American Express offers rewards credit cards with generous welcome bonuses and valuable benefits. While Amex doesn’t follow a defined policy like Chase’s 5/24 rule, it enforces strict application and lifetime bonus restrictions.
Not only does American Express limit the number of cards you can have and how often you can apply, but it also restricts applicants to earning only one welcome offer per card in a lifetime.
This makes it critical to carefully choose when you apply for a new Amex card since doing so may disqualify you from receiving an even higher welcome offer in the future. Here’s what you need to know about Amex’s one-welcome-bonus-per-lifetime policy.
What is the Amex once-per-lifetime rule?
More than a decade ago, American Express would allow you to earn welcome offers on the exact same card multiple times. However, since 2014, the issuer has clamped down on applications and limited customers to one bonus per card per lifetime, regardless of how much time had passed since they last applied for that card.
In other words, you can apply for The Platinum Card® from American Express and earn a welcome offer once and only once. If you open the offer details link on the card’s application page, you’ll see the following language:
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for 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.
Currently, you can find out your offer and see if you are eligible to earn as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership. (Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.)
As a result, if you apply for the current offer and receive a higher one at a later date, you’ll almost certainly be ineligible for it.
The information for The Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab and The Platinum Card from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Expanded card family restrictions
An expansion to the once-per-lifetime rule is being rolled out across some families of Amex credit cards. In practice, if you’ve held a higher-tier card, Amex may disqualify you from receiving the welcome offer on a lower-tier card within the same family.
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Amex seems to be progressively rolling this out to more products to prevent people who hold higher-tier cards from applying for lower-tier cards in the same family for the welcome offer.
The most recent addition to this list is the American Express® Green Card. The welcome offer eligibility terms state:
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the American Express® Gold Card 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.
The information for the Amex Green Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Similarly, in 2023, American Express introduced a restriction on the American Express® Gold Card. If you’ve had the more expensive Amex Platinum card, you won’t be eligible for the welcome offer on the Gold card.
Amex also introduced a family rule on personal Delta credit cards that year.
For example, one of the strictest family rules can be found on the no-annual-fee Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card (see rates and fees): You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or previous versions of these cards.
Caveats
There have been reports of people getting approved and earning the welcome offer again several years later. Additionally, you may be approved for the bonus if the offer terms don’t include the above language about previously having the card.
Finally, American Express warns you during the online card application process. If Amex determines that you are not qualified for the card’s welcome offer, you will likely see a pop-up box stating so.
In general, though, the issuer’s one-bonus-per-lifetime rule was implemented to discourage applicants from applying for Amex cards solely for the welcome bonuses.
Related: The best time to apply for these popular American Express cards based on offer history
What cards are affected by this rule?
This rule applies to all Amex cards. American Express maintains a strict rule of one bonus per card for life, regardless of the family of cards (cobranded hotel and airline, business, cash-back and rewards cards).
Although this rule covers all Amex cards, you can earn a welcome offer on personal and business cards of the same type.
For example, the American Express Gold Card and American Express® Business Gold Card are from the same card family, but one is a personal card and the other a business card. Amex allows you to earn the welcome offer for each card — as long as you have never been a cardholder of either card in the past.
However, this applies to rebranded or updated cards. For many years, the Amex Gold was called the Premier Rewards Gold Card. New Amex Gold cardholders may not be eligible for the bonus on the card if they had the Premier Rewards Gold Card.
You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Premier Rewards Gold Card.
The information for the Premier Rewards Gold Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: Credit card showdown: Amex Gold vs. Amex Business Gold
How many Amex cards can I have?
Officially, American Express does not have a cap on the number of cards you can have. However, the unofficial policy from Amex says that most cardmembers will be restricted to at most five Amex consumer and business credit cards.
They’ll also be limited to 10 Amex cards with no preset spending limit. This category includes the Amex Gold and Amex Platinum. No preset spending limit means your spending limit is flexible, unlike a traditional card with a set limit. The amount you can spend adapts based on factors, such as your purchase, payment and credit history.
For example, TPG senior editorial director Nick Ewen has the following American Express cards currently open:
The information for the Hilton Honors Aspire has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Since five of the seven are credit cards, he has reached his cap on credit cards with Amex.
Related: Chase’s 5/24 rule: Everything you need to know
How do I know if I qualify for an Amex welcome offer?
Tracking which Amex cards you have applied for in the past will give you a better idea of whether you are eligible for a certain card’s welcome bonus or not. If your organizational skills aren’t up to par, don’t worry — American Express has a welcome bonus qualification tool to warn applicants if they are ineligible for one. Here’s how it works:
When you apply for an American Express card that you’ve already had in the past, you’ll receive the following message before your credit is pulled:
Because you have or have had The Platinum Card, you are not eligible to receive the welcome offer.
We have not yet performed a credit check. Would you still like to proceed?
In essence, if you think you had a card before and thus are not sure if you’re eligible for the welcome offer, Amex should alert you with a pop-up message when you apply.
There is a possible exception to the rule for Amex welcome offers. Typically, you’ll see the verbiage noted above on the landing page of an application:
Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card.
If your card application does not include this restrictive language, but you have had the card in the past, this could mean that you’ve been targeted for the card by American Express and are eligible for the offer. Check your email for targeted offers or log into your American Express account and look for preapproved offers with no lifetime language.
Before submitting your application, check for the Amex pop-up alerting you to welcome offer ineligibility. Taking a screenshot just before clicking apply is also a good idea. That could help if you run into issues receiving the bonus after you meet applicable spending requirements.
Other Amex welcome offer restrictions
Although American Express has restricted welcome offers to one bonus per lifetime per card, cardholders can still apply and get approved for a card without the welcome offer. The language in the offer terms highlights the ineligibility of the welcome offer, but it typically doesn’t restrict approval.
However, it’s also worth pointing out the additional verbiage from the above screenshot:
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.
This overly broad statement retains Amex’s ability to use additional factors from your credit report and history with the issuer to determine if you qualify for an offer. This shouldn’t impact most applicants, but if you’ve shown a pattern of opening cards, earning welcome bonuses and then canceling those cards after just one year, that could be a red flag.
Given the wide range of American Express card offerings and once-per-lifetime restrictions, you should time your applications strategically to ensure you get the highest possible welcome bonus.
Related: The ultimate guide to credit card application restrictions
Bottom line
American Express has an impressive portfolio of cards with generous welcome offers for first-time applicants. While Amex’s lifetime rule is restrictive, certain exceptions and targeted offers may still allow you to earn repeat bonuses.
Along with the welcome bonus qualification tool, Amex makes it easy for applicants to track and understand their eligibility for welcome bonuses on American Express cards.
Related: American Express Gold vs. American Express Platinum
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles Amex Blue Card, click here.