Update:Since this post was written, additional great offers have surfaced. Please click here to see every option.
Yesterday, news spread of an amazing but targeted Amex Platinum offer. The offer is for 100K points after $5K spend plus the ability to earn 10X points at US gas stations and US supermarkets for 6 months (on up to $15K spend). That’s an absolutely awesome offer.
I have several browsers installed on my laptop, and so I tried browsing to this magic page in each browser: www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/card/platinum/. Firefox showed me a 75K offer. Same with Microsoft Edge. Not interested. I can do better than that even without a targeted offer. Chrome, though, showed me the magic 100K + 10X offer! (Later the 100K + 10X offer showed up in Microsoft Edge as well — it seems almost random).
Now that I knew I could find the 100K + 10X offer, I set about finding out who in my family was eligible. With this offer (and with most Amex offers), you can’t get a welcome bonus if you already have the card or have had it in the past. I currently have a Schwab Platinum card and my wife and I have each had Mercedes Platinum cards in the past, but those are considered different products from the generic Platinum card. From that point of view, we were good to go. Unfortunately, both of us have also had the generic Platinum card in the past. Here’s what I found in my records for each person in my immediate family:
- Me: I signed up for the Platinum card on 4/14/2014 and cancelled it on 5/14/2015
- My Wife: Signed up on 1/8/2013, and cancelled on 3/7/2014
- Son: Never had the card
It’s generally believed that Amex “forgets” that you’ve had a card about 7 years after you cancel it. My Platinum card was cancelled just over 5 years ago and my wife’s was cancelled just over 6 years ago. Since these cancellations were less than 7 years old, neither of us were necessarily qualified to get the new card and bonus. That said, I’ve heard reports in the past (including my own experience with a couple of other cards) where people have received welcome bonuses despite having had the same card more recently than 7 years ago. Still, it seemed that my son was the most likely to be eligible.
Now or later?
Usually I like to apply for Amex Platinum cards (there are several flavors) in early December. This way, if I end up cancelling when the second year annual fee comes due, it’s possible to triple-dip the calendar year credits. For example, one could earn $200 in airline fee credits in December 2020, $200 January through December 2021, and $200 in January 2022.
In this case, though, I doubt the offer will be available a few weeks from now. The almost-as-good Resy offer might be available then, but I don’t know for sure. I decided that it was worth giving up the triple dip to ensure getting in on the offer while I could.
Application Results
My son applied for the card, but received his first ever “talk to the hand” from Amex:
We’re sorry. We can’t approve your application at this time.
You’ll receive a letter within the next 10 business days explaining why we were unable to approve your application. We thank you for your interest in American Express.
Next, I decided to give it a shot. Yes, I’ve definitely had the card before, but it’s been a while. Maybe they would approve me? Yep!
Maximizing the deal
There are three buckets of benefits I hope to make the most of: welcome bonus benefits (100K points + 10X earnings), COVID rebates ($20 streaming and $20 wireless credit in November and December), and standard ongoing credits. The Platinum card has many other benefits too (elite status, fine hotels & resorts, airline savings, etc.), but since I also have the Schwab Platinum card, it doesn’t do me any good to get those benefits again. See this post for more about Platinum card benefits: Amex Platinum Complete Guide.
Here are the benefits that matter to me:
Welcome Bonus
- 100K points after $5K spend in your first 6 months.
- 10X points at U.S. Gas Stations and U.S. Supermarkets, on up to $15,000 in combined purchases, during your first 6 months.
COVID Credits
- $20 per month cell service rebate through December 2020
- $20 per month streaming service rebate through December 2020
Standard Credits
- $200 airline fee credit: Amex automatically reimburses up to $200 per calendar year for airline fees for your selected airline only.
- $200 in Uber & Uber Eats Credits: Amex reimburses $15 per month ($35 in December) for Uber & Uber Eats charges.
- $100 in Saks Fifth Avenue Credits: Up to $50 in credits each year from January through June; and another $50 July through December.
- Variis by Equinox: $25 back each month in statement credits (up to 9 uses / $225 back).
With all of the above combined (except the Equinox credits, which I probably won’t use), here’s how much I could earn in the next 12 months:
- 250K Membership Rewards points (100K from the bonus plus 150K from 10X spend). Since I have the Schwab Platinum card and since that card allows for cashing out points at 1.25 cents each, the 250K points are worth at least $3,125 to me.
- $80 in COVID credits.
