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It's been a busy few months for American Express. After adding “family” language restricting welcome bonuses on The Platinum Card® from American Express in late August, Amex followed suit with Delta cards in September. Sadly, the issuer is making this a monthly occurrence, as we mentioned these new “family” restrictions showing up on the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express earlier this month, and now they're on the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card as well.
“Family” language is the term for eligibility for a credit card being affected by other credit cards earning the same type of rewards. For example, you can't hold both the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® (from Chase) at the same time, because they're considered part of the same card family. A rule doesn't allow you to have two cards in this family at the same time.
Now, Amex is employing much of this logic in eligibility terms for its welcome offers. When applicants go to apply for a new credit card, they'll find a new rule here.
New Family Rule on Amex EveryDay
In addition to its other application rules, Amex has this in the welcome bonus terms for the Amex EveryDay:
You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees if you have or have had this Card, the Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees 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 the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.
Thus, having other cards — presently or in the past — can make you ineligible for a welcome bonus on the Amex EveryDay. And that's on top of the other Amex rules you need to navigate when applying for a credit card:
- No more than five Amex credit cards at any given time.
- Maximum of two new credit cards in a 90-day period.
- Can only earn the welcome bonus on the same card once per lifetime.
New Family Rule on Blue Cash Everyday Card
Earlier this month, we also saw these new restrictions added to the Blue Cash Everyday:
You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees if you have or have had this Card, the Cash Magnet® Card, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees 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 the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
Bottom Line
Luckily, we aren't seeing these terms in the other direction…yet. That means the Blue Cash Preferred and Amex EveryDay Preferred don't have any similar terms, but that could change at any time. If you're planning to apply for an Amex card at this point, make sure to triple-check the offer terms to ensure you're eligible before submitting your application.
This is the third month in a row that Amex has tightened rules on who can get a welcome bonus on its credit cards. I'm already not looking forward to next month.
What do you make of all these new “family” rules on Amex cards? Let us know in the comments what you think is happening here.
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