Amex Family

Understanding the Amex Family rule:

You have to get certain American Express cards in a specific order to be eligible for signup bonuses on all cards within that family. This rule becomes more important because of Amex’s 1/10 rule, stating you will only be eligible for a signup bonus on a card once per lifetime (usually 7-10 years in practice). If you aren’t aware of this American Express Family rule, you could miss out on a big signup bonus by simply applying for certain Amex cards in the wrong order.

American Express has two separate families of cards that this rule applies to:

Membership Rewards Cards

• American Express Green
• American Express Gold
• American Express Platinum

Cash Back Cards

• American Express Blue Cash Everyday
• American Express Blue Cash Preferred

Note that this same rule applies to co-branded Delta Airlines cards that are also backed by American Express. We have a separate rule for those four cards, though.

Important to know:

In order to be eligible for the signup bonuses on each of the above cards, you have to get them all in order. For example, in the Membership Rewards category of cards, you’d first have to get the American Express Green, then Gold, then Platinum to earn the welcome offer on each. If you get the Platinum first, then you will not be eligible for the Gold or Green welcome offers if you want to get those down the line.

The following language is in the terms and conditions for the American Express Green card:

The same language is in each of the above cards’ terms and conditions and the same rules apply, but only to each family. You’ll also notice two other cards mentioned (the Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab). These are older cards not available to new applicants, but if you have held those, you are also ineligible to receive the signup bonus on the Green card.

For the two cash cards, you have to get the Blue Cash Everyday before the Blue Cash Preferred. Fortunately there is no crossover between families, so getting a higher tiered card from one family does not impact your eligibility for another family.

About Approval Rules

Collecting credit card points is largely driven by understanding and abiding by bank rules regarding approval (or disapproval) of cards.  So here’s what you need to know:

• Approval rules are rarely fully publicized by the banks
• We use our own research and data points from other users in creating the rules listing
• Our goal in sharing/using the rule listings is to provide you guidance to avoid getting declined
• There can sometimes be exceptions to the rules, but we try to take a more cautious approach in advising you.