- $400 in airline fee rebates ($200 in 2020 plus $200 in 2021)
- $250 in Uber & Uber Eats credits ($50 in 2020 plus $200 in 2021)
- $150 in Saks credits
Total: $4,005 if I cash in the points. Or 250K points + $880. Either way, it’s a fantastic haul for a $550 card!
My Spend Calendar
Here’s how I hope to get all of those points and credits. I’m assuming that I’ll spend $2500 per month at U.S. Gas Stations and U.S. Supermarkets for the first 6 months to max out the $15K of 10X earnings. This equates to about $600 per week. That’s more than I usually spend, but I’m hoping that it will be OK to mix in a gift card now and then with my purchases. Amex doesn’t like people to run up spend by buying gift cards, but my hope is that they’ll be OK with the occasional gift card thrown in with regular groceries.
Nov and Dec 2020 Spend:
- Spend $200 on airline fees (award fees)
- Spend $50 at Saks.com (I’ve always been able to find a nice present for a family member in the sale section)
- November 2020
- Spend $2500 at grocery stores & gas stations
- Pay $20 towards phone service (AT&T)
- Pay $20 towards streaming services (Youtube TV)
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats (Already done! I ordered delivery last night)
- December 2020
- Spend $2500 at grocery stores & gas stations
- Pay $20 towards phone service (AT&T)
- Pay $20 towards streaming services (Youtube TV)
- Spend $35 with Uber Eats
2021 Spend:
- Spend $200 on airline fees (award fees)
- Jan – June 2021
- Spend $50 at Saks.com
- January 2021
- Spend $2500 at grocery stores & gas stations
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats
- February 2021
- Spend $2500 at grocery stores & gas stations
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats
- March 2021
- Spend $2500 at grocery stores & gas stations
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats
- April 2021
- Spend $2500 at grocery stores & gas stations
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats
- May 2021
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats
- June 2021
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats
- July – December 2021
- Spend $50 at Saks.com
- Spend $15 with Uber Eats each month, and $35 in December before cancelling the card.
Wrap Up
We’ve seen a lot of amazing offers recently, but this one is super-special. If you do it right, it’s possible to earn 250,000 points with $15K spend in 6 months! If you can’t spend that much, it’s still a great offer. Suppose, for example that you spend $300 per week on gas and groceries. In 26 weeks, that would amount to $7800 spend earning 10X points. Between the 10X offer and the 100K welcome bonus, you would earn a total of 178,000 points with only $7,800 spend! That’s insane.
What if you aren’t targeted for the 100K offer? Well, the 75K offer with $300 restaurant credits is insanely good too!
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I was able to sign up for the card with the 100k offer. Just met the 15k spend with all but a few dollars coding as grocery. I did a test on a vendor we use to make sure it coded properly and then used this card for 2 weeks of purchases. It took about 3 days from the last charge and all my points posted. Sweet Deal!
Amex Gold card normally has a $100 airline fee credit (akin to Platinum’s $200 airline fee credit). I got a free Gold card for my wife as an AU on my new Platinum card. Would she also get a $100 airline fee credit in addition to the $200 that I get on my Platinum? Does it stack that way?
No, the Gold cards that you get free as AUs with Platinum cards do not have any of the real Gold card perks.
Gotcha. Thanks!
Hi Greg, you might want to elaborate in bold that if you do not enroll your card first via the online Amex interface’s “Benefits” section, you will not get the SAKS $50 credit! Almost made that mistake. A bit deceptive on the part of Amex. You have to enroll in this SAKS benefit yourself prior to the actual SAKS purchase
FYI — UberEats did not work on my phone for 30 mins and kept crashing after I made several different types of orders at least 7-8 times. Then I realized that I could also order via the UberEats online website and that worked immediately! Make sure to use your Amex cash bonus balance and not your default saved credit card to pay.
Make sure to Google for Saks coupons before spending your free $50. Just managed to get two coupons to work together (a 15% off and a Free Shipping)
And I missed out in going to the SAKS site through a portal (e.g., TopCashBack) or else would have been a triple combo!
Hi Greg,
I’m curious to hear how your 10x spend is going. Approximately what % of your grocery/gas purchases are gift cards?
So far the only gift cards I’ve bought were with a local grocery chain that was doing a Cyber Monday deal. I bought almost $500 worth of gcs for that deal. So, I’d say I’m far behind on my plan so far. Honestly I don’t mind if I don’t maximize the 10X deal fully.
Thanks Greg! And thanks for answering the question on the live “ask us anything” session yesterday too. I think I might slip in a $50 or $100 amazon GC when I do some regular shopping later today. Doing that on occasion seems safe enough.
