Many times here in this space, I’ve said that opening up credit cards for their signup bonus miles and points is one of the best ways to get a bunch of miles and points.  And while I’ve also said that YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT SIGN UP FOR A CREDIT CARD JUST BECAUSE SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET SAYS YOU SHOULD, judicious usage of credit card signups can help jumpstart your account balance, without adversely affecting your credit score.
(READ MORE: “I only date guys with high credit scores“)
The current rules and best practices for Amex cards
Different banks and card issuers have different rules for getting bonuses on credit cards. Â Some (Chase) limit you to one bonus every 24 months, while others will let you get a bonus every 90 days or so
I do attempt to keep an active reference page on the current rules and best practices for signing up for credit cards, which would be a good page to bookmark if you haven’t already
Currently American Express has a rule that you can only get one signup bonus per LIFETIME! Â So if you’ve gotten a signup bonus on a particular American Express card before, you won’t get another one.
Getting (targeted) Amex flyers in the mail
But recently, American Express has been sending me targeted flyers like the one below in the mail for the Amex Delta Skymiles Gold card.
I was pretty sure that I had received a Delta Skymiles card before, but it’s been awhile and I didn’t have it in my records (which, admittedly, are slightly spotty). Â What I remember was Carolyn and I both signing up for it, but I screwed up my link and only got a 10,000 signup bonus. Â I tried to live chat with Amex and was told that I had had a Delta Amex card back in 1999 (which I’m 99% sure is incorrect)
Given that they kept sending me flyers (I got 2 of them), I saw a couple of different options
- Amex had no record of me having a Delta Amex card, and that’s why they kept sending me flyers
- I’ve never had a Delta Amex card, or the one I had a few years ago was somehow considered a “different” card
- The one hand (marketing) wasn’t talking to the other hand (card management)
- They know I’ve had a card and they’re not going to give me a bonus but they just want to waste postage mailing me stuff?
Applying for a(nother) Delta Amex card
All in all, because I don’t get super worked up about “hard pulls”, I figured it was worth a try, so a few days ago I applied for a Delta Amex card. Â The offer I had was for 60,000 Skymiles after spending $1000 in the first 3 months – piece of cake!
I filled in my (correct!) information and ….
Instant approval! Â I am still waiting for my card to come in the mail, but once it does, and once it shows up in my list of accounts to manage, I will see if I actually get that bonus.
I can’t decide if I should try to just meet the signup criteria and see what happens, or try to get it “on record” with the chat folks of what the signup bonus is on my account.
What would you do / have done in my situation? Â Leave your thoughts below in the comments
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Keep your fingers crossed, Amex will always give you a card you’ve had before (they like their annual fees), the question is whether you get the sign up bonus or not. Good luck and hopefully a nice Christmas present!
Yup we’ll see – I figured it was worth the try and if not, that’s a year’s worth of juicy Amex Offers 🙂
I agree with you. Amex will give you the cards but Not the bonus. I was denied twice after meeting the requirements.
AMEX’s lifetime definition is limited to their memory. Their memory tends to be about the length of a bad mark on your credit report.
am ex has nailed me before. they send you the cards, you meet the minimum spend and then the bonus points never post. you call them and they say you have had the bonus before.
My wife had one in like 2003 or 2004 and got the delta gold card again last year and received the bonus. Applied using public link and not a targeted mailer. I’d be very surprised if you didn’t get it.
FYI….I had a SPG business amex 4 years ago and closed it out. Signed up for another one 3 months ago and did not get the bonus points because I had it before
Congratulations dan! Again do not chat with Amex just meet the minimum $1000 and then call customer service if you don’t see your miles!
I had a pre-approved AMEX offer when I previously had the same card. I was instantly approved online and got my card and made the spend. When the promised bonus did not appear I called up and was given the “you had a card previously” line. I was then told to read the small print. Bottom line was that they gave me 10,000 as a gesture after which I cancelled the card. Let us know what happens here.
Don’t bother to confirm whether you will get the miles or not. Regardless of what the chat people or the phone people at AMEX tell you, AMEX will not stand by them. I got a business platinum card for a different business than my first card and twice confirmed in writing by chat that I was eligible for the second bonus. After spending the $10,000 requirement, they did not give me the bonus points and I spent 6 fruitless months arguing with them, with many broken promises and phone calls not returned. Spend the money and hope for the best, but trying to get confirmation that you can rely on is a waste of time
Check the fine print of your offer. Hubby got a second sign-up bonus that posted just yesterday… on a different Amex card.
The fine print definitely says it won’t be given to people that have previously had the card, so I don’t have a leg to stand on there. I guess I’m hopeful that they don’t know / think that I’ve had this card before (else why would they send me mailers? They don’t send me mailers for any of the other types of cards)
If there is no language about one bonus per lifetime then you should get it. I got a 2nd gold card with 25,000 moles…low but since I already had one before I jumped on it.
Miless not moles. 🙂
Good luck, hope you get it, let us know.
I also had sloppy recording habits before I learned about this hobby. I/we had delta and United cards that we canceled long ago, but not sure wish one of us had them and when. Anybody know how to find out ?? Credit reports don’t tell me what kind of card we had. Thanks
I had a Amex Hilton Surpass card back in 2009. This fall I chatted with Amex and asked if I ever had an Amex Surpass card and they said not in their records. They didn’t say I never had a card, just not in their records. So I applied, got approved and am in the process of meeting the spend.
I was told 3 times I would get the 2nd bonus but it never came and I got nowhere with countless hours on the phone and emails.