is competitive with the best we’ve seen for this card.
Keep the card for a full year
Amex has been known to claw back welcome bonuses from those who cancel their card before the next year annual fee comes due. I recommend always waiting to cancel until the next year annual fee appears on your statement. Then, call to cancel, but be receptive to retention offers that make the card worth keeping an extra year.
Consider waiting until December
The offers to expand your Business Platinum membership say that the offer ends 12/31/2021. Some may want to wait until early December to pull the trigger.
The Business Platinum card comes with $200 in airline fee rebates per calendar year. Those who sign up in December can theoretically collect $600 without paying a second year annual fee. For example, you can earn $200 in December when you open the card, $200 the following calendar year, and then $200 in January of the year after that before cancelling.
The downside of waiting is that there’s no guarantee that Amex will keep the offer around that long. In my son’s case, we had some Dell purchases we wanted to make and so it made sense to sign up now: the Business Platinum card offers $100 in Dell rebates each January through June and July through December. Plus, we didn’t want to risk the 150K offer going away.
Bottom Line
We’ve written in the past about other types of Amex welcome offers can bypass the lifetime rules. These include some (but not all) targeted offers such as those you receive in the mail or by email; as well as upgrade offers. Now you can add “expand your membership” style offers to the list. In each case, if you’ve had the card before, it’s important to look carefully at the offer’s “Offer Terms”. Make sure you do not see language like this: “Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card.” When that language is present, it is usually conspicuously shown at the top of the Offer Terms section of the application.
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[…] Hat tip to Frequentmiler […]
[…] Update 6/9/21: There’s now a public link to this offer (and here’s another link). Won’t work for everyone, YMMV. There’s a stated expiration of this offer of 12/31/21; of course it could get pulled earlier. (There’s also a no-lifetime-language offer on the Business Gold card.) Hat tip to Frequentmiler […]
Not as great as the platinum offers, but I’m seeing this in my BB+ and business platinum login for BB+ application.
NLL: 50kMR for $15k spend within within 12mo. 0% interest on purchases for 12mo. +10k MR with employee card and $1k spend.
Appears to be public offer
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/campaigns/small-business/bundles/blue-business-plus-employee-card/
[…] Replace 6/9/21: There’s now a public hyperlink to this supply (and right here’s one other hyperlink). Gained’t work for everybody, YMMV. There’s a said expiration of this supply of 12/31/21; after all it may get pulled earlier. (There’s additionally a no-lifetime-language supply on the Enterprise Gold card.) Hat tip to Frequentmiler […]
[…] Replace 6/9/21: There’s now a public hyperlink to this provide (and right here’s one other hyperlink). Gained’t work for everybody, YMMV. There’s a acknowledged expiration of this provide of 12/31/21; after all it may get pulled earlier. (There’s additionally a no-lifetime-language provide on the Enterprise Gold card.) Hat tip to Frequentmiler […]
Tried all logins for Platinum. All said offer was not valid. Is there a different landing page/link that works or how does AMEX determine availability for 2 and 3 biz platinums?
Not that I’m aware of. Some people are targeted, others not. I don’t know why.
how are these links any less risky then using NLL links found elsewhere?
These links are explicitly asking you to add another Business Platinum card (for example) and so the intent from Amex is to get around NLL rules
Wow, just got 2 more biz plats….this is insane.
[…] Hat tip to Frequentmiler […]
Just pulled the trigger on the 150k platinum offer considering the AF is supposed to go up tomorrow. I was hoping to wait until December, but given the news, now seemed like the time. Now I just have to make the spend. I may have a very large expected tax bill next year…
My 150 K pop-up disappeared after about three weeks. Called into Amex and this offer was not available over the phone . I remembered seeing this article, Googled it and used the public link above and sure enough I was still eligible. Identical company prefilled on form and approved today!
Awesome
Seems like the 150k offer is dead 🙁 when I hit “apply” it says no longer available.
It’s not dead for those who are targeted. The link still works for me. It’s just that instead of Amex telling you that you’re not targeted for the offer, it says that it is no longer available.
[…] turns out that you can bypass the Amex lifetime rule when you “expanding your membership”. Huge hat tip to Frequent Miler for posting about […]
Got the offer, signed up, got the card even tho I already had an active Business Plat card. My on-line account shows the SUB at 150K when I hit the spend. I was on the phone with Amex about another issue and asked to reconfirm the SUB. The rep reviewed the offer, found no NNL language, and confirmed my eligibility for the SUB.
my wife got the amex platinum 150k offer and we’ve almost done all the spend already on tax payments. I received the business gold for 90k, but it went away after a week and said no longer available. I then got a business gold offer for 80k which I’ve been approved on and called Amex to complain and see if I can get the additional 10k.
