American Express is still hurting for charge volume in the wake of their loss of the Costco account last year.
One happy consequence: they are offering many current customers promotional offers to open new accounts with them, often on very favorable terms.
For example, I have a well-used Business Platinum account, which will receive the excellent 50% Membership Reward rebate on booked flights until next February. Just last month, an offer appeared under “Amex Offers” to open a Preferred Rewards Gold card with double the usual bonus: 50K MR points instead of the usual 25K. Beyond that, there was no new credit inquiry pulled.
Since personal (as well as business) Amex charge, cards have not reporting on my credit report, and since there is no limit on the number of Amex charge cards (unlike the Amex credit card limit of 4-5), this amounts to a cost-free new card. No annual fee for the first year, and the bonus alone will score $1,000+ in airfare on my preferred airline.
Obviously, YMMV. But I now my case isn’t an isolated one.
What other similar offers have you seen lately? And how are you leveraging them with other Amex products?