American Express US has recently been adding restrictive language to the terms and conditions of certain card families, which makes new cardholders ineligible for welcome bonuses if they’ve already held or currently hold a similar card in the same family.
This means that you may wind up excluding yourself from being eligible for a future welcome bonus in the future, if you’ve held a different card in the same family before.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at which cards have family language restrictions, and how this changes the strategy when applying for new American Express US cards going forward.
What Are the Family Language Restrictions on Amex US Cards?
Restrictive language limiting welcome bonuses on new credit card applications isn’t new; however, it’s historically only ever applied to welcome bonuses for members who already had the exact card they’re looking to sign up for.
For example, if you earned a welcome bonus on the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Card, cancelled the account, and then reapplied for it again at a later date, you may not be eligible to earn the welcome bonus again, even if you get approved.
However, Amex US has recently added even more restrictive language that applies to entire families of credit cards, which means that you may not be eligible to receive a welcome bonus even if you’ve never had a card before.
As a reminder, American Express US offers multiple cards that earn their own Membership Rewards points, as well as a number of co-branded partnerships with airlines and hotels. When multiple different cards earn the same type of points, it’s called a “family” of cards.
For example, if you’d like to earn Delta SkyMiles, you could apply for one of four American Express US co-branded cards from the Delta family:
- Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
In the past, you could apply for all four Delta SkyMiles cards in any order, and still be eligible for all the welcome bonuses.
However, as of late 2023, that’s all changing.
Every American Express US card comes with terms and conditions with wording that may limit welcome bonuses in certain situations.
As of 2023, the terms and conditions on each Delta SkyMiles…
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