I’d suggest don’t wait until the expiration date. These offers may not last.
Thanks for the heads up. I was debating waiting but not worth risking 150k points (worth conservatively $2000+) for the possibility of a triple dip.
Did Amex give you the 10K? I have the same situation.
yes, they credit me the extra 10000 points with no difficulty.
[…] 【2021.6 更新】现在有一个90k的targeted offer链接，大家感兴趣的话可以点开登录进去试试，如果看到的是这句话，说明你没有被target到：”This offer is no longer available. If you’d still like to apply for a Business Card from American Express click here.”。这个链接如果中奖了还是不限制一辈子一次开卡奖励的（请自行看清楚条款）！HT: FM. […]
[…] 【2021.6 更新】现在有一个150k的targeted offer链接，大家感兴趣的话可以点开登录进去试试，如果看到的是这句话，说明你没有被target到：”This offer is no longer available. If you’d still like to apply for a Business Card from American Express click here.”。这个链接如果中奖了还是不限制一辈子一次开卡奖励的（请自行看清楚条款）！HT: FM. […]
Has anyone seen if these are making a hard inquiry on your credit report? I know that sometimes when amex sends prescreened offers they don’t, so just wondering.
No: you shouldn’t get a hard inquiry
I got both offers. If I sign up for one, will the other go away?
As a note, my business Amex is the Bonvoy card so it isn’t just limited to people that have membership rewards cards. I do have a personal Plat and an Everyday card though FWIW.
The second one might go away, but you could capture and save the URL and that should still work.
Good to know that this isn’t limited to those with MR cards!
Thanks Greg, just signed up. Now how to do 15k in non MS in 3 months….
I have the same problem
I got an email this evening saying 160K, 150K for the SUB and 10K for adding an AU. They called it “Business Bundle”. It would be my first Biz Plat, so I did not look for lifetime language. The offer says “apply by 9/15/21” which is good because I will probably go for the CSP 100K offer first (maybe 2 of them in 2 player mode) while still wrapping up a couple other SUBs.
Incidentally, Amex is being stupid about giving me my SUB for the personal Plat from last Nov. I signed up for the 75K + $300 restaurant credits, spent >$8K including >$5K in groceries on my card alone, and they initially claimed I was ~$70 short and thus no SUB. Supposedly they are “investigating”, but I wonder if I need to call someone else. No MSing to get that spend, so I am not sure what they would complain about.
I have found in the past that they do follow up when “investigating” so I’d give it a few weeks before calling again.
I am seeing this 150k business platinum offer. I already have an active amex biz plat card though which I opened as a sole proprietor (SSN).
Is it correct to believe that I can apply for a second business platinum amex card using this offer while my current card is still open? If so could I apply for the new card as a sole proprietor again (SSN) or would it be more prudent to use a different business (EIN)? I can do either.
Thanks for always breaking the next level deals!
I was approved using the same business, pre filling all my information.
Congrats on the approval. Do you see the spending tracker? Have you confirmed that you’re eligible for the bonus via chat?
(chat is the best way I’ve found to get bonus eligibility confirmation)
Yes. I did this myself (with a Biz Plat still open). The app said that they needed to speak to me so I waited for a call (I could have called them, but I was too lazy). During the call they simply asked if I could confirm that I applied. I then asked for confirmation of the offer and they said yes: 150K after $15K spend. I was then approved.
I got the offer on signing in to my spouse Amex account – signed up
I also got an offer in my email that has an expiry date of Sep 30
– I plan to hold off till then
If they offer 150k in an email with Sep 30 end date language, I do not see the harm of waiting till Sep 15 – do you?
I guess it’s possible that even from the email link they could stop the promotion, but that’s very unlikely. e.g. I agree, that there’s very little risk.
Hmmm… it forces me to login to my account, and once I do it says:
“This offer is no longer available. If you’d still like to apply for a Business Card from American Express click here.”
I don’t see any way to apply without logging in first.
same here
That seems to be the result when you’re not eligible. Stephen Pepper told me that’s what happened when he tried for himself, but the link worked for his wife.
