Amex RAT Intensifies their Signup Bonus Popup Denials

A bunch of readers have reached out recently perplexed about why they are getting the signup bonus denial popup. It appears the Amex RAT team is denying more people than originally thought.

First, some background:

  • Back in June, Amex added new language stating, “We may…consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility,” opening the door for them to deny someone a signup bonus whenever they deem appropriate.
  • Then, in August, there was a more positive development when they added a signup bonus eligibility checker pop-up. If you aren’t eligible for the bonus, the system will give you a pop-up within your application to tell you so which removes the vagueness from the process. Specifically, there are two popups:
    • One for someone who has already had the card before, known as Amex’s ‘lifetime limit’ rule.
    • A separate pop-up language for someone who has never gotten the bonus but is ineligible “based on your history with American Express welcome offers, introductory APR offers, and the number of cards you have opened and closed.”

Previously, my impression had been that the denial pop-up was largely reserved for those had this card before or those who have long history with Amex and have opened too many cards, too many recent cards, or have gotten too many signup bonuses.

Recently, I’ve been seeing many reports of those who really can’t fall into the category of abusing welcome offers or signing up for too many cards since they only have 2 or 3 Amex cards and those have been opened slowly over a couple of years. Even someone with just a single Amex card reported getting the popup.

This may be a new change in the Amex algorithm or it could be it was always around. Regardless, it’s good to know that it’s not only heavy churners who will get shot down with the popup denial. Even those with just a couple of cards sometimes get it as well. I guess Amex includes even those with very few cards under the “number of cards” exclusion when they to. If their algorithms say you won’t be a profitable customer, they won’t offer you a signup bonus.

Conversely, a lot of people with many Amex cards and a long history of chasing bonuses are still deemed eligible by the Amex algorithm, provided they never had this card before. (FYI, having a card once generally makes you ineligible for the bonus even if you didn’t get the bonus the first time.)

Many mention that increasing your spend on Amex cards will help the RAT let you through the door. There have even been cases where someone got the popup, put some spend on their Amex cards, tried again, and this time they were eligible.

Others mention the idea of actually paying annual fees (i.e. not cancelling your cards immediately after year 1). Someone mentions the idea of applying while logged in working better. Someone wondered if maybe even having too many AU cards in your name can affect the RAT algorithm. Seems unlikely to me, but hard to say anything for certain.

View Comments (112)

  • Hi, I just got the decline mentioned above.
    I called Amex and escalated as best I could. I was told the decline is for the promotion only not for the card (hence the option to take the card, sans promotion). The supervisor said that, "all Amex promotions are the same (which card is irrelevant). " Also he said that, "having cards with promotions from other banks such as Chase may also be a factor that Amex takes into consideration."
    Since I couldn't get switched out of the call centre to Amex itself, (I was probably talking to sub-contacted call centre - non-empowered, non-employees), I take the feedback with a pinch of salt.
    Hopefully, this is helpful to others. Best, Wal

  • I got my first Amex card 4 months ago. I then got 2 cards from a different issuer the following month. Then 3 months of gardening. 2 weeks ago I tried applying for my second amex card (gold), and got the popup. I was surprised. I kept trying back every couple of days, and still got the same popup. 2 days ago, I didn't get the popup, and was approved. Nothing changed, I didn't add spend on my first card, or pay anything up. Weird story.

    • Time passed... possibly they have a rule which limits number of bonuses you can get in a given time window.. the rule may apply to some cases, and do not apply to other. it is practically impossible to reverse engineer those rules, so in some cases we just have to accept that.. Anyway, congrats with approval. Every time something like this happens I am wondering... will the bonus post? Something changed or their system will still think it showed me a pop up? I suggest when you get a card and before you start putting lots of spend on it chat with Amex rep and confirm the offer.
      All the best.