[…] My plan for maximizing the incredible Amex Platinum offer […]
As a new AMEX platinum owner, that also has a nice amex offer on purchase of amex gift cards, this brings up 2 questions:
1- regarding points earning: with all of the clawbacks AMEX has been doing on GC purchases, will the purchase of these (via the amex website) earn points? Or will the RAT team take it back?
2- regarding liquidation: when used on line do these work as credit or debit cards (respective fees are significantly different as you are aware)? I see various blog articles with differing information, albeit nothing recent.
I checked your article https://frequentmiler.com/amex-gift-cards-qa/
but I did not see those answers in there
Thanks!!
per chat with amex rep:
1- buying amex gift cards do not count towards SUB or earn points
2- these gift cards code as credit cards when used on line
As far as the annual airline fee credit, can you select an airline for 2020, use the $200 then switch to a different airline in January for the second $200?
Yes
Uh-oh. I got the offer. When you say “Gift Cards” is that referring to any cards, including ones of the grocery store/gas station I’m purchasing from? Or just those that have MasterCard/Visa numbers?
All gift cards, not just Visa/MC
Greg, you inspired me to give it a shot. I cxl’ed my Platinum Vanilla in Sept 2015. Did not get any popup. We shall see..
“With this offer (and with most Amex offers), you can’t get the card if you already have the card or have had it in the past.”
What gives you this impression? Per Amex, you’re not eligible for the bonus if you’ve had the card in the past, but there’s nothing stopping you from being approved for the card.
You’re right, it’s the bonus that’s the issue. I’ll update.
Fingers crossed that you get the bonus! We’re all rooting for you.
I got the 100K, but my wife couldn’t. My wife is traveling on AA to Punta Cana with a friend next month with a 2ish hour layover in CLT. Is there anything I can do with my credits/benefits to get them lounge access in CLT? I know the Centurion would check the name on the card and she’d likely be denied, but can she purchase access elsewhere like the Admirals lounge and I receive credit back? Sorry, new to the platinum.
If your interest in getting your wife a card is lounge access (rather than earning the second bonus), get an authorized user card for her. Three users for $175 including lounge access is a better deal than paying a full annual fee.
Hi greg
Will the authorized users on the gold card also get 10X on gas and groceries?
Will the gold and platinum points add up to reach the 250,000 goal?
Thanks
Yes
[…] 6 months, you’ll want to make sure to use your Platinum card for those purchases (see also my plan for maximizing the incredible Amex Platinum offer). But, the card offers many, many more perks beyond the welcome bonus. Here’s what to do to […]
Question Greg,
got the offer right away and signed up. On my blue cash preferred I get 6% regularly spending about $1k on non visa gc no problem. I buy them for the fuel points mostly. Any reason I should expect that to be a problem with this card?
I don’t know. They might enforce rules more diligently with the 10X offer than they do with the blue cash preferred standard earnings.
Instead of cancelling after the first year, what would be the best product change? A card with some combination of no fee and a future sign up bonus you would want to forfeit. Thanks
You can only product change to other charge cards, all of which have annual fees. Green and Gold cards are two examples. Both would be a shame to lose out on signup bonus opportunities. I think it’s better to sign up for one of those cards (or any other Membership Rewards card) and cancel the Platinum after the 2nd year annual fee comes due.
As always, thank you
If we follow through with this line of logic and cancel the Platinum after the 2nd annual fee hits and apply and get a Gold card…can the MR’s earned under the Platinum be “pooled” with those you would then earn from the Gold? Does the MR program act/work like the Chase UR program where you an combine all the points together under one umbrella account?
Yes, Amex pools all of your MRs together automatically. Unlike w/ Chase, you don’t have to worry about moving them from one card account to another.
It’s also possible that some online stores register as grocery. I order from Bodybuilding.com and Vitacost on chase cards and they come through as grocery.
If you’re overspending just to max out the offer I don’t get that. I really do not get why people feel there is a requirement to having to absolutely maximize every offer. Why not just spend as you normally would, and reap whatever rewards that gives you? If you overspend even a little you’re negating your benefit quickly. You don’t have to hit the cap on a offer just to get benefit from it.
I just think for a small family $2,500 a month on groceries seems really high, and there’s no way you need to spend that much on them.
To each their own, I just don’t really understand why people feel they have to run an offer to the limit in order to derive benefit.
