[Update] My American Express Business Platinum Card Approval

Update 12/12/22: Just some small updates to my story:

• I called in directly to the Membership Rewards number 800-297-3276 and they were quickly able to link my accounts together. Initially, the cashout ability at 1:1 was still not showing (it showed 1:.8), but after a few days that updated and I’m now able to cash out at 1:1.
• The employee card which was added during application did not show up initially. I only got the primary card and the employee card wasn’t even showing in the login. After a number of days the employee card reflected in the login and eventually came in the mail.
• I chose Southwest for the airline credit and I’m making good use of that.
• I used up and have already been credited for the $200 from Dell. I didn’t get an Amex Offer for Dell to stack that with, unfortunately. But I did get a nice pop-up offer from the Capital One Shopping chrome extension for Dell which tracked.
• I successfully got the $10 wireless credit on my prepaid wireless bill.
• I’ll get $200 of minimum spend knocked off by purchasing Amazon gift cards at Lowe’s with the Amex Offer which was showing up on the card.

Original Post 12/1/22: 

Although I consider my credit card applications to be rather innocent, I’ve discovered that others find them interesting. Perhaps it’s amusing to get a glimpse into another person’s credit card strategies. Here is the story of my recent Amex Business Platinum approval.

The timing of applying now will be obvious to any hobbyists due to the triple-dip: with a single annual fee I can potentially get the benefit of three $200 airline credits – 2022, 2023, and 2024. While the airline incidental credit no longer works on gift cards, the flights are still good for incidentals, upgrades, and other interesting uses. I can also potentially get $200 in Dell credit for 2022, $400 for 2023, and $200 for 2024. I honestly have no idea on what to use the Dell credits.

I applied for the Business Platinum card using the 150,000/$15,000 + 10,000/$1,000 employee link under my name/SSN. Given my previous business Platinum card from a few years ago, I had no idea if they would approve the application or give me the pop-up denial. An instant approval came as a pleasant surprise. Subsequently, the system provided me the option to add an employee card, which I had to do to qualify for the additional 10,000 points bonus. I chose the Green employee card which is fee-free.

I felt pretty bad a few days later when there surfaced a 170,000 link – which I was able to pull up after a few attempts – 10,000 points better. Oh well, such is life. Amex will sometime offer courtesy points to match a higher offer. However, I don’t intend to try the match given the 170k offer isn’t easily available.

Aside from the giant 160k/170k signup bonus, triple dipping, and Business Platinum benefits, I also wanted the ability to cash out Membership Rewards points at 1 cent-per-point which requires the Business Platinum card and an Amex business checking account. I’ve had the Amex business checking account for some time now for – what used to be – the competitive interest rate offered on business accounts which is rare. (Incidentally, they just increased the signup bonus on the business checking account to 60,000 which is excellent deal.)

The Amex system gave me an instant card number. They also prompted me to link the card immediately in the Amex login. The process of tying the card to the login didn’t go smoothly – I’m in that boat alongside other new business Platinum cardholders who are experiencing the same issue. To fix this, the process is to first wait for the physical card and then contact customer support to get the new account aligned in their backend system.

I called into Amex after receiving the card. After being transferred to the correct department, the lady linked my new card – internally on their end of the system – to my online account. She instructed me to wait 48 hours and then to manually link it from within the Amex login on my end. The next morning I was able to successfully link my card manually (Chrome browser errored out but Safari worked). My Membership Rewards accounts still aren’t properly linked and I don’t yet have the ability to redeem points via the Amex Business Checking at 1 CPP. Developing…

I then activated the wireless credit and I’ll pay $10 each month to my wireless phone service. I activated the Dell credit and have to try find inga way to use up the $200 credit before the end of December. And I’ll choose my designated airline and try to find a way to use up that credit before the end of December. The other status and travel benefits I’ll use throughout the year as they become relevant for my travels.

I have three months to spend $15,000 in order to get the 150,000 bonus. I’ll spend at least $1,000 on the employee card to get the 10,000 points bonus and another $14,000 on the primary card to get the 150,000 points bonus. I haven’t yet received the employee card, I guess it comes slower than the main card. I’ll try spending in increments of $5,000+ in order to get the increased earn rate of 1.5x per dollar.

Around year-end is my main time to apply for credit cards, especially those with large spend requirements, since there are tax bills to pay and sometimes charity donations to make.

Hopefully someone found this interesting. 🙂