Thanks for the info. I called and was told that it was likely not working because I had five total Amex Cards, which is the limit (according to the rep). So, I cancelled one, waited for the e-mail (15 minutes later) confirming cancellation, and tried again. Still a no-go with the same error.
Not sure what the problem is at this point. I now have an AmEx Plat Morgan Stanley card plus three AmEx credit cards. I previously had an AmEx Plat Bus card, cancelled 9/2019.
Yep, no bueno for me either
Same for me, sigh… Maybe because I had a plat business card that I canceled 2 years ago.
P2 had both the Biz Plat and Biz Gold offers showing up on his account, but the Plat was just 100k, so used the link provided here and he got the 150k Plat approved. Did that one yesterday, and the card was dropped off by UPS literally 24 hours later. How do they do that?
Today the 90k Biz Gold offer was still showing up on his account, so applied and approved for that one too.
He already had a Biz Plat that was a Biz Gold upgrade from last year.
These are his 6th and 7th Amex cards, and 2nd and 3rd Amex biz cards.
[…] Hat tip to Frequentmiler […]
[…] Update 6/9/21: There’s now a public link to this offer. It’s possible this link won’t work for everyone. (There’s also a no-lifetime-language offer on the Business Gold card.) Hat tip to Frequentmiler […]
I received the offer and the language stating if you had a card you weren’t eligible. I wondered why they would send it to me then. Upon application, no pop-up and the $15K spend tracker appears online.
Thanks! Link worked for me. Instant approval. Woohoo!!!
Are people with sole proprietorship being targeted or you have to have LLC or some other type of business?
My wife and son did this with sole proprietorships
Isn’t there a risk of clawback if they determine you did get the bonus before?
Yes
Yes there’s some risk. I think that if you do a bunch of these at once, the risk is higher.
[…] Bypass Amex’s lifetime rule when you “expand your membership” by FM. […]
In the past five days, I have added a second Gold Biz (90k for $10k) and Plat Biz (150k for $15k). Now, I am being offered 80k for $10k to add a THIRD simulataneous Gold Biz card. Is this some bizarre experiment by AMEX? I am really scratching my head on this one…
I know, it’s crazy!
Yeah, I’m not buying this was intended given the Terms and Conditions in the email say you aren’t entitled to the bonus if you have the card or have had it.
“Push the limits at your own risk” is my advice here.
Of course, I don’t make $10 billion per year writing a blog. FM does.
Ive done this before and not gotten the bonus, but that was when you could buy $3000 amex gift cards and get a 3% rebate from a cash back site . So, it didn’t cost me anything. I’ll likely try this again.
As an aside, as rich as FM is , I’m surprised he even deigns to respond to our comments. I think he sits around the office and spins a wheel, deciding which ones to answer, then sticks his pinky in the corner of his mouth and serves up an evil laugh. At least he can’t press a button and have us disappear into a tank of sharks…..or can he?
@ Greg — I spent $15k on tax payments yesterday on my shiny new AMEX Plat Biz card, and received the 150k bonus today. Now I receiving a pop-up for another 150k bonus if I spend $15k on a THIRD simultaneous Plat Biz card. I could do another $15k of tax payments if I am approved again. Do you think taking AMEX’s offer is high risk?
I’ve been wondering the same. All 3 in my family now have received our 150K bonuses and all 3 of us have received the same offer again. I’m very tempted to do all 3 again, but there has to be a point where Amex would identify us as “gamers” if we do this, right? It does seem risky to me. A safer approach may be to go for the 90K Biz Gold offer
I have a Bus Plat card but just got an offer for a 2d one, with 100K SUB and pretty sure NNL, w/ expiration date of 9/30. The benefits seem identical to my existing card. When I add up the 15K spend (plus 50% bonus) by paying Fed est tax, I figure I’m buying 122K pts for $900 (annual fee plus convenience fee for paying tax) which works out to about 3/4 cents per point, which is not bad. Does this analysis make sense?
What possible benefit is there for Amex to offer me a 2d Bus Plat?
Yep, that makes sense.
I don’t know why Amex is doing this. Maybe they think that people will keep paying the annual fees without reaping the card benefits.
Took the offer, got 150K SUB when I paid my taxes. SUB showed up in my account about 2 hrs after my tax payment. Still can’t figure out why Amex doing this.
I received an email offer for 150k biz plat, and the email included the lifetime language, however, the offer terms on the actual application website do not include lifetime language. Which do you think amex would go by? The email or the application form for the email?
They should go with the language on the website.
