About Credit Card Application
1. Does Amex limit the number of cards individual can keep?
Unlike other banks, Amex has a limit that individual can only keep no more than 4 credit cards, including personal cards and business cards. Note that this restriction is only for credit card, charge cards such as Platinum, Premier Rewards Gold (PRG) are not included, neither are your accounts as authorized users.
2. Is there a personal total credit limit on Amex?
There should be, and it is related to the personal credit history, annual income and so on. But it should be noted that when the credit limit of single card reaches 25k, or the total credit limit reaches 34.5k, it is likely to trigger the Amex』s famous Financial Review (FR): temporarily deactivate all your cards, then request documentation about your income. So we generally try to avoid triggering this FR.
3. Can I apply for two Amex cards a day?
If they』re two personal credit cards, then you can』t. Amex system will automatically hang up the second application, and pull your credit report again in a few days later, then handle your application. If they』re a credit card and a charge card, then yes.
4. Can I apply for an Amex card without SSN?
Yes. But in the case you can『t apply online, only over the phone. But note that Amex won’t approve cards for people without any credit history.
5. Does Amex demand SSN when adding an authorized user?
No. Adding authorized user online will require you to fill in the SSN of the authorized user, but this step can be bypassed through online chat or over the phone.
6. Does credit cards on Amex’s network issued by other banks count towards the 4 cards limit?
No. Those credit cards are just on Amex』s network, which will be not included in your 4 Amex cards. This type of cards commonly includes: Fidelity Investment Rewards Amex (FIA), US Bank FlexPerks, BBVA NBA, Mac s’ Amex, etc…
7. Why does my application status show 「Cancel」?
Don’t worry, despite the most direct meaning, “Cancel” may also mean that Amex need to contact you further to verify some information, such as address, income and so on. You can call to ask for the details, or just wait Amex to send letter to you.
8. Which credit bureau does Amex pull generally?
Experian in general, but sometimes Amex will pull several credit bureaus, or only pull Equifax or TransUnion.
9. Is Amex Platinum Card worth applying for?
Platinum is the most high-end product of Amex with quite great perks, but these perks are often for travels, they are useful if you don’t care about the prices, such as many hotels in Fine Hotel & Resort, are high-end ones. Besides its annual fee ($450) is also very expensive. Therefore, if you often travel and don』t care about the prices, you can consider to keep this card for the long term. Honestly it』s good enough for others to just get the sign-up bonus of Platinum card, but 40k bonus points is not very awesome, 100k points is definitely a no brainer.
10. Can I ask Amex to deliver my card by express?
You can ask the customer service officer for delivery after approval of application, but they won』t always agree. Part of the cards is delivered by express originally, such as PRG and Platinum.
11. Does Amex allow to move credit limit to the new card?
No…
12. It is said that if you already keep an Amex card, then Amex will not do a Hard Pull when your application for a new card is refused?
Probably yes. They will do a Soft Pull first, and refuse you directly if not eligible. But if you don』t have any Amex card, Amex will do a Hard Pull anyway since it is your first application.
About Rewards
1. Why haven』t I received cash back/points?
Amex is always slow in these operations, you often have to wait for 2 statement. You can click on the small circle next to 「available points」 to check pending points, and do not have to worry if the points exist. If not, wait some time, check the bill to make sure you are owed points indeed, and then chat with the customer service officer, remember to snap screenshots to avoid irresponsibility when online chat.
2. Why haven’t I received the sign-up bonus?
(⊙o⊙)… Please check whether you meet the minimum spending requirement of sign-up bonus, a lot of friends are slightly careless to spend just a little less than required, which finally results in missing the sign-up bonus… And then check if there are enough points in pending points, if so then don』t worry, you will receive it after one more statement. If you still can』t receive it, it is recommended to contact the customer service officer, but it is probably because you’ve already got the sign-up bonus of same type product, in this case Amex won’t give sign-up bonus again (please reply 43 for details).
3. What can I do if there is a better sign-up bonus just after I finish my application?
Uh… generally Amex doesn』t give match offer, but there is no loss to ask the customer service officer… _(:з」∠)_
4. What should I do with my Amex points if I plan to cancel PRG or Platinum card?
Apply for an Everyday/Everyday Preferred card, which will automatically share your Membership Rewards account. You will preserve those points in ED/EDP card even if your PRG or Platinum card is cancelled.
5. Do my Amex Membership Rewards Points expire?
No, as long as you keep any active Amex Membership Rewards card in good standing. If you cancel all your Membership Rewards cards but still keep at least one Amex card open and in good standing, then you will have up to 30 days to redeem the points. If you cancel all your Amex cards, then the points will immediately expire. So if you really make up your mind to cancel all Amex cards, remember to transfer all your points earlier~
6. Can I transfer my MR points to others?
No.
7. How to calculate the 20/30 purchases of ED/EDP card?
Based on the number of transactions posted in the billing cycle. Note that some businesses, such as iTunes store, may merge several transactions, so that you only need to pay once, which means these transactions are counted as one purchase according to the rule.
8. Will I get penalty if I always use card in the same store to make the required 20/30 purchases?
Nothing to worry about.
9. Do returns reduce the amount of purchases and points?
Returns will not reduce the amount of purchases, but the corresponding points will be deducted.
10. Which stores are counted as supermarket in Amex system?
All the biggest bonus categories of ED/EDP/BCE/BCP are supermarket, so it is a problem we all concern about. Amex defines on its own website, that a supermarket is a store offers a wide variety of food and household products. It』s important to note, however, that some stores are considered as super store, not supermarket, such as Walmart and Target. Besides note that WholeSale is also excluded, such as Costco and Sam s’ Club.
11. What is the air travel credit of Platinum and PRG card?
These two card provides the basic benefit that you can select a qualifying airline per calendar year (January 1 to December 31) to receive statement credits for incidental air travel fees, such as baggage fee, while airline ticket fee is excluded.
12. Can I ask Amex for retention offer?
Yes of course. When it is time to pay your annual fee, call the number on the back of card to ask for, if there isn』t any retention offer, you can try more times after some time.
13. Can I earn points by adding money from Amex card to Serve?
You can』t earn points by adding money from Amex card to Serve, but the money added can count towards the spending required by the sign-up bonus. And you will earn rewards points with the credit cards on Amex’s network issued by other banks.
Others
1. What should I do if Amex cancels my card?
Wait two years…
2. How can I request a credit limit increase?
Amex is always known as its generous credit limit, but sometimes it may be stingy with credit limit. But Amex also provides a convenient requesting entry of Credit Limit Increase: after login to the online banking, select the corresponding card, click 「available credit limit」, then there is the item of 「request credit increase」 at the bottom of the text popped up. Generally speaking, most of us directly request increasing credit limit to 3 times the amount of current limit.
3. It is said that Amex will backdate credit history, is it same now?
Not now, unfortunately… In the past, Amex backdates your new card to the year of your first Amex card, so keeping a new card not only has no influence in your length of credit history, but also help you increase length for most of time. But now Amex no longer provides the small benefit.
4. It is said that Amex allows to check credit score, why can』t I find it?
At present, a large majority of Amex members can check their own Experian credit score, you may find the 「See FICO Credit Score」 on the right side of the page of Amex online banking and check it for free (see 「How to Get Free Credit Report and Scores」 for other methods to check score). But currently not all Amex members can see this feature, such as me…