Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?

manateemark — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 18:33:31 GMT

Hello everyone,

I went to apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card 2 days ago and upon submitting my application I was given the message below saying that I would not be elegible to receive the SUB . I cancelled the application for the time being and am not sure what card I should be looking at next. I'm currently at 6/16 and won't be under 5/24 until May 2022 or I would apply for the IHG card from Chase. I have a more "thin" file, but that hasn't really been an issue at this point. I am military so I have the benefit of not paying annual fees, but will be dealing with a lot of schooling next year and not sure whether I'd even be able to meet SUBs, but as you can see from my spend below right now organically that's not really a big issue (the month-to-month is off a little due to when statements are cut). I am taking a trip out West this summer and will be camping as well as staying in hotels. I was looking at the Brilliant card for the $300 credit towards hotels, which would be able to provide at least 2 free nights and then I could use the points for some nights or save them for some other time. It might still be worth having the card without the sign up bonus if anyone knows if that bypasses the "once in a lifetime" ruling where I could potentially apply for the card at a later point? Status with either the Bonvoy Brilliant or Hilton Aspire could definitely be useful throughout my stays and I will be driving so airline cards won't be any use.

Are there any data points on being "unbanned" from AMEX?

I have line and bar graphs of my monthly spend on all of my cards posted below, starting when I received each card. My FICO score is ~750 right now. I was looking at the Citi Prestige card since it would have the $250 statement credit towards travel that I could utilize and I would like to have the cellphone protection that card offers as none of my current cards have any coverage. I know the Citi Premier has a higher sign up bonus right now with 10K more points, but think I might get more value from the prestige card, but I also like the prestige categlories. I do understand that Citi CAN be more selective and could deny me for either card should I apply.

Is there any other cards I should be looking at with either good SUBs, hotel status, or travel credits?

Also before anyone says that I should hold off on getting any more cards and be patient; I would prefer to have status for this trip come the time I am booking and staying at hotels, but I am not loyal to any brand. Saving money with statement credits is also essentially free money when I won't be paying annual fees so I should enjoy all the perks while I am in the military.

Re: Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 19:53:08 GMT

I applied for the Hilton Surpass card and got a popup saying I am not eligible for SUB. I called the new card /recon line, I was told since I had applied for the Amex Bonvoy Business 2 months ago and got the SUB, I was not eligible for the SUB.

BTW: I had applied for the Green card 93 days before.

Re: Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?

coldfusion — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 10:36:08 GMT

The common reasons for AMEX to rule you ineligible to receive a SUB are:

a) you previously held the card and collected a SUB i.e. the "lifetime rule"

b) you hold other AMEX cards where you met the SUB requirements and then dropped off spend dramatically

Reason b) is an indicator of SUB chasing and there are data points that suggest the appropriate countermeasure is to place heavy organic spend on your current AMEX cards for several months and then apply again for the card you want.

Re: Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?

manateemark — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 23:45:42 GMT

Thank you, I will start to use the other cards more over the next few months in scenarios where maybe it's not the best card for the categlory, but at least spreading the spend across all the cards.

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Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?

Re: Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?

Re: Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?

Re: Not Eligible to receive AMEX welcome offer - which card next?