Is Amex increasing exceptions to their Once Per Lifetime Rule?

41

Amex By Mail Offers No Once Per Lifetime Rule

Most American Express credit card offers disallow those who have had the same card before.  Language in the application offer terms usually state the following (and usually in bold text): “Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.” We describe this as Amex’s once per lifetime rule.

I often hear reports from people who have received targeted offers from Amex which do not include the once per lifetime rule.  And plenty of data points have proven that you can get the signup bonus even if you’ve had the card before, as long as your offer doesn’t have the lifetime exclusion language.

My son regularly gets Amex credit card offers by mail (thanks to having setup a website domain a few years ago), but until very recently they all included the lifetime language.  Then, about a week ago, that changed.  In the past week, he has received three new by-mail offers and none have the once per lifetime language!

Each offer includes a one-time use code.  In my experience, someone other than the recipient can use that code and the same offer terms apply.  So, for example, I could apply for the Premier Rewards Gold 50K offer with my son’s targeted offer code, and I should be eligible for the signup bonus despite having had that card before.  Same with the Everyday 25K offer.

I’m going to wait a bit to see if other even better offers come along, but I’ll most likely pull the trigger on some of these.  While they’re not the biggest offers we’ve ever seen, the opportunity to get more points for cards we’ve had before is a rare gift.

Is this just me my son?  I’m curious if others are also seeing more of these unrestricted targeted offers lately?  Please comment below.

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

41 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments