April is Last Chance Amex month

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This month seems to be our last chance to take advantage of lots of Amex goodies.  Here are the top “last chance” opportunities on my mind:

Last chance to signup for personal cards you’ve had before

As of May 1, American Express will no longer offer signup bonuses for cards you’ve had before (see “Amex clamping down on repeat bonuses?”).  This new policy seems to be specific to personal cards, not business cards.  The Terms & Conditions on the signup offers have already changed to reflect this, but it seems that the new rules won’t be enforced until May 1.  At least, that’s my hope as I recently re-signed up for the Starwood personal card with the hope of getting the full 25K bonus.  Unfortunately, I won’t know for sure about my bonus until its too late to help others who have had this card before.   Note that to see the current signup offer, you may have to first clear cookies or put your browser into Private/Incognito mode.  I decided to wait until August to re-signup for the business SPG card since Amex often increases their SPG signup bonuses in late August / early September.  For those wondering what to do, here’s a quick “cheat sheet”:

  • Are there any personal Amex cards that you’ve owned in the past, but cancelled?  If yes:
  • Did you cancel the card more than 12 months ago?  If yes:
  • Consider signing up for the card before May 1.  Keep in mind that there is a chance that you won’t get the signup bonus, so there is a risk here.

Last chance to pay $150 for Delta Platinum cards

Starting May 1, Delta Platinum cards from American Express will change a bit:

  • The annual fee will go from $150 to $195
  • The cards will no longer have foreign transaction fees.
  • The cards will have EMV chips for use in the many countries that support chip based credit cards.

If you want to lock in a year at the lower $150 annual fee, you can do so by signing up this month.  Each person can have up to 2 Delta branded cards: one personal and one business.  Note too that there are three different Amex Delta cards: Delta Gold, Delta Platinum, and Delta Reserve.  Please see these posts for my analyses of each card:

Last chance to use Platinum or Reserve card to bring family or friends into SkyClub

Both the $450 Delta Reserve card and the $450 Amex Platinum card (not the Delta Platinum card) grant cardholders access to the Delta SkyClub when flying Delta.  Until May 1, you can also bring in your family or up to 2 guests.  Beginning May 1, you’re on your own unless you want to shell out $29 per guest.

Last chance to get $250 signup bonus for the SimplyCash card

The $250 signup bonus on the Amex SimplyCash business card ends on April 28th.  If you signup, you have to be approved by that date to get the bonus.  So, if you signup on or near that date, be sure to call Amex after you submit the application (877-399-3083).  That way, they can process the application while you wait on the phone.  This card has long offered 5% cash back at office supply stores and for wireless telephone services, which is not that interesting, in my opinion, if you have a Chase Ink card.  Where the card gets interesting is with their new choice of 3% cash back categories.  Each year you can choose to earn cash back from one of several categories (currently: airfare, hotels, car rentals, gas, restaurants, select media advertising, or shipping).  Since this is a business card, it also qualifies for Amex OPEN Savings.  So, consider double dipping by selecting hotels as your 3% category if you stay at Hyatt hotels in the US often (5% cash back from OPEN Savings); or select car rentals if you rent often from Hertz (up to 10% cash back from OPEN Savings).

Last chance to get $20 off $100 at Staples

If you were quick enough to get in on the Staples Amex Sync offer before it filled up (see “Amex Sync Offer: $20 off $100 at Staples!), keep in mind that the offer expires on April 30th.  Don’t let it pass by without using it!  See also: Staples Gift Cards.

Last chance to use my Amex affiliate links

If you were planning to signup for new Amex cards and were kind enough to want to use my affiliate links, I’m sorry to say that it is too late.  Monday (4/14) was the last day before Amex deactivated my links. On Tuesday, I went through my Best Offers page and removed all of the Amex affiliate links and replaced them with direct to Amex links.  I don’t have any information about why they severed the relationship and I’m sad to see it end, but please be assured that it won’t affect my reporting of Amex offers.  Amex has many great credit cards and deals.  As long as that remains true, I’ll continue to write about them. 

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