Update: As of 2:13PM Eastern on 10/20, some people are now seeing the “once per lifetime” language reappear. I still see the “12 month language” in the browser I used earlier to find the offer, but in incognito mode I see the new language. Amex appears to be updating the offer to revert back to their “once per lifetime rule”.
Today the Starwood Preferred Guest business credit card has reverted from its limited time 2 free night offer back to the normal 25,000 points offer. In doing that, someone noticed that the bonus language seems to have changed as well. Before the change, the terms stated:
Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.
As of now, the terms seem to have gone back to the old rules.
Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product within the last 12 months.
Mistake?
It is quite possible that this was a mistake and American Express meant to have the “once per lifetime” language, but simply used an old template. At this point it is impossible to tell if this will be a long term change or a short term mistake.
Use Caution
If you currently do not have this card and have not had it within the past 12 months, then you may be eligible for the bonus based on that language. With that said:
- It is possible this is a mistake and that American Express will try not to honor the bonus if you have had this card before.
- Be sure to take a lot of screenshots showing the terms so you can present them to American Express if you have an issue with the bonus being honored.
- Use caution when buying cash equivalents since those do not count towards minimum spend per the terms.
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This window was even shorter than the previous one..
I guess amex is reading all the blocks/tweets..
Language has been updated. Expired.
I am still seeing it. Wonder if it is cached somehow.
use a different/incognito browser. what… is this your first day on the internet?!?
I was going through a process to see what was going on before updating the post. As you can see from the message at the top of this post, I verified that it died. For the record, American Express has been known to show different versions of different offers to people whether in incognito or not. It depends on cookies, IP address, etc. This was the first major report of the old language returning so I was trying to figure out if it had changed for everyone or was being served to some based on those other factors. Thanks Abby.
Thanks to you I wasted a HP and got approved for this! You need to check your facts before you actually post. It’s not always about who get’s the news out first but for loyal readers, it’s more about accurate information.
After the infamous 100K Platinum fiasco, I would proceed with extra caution when applying for AE card, no matter what the blogs say.
On one of their disclosure links from the landing page it has the lifetime language.
Landing Page:
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/credit-cards/starwood-business-credit-card
Terms from above landing page:
https://www262.americanexpress.com/business-card-application/starwood-preferred-guest-business-credit-card/tandc/44279-AJTnC-0/?pznOfferCode=&rsvpFlag=&rc=&zc=&ch=&key=tncBody#CardBenefitsTerms
I see the 12 month language when clicking your links. Wonder if it is cached somehow since I visited before they reverted back?
I won’t mess with AE for a while.
I wish bloggers would vet things a bit more or maybe they don’t on purpose, as it is advantageous to them from a a click bait perspective.
Folks, don’t click on this link – the Boardingarea bloggers seem to be spreading this like wildfire right now. If you noticed carefully, although the landing page does says in the last 12 months, once you actually enter the application process and look at the details further, you’ll see it is still the lifetime restriction.
Bottom line? Classify this as click bait, as this has NOT been vetted properly.
This is 100% vetted. The 12 month language was on the terms page reached from both the landing and app pages and on the app itself.
AMEX also has a nice bonus for Delta Platinum cards. If I get GC from grocery stores to count for minimum spend. Can Amex claw back the bonus miles once they are in my skymiles account.