Yesterday, American Express changed the bonus offer slightly for the worse on the American Express® Gold Card, keeping the public and affiliate offer at 60,000 points but requiring $6,000 in spend in 3 months vs. $4,000 previously.
But that wasn’t the big change.
You’ll recall that just a couple of weeks ago, Amex imposed new eligibility rules on their suite of personal Delta SkyMiles credit cards that work like a waterfall. You cab get a bonus on a higher card than you have now but not a lower (i.e. if you have the Reserve you are out of luck for Gold and Platinum bonuses, but if you have the Delta Gold, you can then get the Delta Platinum and then Delta Reserve bonuses – in that order).
In a change I believe first uncovered by AwardWallet, the “family restriction” rule is now in place on the American Express® Gold Card as well.
The restriction states:
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Premier Rewards Gold Card, The Platinum Card® from American Express, American Express Platinum Card® by Charles Schwab, The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.
Essentially, if you have the Green Card now, you are fine to get the Gold Card and bonus, but if you already have or have had the Platinum Card, in ANY flavor, you cannot get the Gold welcome bonus.
The Green Card, for now, still does not have this offer and I sincerely hope you jumped on it a couple of months ago when I pounded the table about its best ever welcome bonus offer, as that’s now just 40k. But you have to wonder if they’ll add it to the Green Card too.
For now that just states what it always has:
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.
There is also no such language on the American Express® Business Gold Card or The Business Platinum Card® from American Express which still state:
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.
What next? Clearly this is a direction Amex is moving on to offer less welcome bonuses to existing Cardmembers. Even though the Green Card is down to 40,000 points now on the Welcome Bonus you may want to consider it while you can if you have a Gold or Platinum.
If you have a Gold Card now, you can still get the Platinum (and that should stay the same for a good while, even though they have now restricted you to just one bonus on Platinum regardless of issuer (i.e. Morgan Stanley, etc).
Also consider that it is at least somewhat plausible these restrictions could head for the American Express® Business Gold Card and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express as well.
Thoughts?
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