Update 08/04/18: This pop up is now showing up on business cards. Previously it was only showing up on personal cards.
We reported last week that American Express has added wording to the credit card application process whereby vague, unknown factors affect whether you are eligible for the signup bonus. Interesting news came in now from Thepointsguy that Amex has added a qualification-check into the credit card application process.
After you submit your application, Amex will give you a pop-up telling you clearly that you are not eligible for the bonus, and asking you whether you want to proceed with the application anyway.
There are even two separate pop-ups: one for someone who has already gotten the bonus (Amex’s ‘lifetime limit’ rule), and a separate pop-up language for someone who has never gotten the bonus but is ineligible for the bonus due to having applied for too many cards or whatever other factors Amex considers.
In other words, they’ve added clarity to the application process so that you’ll know for certain whether or not you are eligible for the bonus: if you don’t get a pop-up, that seems to be a confirmation that you are eligible, and that should mean Amex will not deny you at a later stage. Also nice that they give this pop-up before doing any credit check.
The downside, of course, is that Amex is actually enforcing their arbitrary rules about who is eligible for a new bonus. Maybe we’ll even be able to eventually crack the code on what the Amex criteria are, similar to how it became known Chase’s 5/24 rule.
Below are images of the two pop-ups, as shown on TPG:
Let us know if you try it out and get the same results – it’s possible the system is in trial mode.
Tangentially, if this really ends up working, it’ll add clarity to the Amex lifetime rule which is said to reset after around 7 years. It’ll also save us from having to pore over spreadsheets to check our card history with Amex since they’ll do the work and tell us if we are eligible. Let’s see how this develops.
