The Points Pundit over at Travel Update made a nice find: if you have been or are approved between 12/1/19 and 5/31/20 for a new Amex account for which you’re eligible for a welcome bonus, Amex is automatically extending the period to make eligible purchases by 3 months. It’s great that this not only applies to new applicants, but also those who were previously approved on or after 12/1/19 and may have suddenly found themselves unable to meet the requirements with businesses in many states closed.
For those who have trouble reading the screen shot above, here’s the text from the Amex site (I found this by clicking “Cards”–>”View all credit cards”.
Due to the impact of COVID-19,
for eligible Card accounts approved from December 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020 for which you are eligible for a welcome offer, the period to make eligible purchases to earn your welcome bonus will be extended for an additional 3 months. Eligible Cards are U.S. Consumer and Business Cards issued by American Express National Bank to a Basic Card Member.
That means that if you had 3 months from December 1, you’ve now got until June 1st to meet your spending requirements. Folks approved more recently (or newly approved between now and the end of May) should have plenty of time for things to normalize in order to meet the spending requirements given 3 additional months (we hope).
It’s always a good idea to confirm this kind of extension in writing via chat if you can. I believe that Chase has also been offering extensions — again, it makes sense to send a secure message to inquire about the date by which you need to complete purchases to earn the welcome bonus.
Overall, this is a nice gesture from Amex that should make it easier for many folks to meet the spending requirement given they are in the position to be making credit card purchases at this time.
H/T: The Points Pundit
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Would this extension apply to tiered reward structures? For example, the Blue Business Cash Card has one bonus for minimum spend within 6 months, then additional bonus for minimum spend within a year. Does this now become 9 months & 15 months, or 9 months & 12 months? Any data points?
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Wish they announced this yesterday before Delta promos ended – with shelter in place for unforeseen future it might have meeting SUB from the house harder.
Does this apply to spending period for upgrade offers as well?
Great. By then, toilet paper will be back in stock, and I can use my new Amex card to fill my bunker with it.