I haven’t seen a single person suggest that they’ll engage in unnecessary spending to get more points. But there are a lot of considerations about how much real spend we can push through supermarkets in six months. In my case it has to do with moving spend from CostCo into the supermarket category without incurring unwanted costs. How much non-perishable stuff can be bought ahead? Are there non-traditional items (cleaning supplies, alcohol) that reasonably be purchased a grocery stores. Is there someone who would be willing to put their grocery spend on my card and pay me cash.
Because I don’t spend more than $400 per month at the grocery store and get 5% already. The large majority of the value of the deal for me would come from maximizing the 15k. If it’s possible to net $2500+, instead of $800 from Amex, I’m going to take it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like it is possible.
Does anyone know if Amex receives L3 data from grocery stores? I.E. can they specifically see what you’re buying or are they just assuming that anyone with a bunch of $505.95 purchase must be buying GC’s. I’m wondering if we could just buy GC’s for somewhat random amounts like $274.94 since that’s a perfectly normal amount for someone to spend at a grocery store.
Greg, is there any way to make a manual payment towards Youtube TV? I’ve poked around in the settings and I can’t find any way to do so…it seems like they only allow for auto-billing once a month to your registered CC.
Thanks for the tip about using different browsers. i was able to get the 100k offer and approved.
Does anyone know if gas purchases count for in store and not just at the pump? Can see spreading some GC purchases at gas stations.
Amazing, I went in on Firefox incognito this morning & only got 75k, then I went in on Chrome & got the 100k (it had 75k crossed out & 100k next to it) so I applied for my wife. Yesterday I tried with four different browsers and was only getting 75k. Thanks Greg for the tips!
[…] My plan for maximizing the incredible Amex Platinum offer […]
Gas Costco 2.11 – elsewhere 2.35 – loss 24c – Also Costco card 4% off = minus 8c 2.03 /gallon = 32c loss
With Amex 24 membership rewards = 1.25c cash out = 30c => Really a wash
Groceries is where it is at for a large family
Again Costco complicates the picture (along with Walmart and Target)
If I was only doing grocery stores, I can hit 400 a week
Now it is a combo and I lose the 200$ a week Costco – I know I can just go in to Costco and get the milk alone and then schlep elsewhere for the rest, but it is asking too much in the times of Covid
However, often prices higher at some stores and instead of getting best price, trying for this by increasing spend at groceries is not really a win so also a wash overall
The real benefit is the 10x for gift cards at grocery stores
Max spend 100$ for a gift card = 100 a week = 25 weeks = 2500$ x10 rewards = 25000 rewards x 1.25c at Schwab = 312.50$ for 26 extra visits to a grocery store
Once you factor in the 5X you lose by not using the Chase cards, the real benefit is half that = $155 So at most a 5$ benefit per week for exposure in a pandemic
Final analysis
I think there is an incremental benefit for those using same stores, but after discounting extra opportunity cost using other stores, and time and misc stuff, not much use (although it is a good selling point for Amex)
Having just got a new Amex Plat card for the #2, I can’t get any more.
Perhaps I can upgrade the green card and see if the offer comes with upgrade?
Easier to put 10$ in savings acct each time one goes to a grocery store
Excellent analysis.
I cancelled 5-9-2016. Should I go for it? One year after you cancelled.
I am so tempted by this but gahhhhh cannot figure out how to get value out of those airline credits with zero plans to travel till late summer 2021
Can you add authorised users to help spread the spend around to try to make the 10x
In the past I have had the Ameriprise Financial version of thecard does that count as the same product as the generic card?
You can get the signup bonus for each flavor of the Platinum card. Each card is a different product.
Do you think it’s safer to stay away from gift cards until you hit $5000 and get up your SUB before trying any gift cards?
Yes, that makes a lot of sense!
What if you product changed 6-7 years ago and still have the card you changed to? Do you think the “rules” allowing one to get the bonus again would still apply?
Be the data point you want to see.
I don’t know but if I were you I’d give it a try
Seems a bit risky to me that you’ll apply to this card even though you had the card previously. Personally I would be scared of Amex clawbacks
Correct me if I’m wrong. If you apply just in a few days, a bit closer to the end of Nov, your billing cycle will generate most likely mid Dec. The next year you will have 30 days after the billing cycle prints to cancel card, that will be mid Jan 2022. Wouldn’t that be good enough for a triple dip for both airline fee and Saks on Fifth credits?