  • I was denied the welcome bonus of 75,000 SPG points for a $3K spend in 3 mo. in August 2018, but only after I did the required spend. I didnʻt get any sort of popup on my eligibility for the bonus, just an approval notice. I have seven credit accounts (two authorized user, one secured $500 bank card). Iʻve never closed an account, missed a payment, or carried a balance. Iʻve had one Amex card for two years. I keep a consistent spend on it and love it, but now I will be cutting it into tiny pieces. Customer service told me point blank that because I received a welcome offer previously from Amex [on a completely different card], I will never be eligible to receive another welcome bonus for one of their cards again.

  • @chucksithe @will

    Interesting DP from Amex Gold welcome offer

    11/10 Applied Amex Gold 50K personal offer via referral, NO pop up and approved automatically

    11/12 Sent message to confirm offer on account and said it’s denied and they opened inquiry to why

    11/12 Called in to confirm offer and phone rep said offer is there no issues

    11/25 Called in again to double confirm and rep said offer is tied and no issues

    12/3 Received call from MR team Amex and said it’s denied due to history of receiving welcome offers and not using card afterwards. Escalated with regular customer service as MR team decision was final acc to phone call rep

    I only had Amex Delta gold and SPG business from Amex in past 3 years and no other authorized or individual Amex cards in past and never closed any cards with them

    Super deceptive way for them to deny. Let’s see what happens on new inquiry but super shady tactics

  • I didn't get a pop up when signing up for my Hilton Business Card, but Amex just told me my sign up bonus is declined. Maybe don't trust the pop up entirely?

    • @guest_684655 was that an Amex chat rep who told you the signup bonus is not attached or did you actually go through the spend process and not get the bonus?

      • I applied for the Hilton Business AMEX in Nov 2018 and was approved for the card. This is my first time having the card. I did not get a pop up when applying. I completed the spend before my Dec 2018 statement hit and no bonus posted. I waited until the Jan 2019 statement and still no bonus posted. I called AMEX and the rep said there is a note on my account that I am not eligible for the bonus. He was going to file a claim for the reason. I chatted with an AMEX rep and he said there is a note on the account from Nov 2018 that the welcome bonus will not be awarded for some welcome bonus misuse history. I was never informed by AMEX and no pop-up window. The AMEX chat team said they would contact the marketing team to get more info and to check back in a week.

  • @chucksithe On a different note, I decided to self-refer myself to the AMEX Blue Cash Everyday card to get the referral bonus even though I had already had the card (upgraded to Blue Cash Preferred) and knew I wasn't eligible for the bonus. However, I went through the application and never received the bonus denial pop-up. It looks like it might be the case that if you product change your credit card then you might still be eligible for the sign-up bonus on the original card again.

      • No, I received the card in Dec 2014 and then I received an incentive to upgrade to the Preferred in 2016. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced the same results...

  • Got the dreaded popup denying me signup bonus for Amex Gold. I have 2 Amex cards: SPG personal that is 6 months old (sock drawer-ed since) and SPG Luxury that is 2 months old. Might have to wait a while before applying for the Gold card.

    • I put about 450-500$ organic spend on SPG personal in last two weeks. Had tried applying for the Gold card 4-5 times in this period, always received the denial popup. Today the popup went away. Didn't have to wait until the statement date either.

  • Just wanted to share this DP - opened a SPG card 3 years ago, closed it after the annual fee hit. Then opened an everyday card I never used for 1 year. Tried to open an amex gold - the popup said I wouldnt get the bonus. I then opened an amex ameriprise platinum - spent some money on it, then was able to get the bonus when I Self referred myself for the amex gold.

    Looks like a little bit of spend can go a long way.

  • Not sure if this is a data point or not. I've been a cardholder for 18 years but don't put a lot of spend on any of my cards. I tried applying for the Rose Gold card using a "self referral" and got the whole "based on your history with AMEX... blah blah blah". I called AMEX this morning and they were willing to let me apply for the card via phone, however it was for the lesser 25K point offer. Yeah... thanks but no thanks! I'll put some spend on my cards and see if I can get lucky.

    • Update on this. I've applied every day (or tried too) for the last week and kept getting the pop up. I put about $300 spend on my membership rewards every day card over the weekend, applied this morning and got no pop up and approval using a "self referral" link. I really do think that putting some spend on a card makes the difference.