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American Express is a favorite among award travelers, largely because of the wide array of cards it offers. From the newly refreshed American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees) to The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees) there are a variety of ways to earn valuable Amex Membership Rewards points.
The only caveat to Amex cards has been its once-per-lifetime language. This Amex rule for applying for new credit cards limited how often you can receive the welcome offer. However, reports suggest Amex is loosening this restriction, which is big news for those wanting to add to their Membership Rewards balance.
But is this fact, fiction, or pure speculation? Here's what we know.
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Overview of Amex's Once-Per-Lifetime Rule
Let's start with the basics. What’s American Express’s “once-per-lifetime” rule? While “lifetime” was never in the official terms, Amex welcome offer terms indicated that you could only earn the welcome offer on a card (provided you're eligible to begin with) once.
In the past, American Express used language in its card application terms that said, “Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.” Simply put, that meant you could only receive the welcome offer for a specific Amex card once. If you've ever had the card before, you shouldn't be eligible for a welcome offer.
However, lifetime has proven to be a loose term, with some reports showing that your “lifetime” may reset after about seven years.
More recently, Amex has changed that language to say new card applicants “may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this card.” The addition of may introduces some ambiguity by leaving your eligibility more up to Amex’s discretion.
If you apply for a card you already have or have had, Amex typically shows a pop-up during the application process warning you that you’re not eligible for the welcome offer. You can then choose to stop the application before submitting it.
All that to say, Amex has been fairly consistent in how it enforces the once-per-lifetime rule for welcome offers on cards you’ve had before. But to make things a bit more complicated, enter the “No Lifetime Limit (NLL)” offers.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
What Are Amex “No Lifetime Language” Offers
These targeted offers have been Amex’s way of enticing customers to open new cards. If you’re targeted — whether by mail, email, or through your online account — you can earn a welcome offer on a card you already have. And the reason is simple. Amex doesn’t include the usual lifetime language mentioned above. Hence the name, “No Lifetime Language.”
When reviewing the terms for these targeted offers, you won’t see anything that explicitly says you can get the bonus again. Instead, you’ll notice the absence of the language saying you can’t, which can make it tricky to discern.
Receiving NLL offers has long been one of the best ways to bypass the once-per-lifetime restriction and earn a large stash of Amex Membership Rewards points. As sometimes, these targeted offers are far better than what's publicly available.
The general approach has been to apply for new Amex cards while you’re eligible while keeping in mind family restrictions that dictate the order in which you can open them. Once you’ve exhausted those options, you wait for NLL offers to appear and jump on them when you find one. But this strategy may be changing.
Is Amex Loosening Its Once-Per-Lifetime Rules?
While the Amex application process once seemed straightforward — either you had an NLL offer or you didn’t — that may be changing. There have been numerous reports of applicants getting approved for cards with welcome offers they technically shouldn’t have been eligible for, given the stated terms. The introduction of the word “may” has made the process a little murkier.
When we asked for data points in our AwardTravel101 Facebook community, several members reported being approved for both personal and business cards despite already holding the same card or having applied for it recently.
Typically, Amex requires a 60-day gap between applications for the same card, so you shouldn’t be able to get the same product in close succession. However, the data points suggest there’s now some inconsistency in approvals.
One member even shared that they applied for more than one American Express® Business Gold Card — first receiving a pop-up with a higher welcome offer, but later being approved for another version with a lower bonus just days apart.
Bottom Line
So, what's the bottom line here? Well, it's not entirely clear. What we do know is that whereas the rules used to be fairly cut and dry, there is a lot more ambiguity now. There is hope — and the data points prove it — that it's possible to still get lucrative welcome offers on Amex cards that you already have or have recently applied for in the past.
It doesn't seems Amex's lifetime language is entirely irrelevant but it definitely isn't that same automatic decline it once was. Much like Chase is doing with tts now-inconsistent 5/24 rule, Amex seems to be taking a more case-by-case approach to approving applications.
This has potential to be good news for those looking to apply for Amex cards in the future. Drop us a comment below if you have successfully earned a welcome offer on an Amex card you have already had before.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees), and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Rates & Fees)
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