Yes, I think you’re right about that. We don’t know if this offer will last a few days though
Can you confirm when you last had a Vanilla Platinum card? My concern is that I apply, don’t get a pop up, and then don’t get the bonus since I had a Vanilla Platinum 4 or so years ago. I’d rather not spend $550 to get a bunch of statement credits, TBH.
I put the exact dates in the post
If I get the not eligible for bonus pop-up, is it worth trying again every day or better to wait a while and try? Wonder if Amex keeps records of the fact that you tried for the card and therefore each subsequent time you try it’s less likely you’ll get the card.
People have suggested that putting spend on your Amex cards is a way to get the popup to disappear. I doubt they penalize you for trying multiple times
While I think the grocery is doable, the airline credit and Saks are what gets me.
I know GCs aren’t allowed with Amex for airline. Is everyone still doing the award fee route?
How will you spend $2500 on groceries every month? Doesn’t seem realistic.
How did you already spend on Uber eats? Do they have the option of getting a virtual card number before getting the actual card?
Did you see the screen-shot of the approval message in the post? It offers you the card number right there.
I got approved but I didn’t see the number. Is there anyway to get it now?
There should be an email from Amex including a link for you to get your card number. Besides, you probably get your card within a day or two.
Don’t know from personal experience, but I would be pretty surprised if you couldn’t do it on-line somehow or with a phone call.
As LarryInNYC said, I got the card number online right after approval. The way it works is that you add the Platinum card to your Uber wallet and then $15 credit (or $35 in December) magically appears in your Uber account. Unfortunately, that credit goes away at the end of the month if you don’t use it. Then you get a new credit each month
If we’ve had the card before but never received a sign-up bonus (i.e., we had the card before getting into the “game”), would we still be eligible? (Card opened and closed within the last 7 years.)
It doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve earned a signup bonus. The rule is that you can’t have had the card before.
Try at the top of the hour ( 10,11,12 like that ) , you can get 100k even in chrome regular mode.
THIS! I read it on FB, tried at 4:00 pm exactly and BAM! There it was.
Going to look into this today, but maximizing the 10x categories is going to be difficult. Or, rather, costly. We buy a great deal of our groceries at CostCo and moving that spend back to a grocery store (or doing it via Instacart at CostCo) is almost certainly going to result in paying more for the groceries. Organic grocery spend since kids left home is probably only around $500 a month anyway. And gas purchases are way down as well.
My husband got approved yesterday! When they asked if we wanted additional cards, I chose a gold card for me because I didn’t want to pay for the platinum for AU. Is there anything that I can or cannot do with the gold AU card? Also, we have a large tax bill that is do, over $2700. The town charges 1.5% just to use a credit card. Do you think it’s worth it?
The A/U platinum card comes with lounge access privileges while the gold version does not.
If you need that spend to meet the minimum spend requirement, then yes 1.5% is well worth it.
Tremendous offer and great article breaking it down. Congrats.
Woo Hoo. I was able to get 100K/10X deal via a browser (MS Edge) above and was also able to sign up my son for the offer (wife and I have/had AMEX Platinum).
No family spends $2500 a month on groceries and gas. The fact you plan it alone tells me you will do something to scam Amex. Hopefully they catch on and shut down your account with you losing all your points.
I hate people that game the system! You clowns ruin legitimate offers for the rest of us
I’m guessing you don’t have a family. I know several of people that spend more then $700 a week on groceries, some because of kids and some because they can. $700 at whole foods is like half a cart of stuff
Are you eating caviar every night? $2500 a month is unimaginable. We’re a family of 3 and probably spend about $300 a month on groceries. Unless you’ve got a massive family I don’t see how it’s possible. In addition, half of our groceries are from Costco which will not count.
I’m not spending that much, but I do know people that would blow up through this organically. My sister-in-law has 7 kids and between them and the constant friends over for dinner they spend a mint on groceries, and a friend who makes near 7 figures and while not eating caviar will cook up a rack of lamb for dinner and drain a $$$ bottle of wine or 2 on a tues night.
Upper middle class families with kids buying organic and fancy crap from WF or other ritzy grocery stores plus wine, alcohol, cleaning supplies, etc. $2500/month is high end of that but many people in the above situation will go well over $1,000 EASILY.
Please share your WF hacks – I can’t believe how your able to get half a cart – it takes a ton of work to get a 1/4 cart where I live. –
But $700 is like two visits to Costco (excluding big ticket items). $350 is the new I left Costco and spent under $______.
Bwahaha.
That is very much not true. I am a little family of 3 and we spend close to $2k/month on groceries and gas. We never eat out though. Imagine a much larger family.
