Many times here in this space, I’ve said that opening up credit cards for their signup bonus miles and points is one of the best ways to get a bunch of miles and points. And while I’ve also said that YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT SIGN UP FOR A CREDIT CARD JUST BECAUSE SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET SAYS YOU SHOULD, judicious usage of credit card signups can help jumpstart your account balance, without adversely affecting your credit score.
(READ MORE: “I only date guys with high credit scores“)
The current rules and best practices for Amex cards
Different banks and card issuers have different rules for getting bonuses on credit cards. Some (Chase) limit you to one bonus every 24 months, while others will let you get a bonus every 90 days or so
I do attempt to keep an active reference page on the current rules and best practices for signing up for credit cards, which would be a good page to bookmark if you haven’t already
Currently American Express has a rule that you can only get one signup bonus per LIFETIME! So if you’ve gotten a signup bonus on a particular American Express card before, you won’t get another one.
Getting (targeted) Amex flyers in the mail
But recently, American Express has been sending me targeted flyers like the one below in the mail for the Amex Delta Skymiles Gold card.
I was pretty sure that I had received a Delta Skymiles card before, but it’s been awhile and I didn’t have it in my records (which, admittedly, are slightly spotty). What I remember was Carolyn and I both signing up for it, but I screwed up my link and only got a 10,000 signup bonus. I tried to live chat with Amex and was told that I had had a Delta Amex card back in 1999 (which I’m 99% sure is incorrect)
Given that they kept sending me flyers (I got 2 of them), I saw a couple of different options
- Amex had no record of me having a Delta Amex card, and that’s why they kept sending me flyers
- I’ve never had a Delta Amex card, or the one I had a few years ago was somehow considered a “different” card
- The one hand (marketing) wasn’t talking to the other hand (card management)
- They know I’ve had a card and they’re not going to give me a bonus but they just want to waste postage mailing me stuff?
Applying for a(nother) Delta Amex card
All in all, because I don’t get super worked up about “hard pulls”, I figured it was worth a try, so a few days ago I applied for a Delta Amex card. The offer I had was for 60,000 Skymiles after spending $1000 in the first 3 months – piece of cake!
I filled in my (correct!) information and ….
Instant approval! I am still waiting for my card to come in the mail, but once it does, and once it shows up in my list of accounts to manage, I will see if I actually get that bonus.
I can’t decide if I should try to just meet the signup criteria and see what happens, or try to get it “on record” with the chat folks of what the signup bonus is on my account.
What would you do / have done in my situation? Leave your thoughts below in the comments