I got two Amex cards in the last week with “too good to be true” offers.
One was a targeted (meaning the only link is inside your account and tied to you) second Blue Business Plus offering 75,000 bonus points for $15,000 in spend within 12 months. That’s a mind-boggling sweet offer.
Then yesterday, I got approved for a Hilton Business card with the 150k / 1 Free Night offer which was also targeted given that I’d had the card before (cancelled at the start of COViD).
In this article
Instant Card Numbers Are Now Common With Amex Business Cards
They used to be primarily given with personal cards but I got offered virtual card numbers for both.
What You Can Do Right When You Are Approved
You can add the card to your digital wallets, required authorized user cards, and add the card to your American Express online account.
We all know that.
What is interesting is what happens if you get distracted mid-way and the instant approval flow gets interrupted.
If You Get the Instant Card Number But Don’t Add to Digital Wallets and Your Account
You cannot do this after leaving the instant card number flow and before you receive the card. If you leave the flow, you can no longer add to a digital wallet or your online account. It has to then wait until you have the card in hand.
You also, I’m told, can only spend a fraction of your credit limit with a virtual card number UNLESS it’s in a digital wallet. The rep thought the number to be in the hundreds! I tried to use $3,000 (of my $13,000 limit) to pay a vendor using their PayPal checkout (but with the virtual card number since I hadn’t added it to my PayPal during the Instant Card Number path) and it was declined.
Before You Have Your Card in Hand
You can request a rush of your card and you can request a credit line reallocation without the physical card with customer service. But if you want the card rushed, you cannot have just reallocated credit!
I made the mistake of reallocating credit from my 1st Blue Business Plus and then asking for the card to be rushed. The system wouldn’t allow it.
If I’d asked for it to be rushed and THEN asked to reallocate the limit, that would have been fine. Oh well, I love learning the rules!
Bonus: The 5 Credit Card Limit
For what it’s worth, I now have 6 Amex credit cards, despite conventional wisdom that there is a 5 credit card limit (plus Green/Gold/Platinum which do not add to that limit). Many people do have 6, but Amex’s algorithm determines if it will allow it or not. I’ve never heard of more than 6.
Questions?
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You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