I upgraded my Amex Bus Gold in January to the Platinum version for 85K, 10K spend. I was happy to do that as really the Bus Gold offers nothing in making point multiple (2X or greater by my definition). So about a couple of months go by and Amex offers the Bus Gold for 90K, 10K spend. I thought hey I just had this card. However, no previously had the card language either. I let it expire. Now I get the offer again expiration June 30. May problem is still the same. After the SUB how can this card “pay” for itself with point earnings that does not take away from another Amex card that earns as much or more? I look beyond the SUB. If a card can’t earn a better return than a card I have, the SUB better be very good. Also I typically keep a card for 2 years. I don’t want to be scrutinized that churning can provide. I just try and keep it clean. So 10K spend takes away some 26K points earnings on cards I have. And the $295 fee = 29,500 points too or 59K for 2 years. Before you say, hey membership points offer greater than 1 cent. Maybe but you can’t count on that as airlines move closer to a penny per mile either. So the card made 5K in points. Hardily worth it in my thinking. Yeah, I know others thinking this is nuts and maybe so, but when you are a retired business owner that spend is pretty well fixed/known, how would you look at it? A dollar spent is hopefully 1.5-2 points earned somewhere. This card won’t do that over what I already have.
I don’t think that’s crazy at all. Personally, I make decisions based on keeping the card just one year but if you do 2 years then that will certainly sway your decisions about which offers are worth pursuing.
I’m sure you know this, but just in case, the Biz Gold does have 4X categories. Probably 4x gas is the most interesting to those with other high earning cards. Here are the details:
Earn 4X on the two categories where your business spends the most each billing cycle from the following categories: US purchases at restaurants ⚬ Airfare purchased directly from airlines ⚬ U.S. purchases for advertising in select media ⚬ U.S. purchases at gas stations ⚬ U.S. purchases for shipping ⚬ U.S. computer hardware, software, and cloud computing purchases made directly from select providers. 4X applies to first $150,000 in combined purchases in your two categories each calendar year,
[…] Bypassing Amex Rules: Every bank has rules on how they restrict earning sign up bonuses. Amex has a strict “once in a lifetime” rule. However there are legit ways around this to earn sign up bonuses on the same card multiple times. […]
I’m seeing a 130K referral offer, but in going through the benefits there is no $200 airline fee reimbursement listed (i’ve checked and re-checked) — any chance they’ve dropped this beneift??
No, the benefit is definitely still there.
wow, ‘my son signed up for his third Business Platinum card in three years’… what type of biz does ur son have or what has he done in particular to receive ta fe offers like that? lol, i closed a biz plat almost 3 yrs ago & haven’t seen any NLL offer til today, any advice? Thx
He just has a low earning sole proprietorship. His business name is his own name. He does have an EIN
Sorry – silly question but I have been targeted for a 150k signup bonus for another Amex plat Biz card. When I apply do I use the same details/company info or do I have to change some other details?
Yes, use the same business details
150K offers lasted about a week in my (and also wife’s) amex offers for biz green card, then they were replaced with 80K biz gold offer. Hope it comes back.
Are you saying if I am targeted I can still get another Amex platinum while currently hold one ?
Possibly, although they usually seem to target business card holders, not personal. If there’s no lifetime language in the offer, then you could get the bonus again.
If you mean Business Platinum, then yes. I’ve only seen this on business cards.
My scenario went like this: 1) received business platinum offer on green biz card under amex offers, i took the offer. 2) then immediately a gold business offer showed up under amex offers on the same green biz account. 3) i received an email for gold business card.
I suppose I’ll take #2 and then take #3 in that order. But since its been 5+ years since I’ve had the gold biz card I may try to apply for that with regular link first and see if I’m able to get bonus, then do #2 then #3.
Wife got exact same thing on her green biz card. Could net close to 1mm points.
Thoughts?
Sounds great to me. I assume you checked your email offer for lifetime language?
The linchpin appears to be the green biz card. I also received the +100,000 business platinum offer in December from it. I think I asked you about pre-paying taxes 8)…
I was targeted for the 150k offer and stupidly ignored the multiple pop-ups I received with the offer. Since it was in my login that didn’t include my current Business Platinum, I just assumed I was ineligible and it was showing the offer incorrectly. Looks like the 100k offer is still available, thinking maybe I’ll hold off to see if 150k comes back at any point. Maybe I’ll see if anything comes along before December and if not, sign up at that point.