Amex Gold Card Welcome Offer Restrictions

They also increased minimum spend on personal Gold card to $6k in 6 months.

Quite an about-face. Last year Amex gave me a targeted (very elevated) offer for my gold that I assume came from cancelling my Platinum.

I hate churners, and Amex hates churners. The only people who support churners are churners.

I am so glad I applied for AMEX Gold Card last month when I found a 90K bonus on their website (already had Platinum card). While this rule makes sense for DL Cards, it is complete nonsense for the AMEX cards. This rule is going to discourage customers like myself to open a Gold card (maybe that’s AMEX intention). I guess the only way to get all the bonuses is to apply for cards from cheapest to most expensive…

I got my Amex Gold Card last year but feel a bit disappointed for those who won't be able to get the welcome bonus because they (like me) previously had the Amex Platinum card.

Oh, cherish thy precious Amex metal card! Thou mayest never see another! /s

Lately it sees these credit card companies specially Amex are working overtime to alienate the card base.

I look at the Platinum card. What motivation do I have to subscribe for it other than the welcome offer ? The Uber credit is useful but it is rationed per month. The lounges always have a soup kitchen line in front of them. Their Priority pass is essentially useless at most US airports as they do not allow restaurant access.

The rest of it are niche services that not many could use it all.

The data is VERY accessible and pretty obvious:

Last year I cancelled my Platinum which I found too expensive and not particularly rewarding for my priorities. I switched to the Gold which fit me better, 4 miles on restaurant, groceries, etc.

I ended up paying a lower price and getting MORE perks than with the PLATINUM.
I took of course the bonus so ridiculously offered in my case, but I found it ludicrous on their part. I am getting more perks than last year and I am paying less. THEY are giving me more and receiving less.

In other words, they are closing, in some cases at least, a loophole blatantly unjustified. Offering the bonus in the first place was a huge error, at least for my trajectory. Their main reason to exist is to make money, after all.... Nothing wrong there...

This being said, I didn't report this as long as the cookie jar was open, but now that it is closed, no reason not to comment...

For the bonus to be maintained, there could be a clause that it will be withdrawn if, during the next 3 years and the past 2 (for instance), a higher card has been or becomes cancelled.

If one got the platinum card before they made the modifications to the language on the Morgan Stanley and schwab cards (adding the lifetime language, and restricting bonuses if you got regular platinum) could one file a lawsuit saying they wouldn't have gotten the original platinum?

I have never applied for any of the AMEX cards. So do I have a strategy to play here now? Apply for gold then platinum? would I get both bonuses that way? Thx

Yet this affected non churners too.

I'm wondering if this the reason I wasn't eligible for the higher bonus on the Green card a couple of months ago since I already had the Gold.
I wanted the Green for the clear membership credit but during the application process it warned me that I wasn't eligible for the 60,000 membership points despite never having the card in the past.
I thought it was odd since I couldn't think of any restrictions I had...other than having the Gold card for the past couple of years

You could file a lawsuit on anything.

Would it stick?
Unlikely, sounds almost like buyers remorse. If X was going to lower the price, I wouldn't have bought it.

Then what's the damage you're asking for in favor of the lawsuit.
The forfeited bonus of 90k MR points, is it even worth it?

This is Amex being greedy.

Now it makes me wonder, who spread the greedy virus, Amex or Delta?

If you read Amex conference calls and financial statements, you know they are very big into “upgrading” people from Green to Gold, Gold to Platinum, Surpass to Aspire, etc. They typically want people to go to the highest fee cards and to actually spend on those cards. It seems like they are increasingly looking down on customers maximizing their spend. The various big spend thresholds on Amex Platinum (Centurion Guest Access), Delta Reserve (Unlimited SkyClub access - but we will see if they walk this back), the hotel cards, etc all show this

In a way there is some perverse logic in this. As time goes on the rewards appetite diminishes so AMEX wants to discourage downsizing. The good news is the natural progression is upwards so that normally a Gold Rewards would elevate to a Platinum Rewards card which does not appear to be blocked. Warning to all - from this time forwards watch the sequence! Start small 😉

Fair enough, but I wouldn't necessary say its buyers remorse like in the twitter example though.

It seems to be a bait and switch from amex. "We got all these people on the personal card now before they all go to get the schwab and Stanley cards (and get welcome offers for those) let's pull the rug from underneath them so they are no longer eligible."

This situation doesn't directly apply to me. I originally had the gold card and got an "upgrade offer" to go from gold to platinum. I think it was 100k or so. So I am wondering how that fits into all the new "lifetime language" that amex is adding to their original cards. Is there a difference between upgrade offer and welcome offer or are they 1 in the same?

I wonder if this applies to people who are an authorized user on a Plat card? So, can my daughter "never" get a Gold card because she is an AU on my Plat card (for two more weeks, because of the ridiculous change in costs for additional Plat cards

The $240/yr streaming credits are easy. The $100/yr Saks credit is easy. $200/yr airline incidentals are helpful. If you buy a soul cycle, the $300/yr Equinox credit becomes valuable. $200 for a hotel splurge once per year is useful. That's $1040 right there, so you're already ahead of the game, and any further benefits are icing on the cake.

Having 6 months rather than 3 makes the minimum spend more manageable, even if the total spend requirement is higher.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they applied the family rule to the Amex Green and all of the Hilton cards.

So dumb. I’ve wanted the gold card for a year but have been in pop up jail. Have the platinum but put barely any spend on it due to the poor earning. Guess I’ll continue to stay in the Chase UR world.