Amex 1/10

Understanding the Amex 1/10 rule:

American Express won't allow you to get a sign-up bonus if you currently have -- or have had -- the exact version of that card. Fortunately, if you're logged into the Amex site, they usually will warn you if you are not eligible. It's worth noting that if they re-release a card -- as they did the Amex Gold card in 2018 -- you're immediately eligible again, even if you had the old card. Because this rule is based on having the card (and not based on receiving the bonus) we generally don't recommend card downgrades on Amex. We write and track this rule as 1/10 because there's information suggesting it might actually only be a 10-year prohibition on the sign-up bonus, and not a lifetime. Plus most Amex cards are refreshed every ten years.

Amex Popup

Important to know:

American Express does have a safeguard in place when applying for a new card. During the application process, you may get a popup with the following language:

If you receive this popup, that means you’ve had the card in the past and are not eligible for the signup bonus per this rule. This is a nice feature for someone who hasn’t kept good track of which cards they’ve gotten and when. If you enter all your cards into the Points Navigator, we will warn you of this before ever applying. But if not, this popup will prevent American Express from doing a hard pull on your credit for a card you aren’t eligible to receive the welcome offer for.

Note that this popup is different from the infamous American Express popup jail that will prevent you from getting a signup bonus on any of their cards for an unspecified amount of time. We have a separate rule that discusses this more in depth.

Eligibility for Personal and Business cards in the same Family

American Express has versions of the same cards for both personal and business use, but they are viewed as separate cards, even if they’re in the same family.

Important to know:

If you already have the personal American Express Gold card, you can also get the American Express Gold Business card, and you will be eligible for the signup bonus for each. This means you can get the welcome offer on all of the following cards even though they are in the same family of cards. One is personal, and one is business, making you eligible for each.

• American Express Blue Cash Everyday
• American Express Blue Business Cash
• American Express Green
• American Express Green Business
• American Express Gold
• American Express Gold Business
• American Express Platinum
• American Express Platinum Business

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.