Better Amex Offers when enrolling new cards

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Last week, my wife and I signed up for five new Amex cards in order to earn 185,000 Membership Rewards points (see: Rebuilding my Membership Rewards fortune).  With some of the cards we were given the choice to get working card numbers right away for online use.  We took advantage of that in order to meet the spend requirements immediately.  All of the cards showed up in the mail within a few days anyway (only one took almost a week to arrive).  And, some of the points posted immediately.  We’re already 100,000 points richer:

screens screenshot of a rewards account
Before and after images shown above. On the left, you can see that my balance increased by 25,000 Membership Rewards points thanks to spending $1,000 on my new Green card. On the right, you can see that my wife’s account increased by 76,000 points: 25,000 points from her Ameriprise Gold card, 50,000 points from her Premier Rewards Gold card, and 1,000 points from an Amex Offer she had fulfilled.

Given that we just added five new Amex cards to our online accounts, we gained a bit of experience in Amex’s new online card enrollment process.  And I was surprised to find that the process now often includes an Amex Offer that you might not get if you don’t accept it during online enrollment.

With one of my cards, on the last screen of online enrollment I was given the option to enroll in the Amazon Prime Amex Offer: Spend $99+, Get 5,000 points.  I don’t have a screenshot of the offer within the enrollment process, but here’s what it looks like once it is added to an account:

a close-up of a membership card

The first time this happened, I didn’t enroll in the offer.  Once the card was in my account, I checked for the Amazon Prime offer in the usual spot where you find these things (log in, select your card, scroll down, and click Amex Offers For You) and discovered that it wasn’t there.  In other words, the card enrollment process gave me a way to get an offer that I couldn’t get through the standard process.

I then tried adding the same card to the account again (fortunately the card still shows only once in my account afterwards).  At the end of the process, I was given a different excellent offer: Save 10% on your cable or satellite TV bill, up to $10:

screens screenshots of a mobile app

I accepted this one and immediately prepaid $100 to my Comcast account.  The $10 rebate has already posted to my account.  I found similar offers on three out of five cards that my wife and I enrolled.

Step by Step

When your Amex card arrives, a sticker on the card instructs you to browse to americanexpress.com/confirmcard.  If you have an already activated card, you can add it to your online account by logging in, click My Cards, and then “Add Another Card” (the specifics of where to find these things vary depending on which version of the Amex interface you are logged into).

Step 1: Enter card details:

a card with text and a picture of a man

Step 2: Log into your account or sign up for an account

a screenshot of a login form

Step 3: Update contact info

a screenshot of a phone number

Step 4: Customize your relationship (or skip)

a screenshot of a login form

I always simply click “Continue” at this point to skip this.  You can change the other settings later.  Are you sure you want to skip?  Yes.  Press Skip.

a screenshot of a credit card

Step 5: Do not enroll in Extended Payment Option

screens screenshot of a website

Just press Continue, then Skip.  Usually, about 9 or 10 months into card membership, Amex will offer bonus points for enrolling in this payment option.  Wait for that to happen to enroll!

Step 6: Enroll in whatever great offer you are given

screens screenshot of a cell phone

Not everyone will get a great offer, or any offer at all for that matter.  In our case, we were able to add either the cell phone offer or the cable offer to 3 of our 5 cards.  One card got both offers.  We’re not exactly rich as a result, but it was a very quick and easy $40.

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