American Express added a pop up that shows you’re ineligible for a sign up bonus during the card application in late 2018. Currently a lot of people are applying (or trying to apply) for the increased Hilton offers (personal | business) and running into this pop up. Walter Credit Card has found out that if you click the apply link from an American Express e-mail promoting the offer the pop up doesn’t show up (even for people where the pop up previously did show). This makes sense as you wouldn’t want to be sending e-mails encouraging people to apply for an offer that you’re then going to say they are ineligible for.
All of that being said, I’d recommend extreme caution. American Express has denied sign up bonuses previously even when no pop up appeared and are known for making things up on the fly. I personally wouldn’t be applying if a pop up showed at all. Obviously for this method to work you need to click through from an e-mail advertising the offer, it has been confirmed that using an e-mail not addressed to you also works but again consider the risks.
Hat tip to Walter Credit Card