I’m guessing you’ve never shopped at Whole Foods
We order whole foods online, believe through Amazon, would that count?
I don’t think ordering food online from whole foods would work. On the Brilliant card the category appears as Merchandise with the merchant name, Amazon Prime Now.
However you can buy Amazon GC at a grocery store in person and load them to your Amazon account. Use that to pay for your whole foods deliveries. That works assuming Amex doesn’t claw back, which they probably wouldn’t if you spread out the GC purchases.
some stores that code as grocery have electronics…. so spending 2500/mo is not impossible.
I agree. $2,500 a month on just groceries is crazy high honestly unless you have no budget to speak of.
If you can’t imagine spending much on grocery you’ve never tried buying fresh food in NYC. Amex is a New York company. Their best customers are rich New Yorkers. That’s whose habits they use to set the bonus category spending limits
“Nick had to resort to installing Opera before he finally saw the offer” (Greg’s comment). Opera is Chinese owned – it’s not worth taking the chance of the Chinese spying on me/hacking me to get 100k MR signup points.
Yes, good idea. Because the Chinese government is very actively spying on American’s search habits and credit card usage.Destroying credit ratings is how they will Destroy America
Great post Greg. How strict is Amex about buying gift cards at grocery stores? And do the terms allow Walmart for groceries? I live in a small town where Walmart is the best/only option for groceries
They’ve been very strict in recent times. Many people who bought lots of gift cards at grocery stores when Hilton cards offered 12X had their points clawed back or never got the points in the first place.
I don’t know the answer about Walmart
Terms say no on WM. I don’t think I’ve heard of WM counting as grocery for any CC grocery bonus.
Earn 9 additional points per dollar on the first $15,000 of combined eligible purchases at supermarkets located in the U.S. (superstores and warehouse clubs are not considered supermarkets)
“I don’t think I’ve heard of WM counting as grocery for any CC grocery bonus.”
I have Walmart Supercenters and Walmart Neighborhood Markets where I live. They ALL count as grocery with Chase’s grocery bonus categories on the CSR.
Walmart does NOT count as grocery.
Walmart Neighborhood Markets do with Chase and AmEx.
Using the Walmart grocery app has gotten me 4x on my good card.
only WMNM will count as grocery
Chrome, Safari & Firefox – only 75K – tried all three in private mode, not in private mode, & with VPN on & VPN off. I guess I’m SOL!
Nick had to resort to installing Opera before he finally saw the offer
All browsers in my computer showed the 75K. First attempt on my phone and got the 100k to appear. Hope it works for you too.
Don’t give up! I tried on three different browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox) yesterday and only got the 75k offer. Tried again today and got the 100k on Chrome in incognito mode.
Does being approved for the card guarantee you’ll get the bonus? Because doesn’t the language state that you can’t get the *bonus* if you’ve had the card before?
curious about this too
No guarantee but it has worked for me before
Probably not even worth trying if I canceled my Platinum in January 2019 right?
Agreed
cancelled Gold in 2013, it does not show on any of my credit reports, AMEX chat rep confirmed I never had it, still got the popup
How recent with other cards?
If you are unsure can you just chat with an AMEX rep to confirm you are eligible for the offer? My wife was approved for the 100,000 plus 10X and didn’t receive the pop up, but then I remembered she had the Platinum card already which was canceled about 5 years ago.
Normally the AMEX application process will show you a message if you’re not eligible for the bonus but eligible for the card and you can decide at that point if you want to continue with the application. If you don’t see the pop-up message it’s an indication that you are going to get the bonus.
But this is 2020 –
But I do have hope – because DPs of people still getting the pop-up (
While some may think it’s an irrelevant post when people applied but got pop-up and share thier disappointment. i like the DPs.
It still seems like a lot to spend on gift cards. How much would you say you naturally spend on groceries a month? $1k max? At what point do you get worried about getting clawed back?
I’m thinking of simply adding $250 or $300 to my regular weekly shopping. Hoping that will be small enough.
Is there evidence of that working? Or is this purely YMMV and you’re just willing to assume the risk?
And if they did clawback, would you expect them to clawback everything (the bonus too??), or just the grocery spend? The answer to this would basically determine if I would try to sneak in some gift card spend or not.
I’m just willing to risk it. I don’t have any evidence one way or another about that
I spend $2500 a month at grocery and have for years and have no issues. It’s all how you do it. Greg is right, small increments.
Congrats on getting approved! Do you think your son will eventually get approved as well?
Thanks. He probably won’t try again.