The first 3 cycles of the card from what I understand are kind of the soft limit sizing period.. They have something in mind and it's not the same $$ as the displayed pay over time limit.. Spend away, and if by chance you do hit a limit you can contact them and ask how to proceed.
I was on a vacation and my platinum was new (1st month), had the bulk of the trip in the balance still via amex travel and I was wanting to shop so I just called and asked them if it'd would be any issue if I was to add ~10-15k to my balance and they said I'd be fine.
Since the initial burst of spending my use was sporadic and quite a bit lower on average (or none) for the next 8 months or so.. with a couple 4-5 digit bursts in between. Last month ramped up spending on the card big without any problem. Here on out, just not going to worry about it. If I get denied then I'll deal with it.
@RedWolfFish77 wrote:Hello! I was approved for the Amex Gold last week (super excited), does anyone know a decent way to somewhat guesstimate how American Express views your spending limit? I've been reading/told that playing around with "check spending power" is strongly disadvised to do and can cause a financial review/shutdown of the account.
Thank you!
Hi @RedWolfFish77. It is indeed frowned upon to "play" with that Spending Limit tool. Still, I admit I have sometimes used it out of curiosity and it's rather fun. I think it's mainly a problem on newer accounts that are using it excessively, making AMEX suspect potential pending fraud. Even without a "shutdown" of your account(s), it will likely lock you out of additional inquiries after a few entries. If you use it, better to use before an actual purchase that you want to see if it will be approved, which is what it was designed to do anyway.
Generally speaking, AMEX will base your spending limit on several factors including your prior spend-and-pay patterns, your income to support repayment, and probably your overall credit profile and utilization on all accounts (since they frequently soft pull member's credit.) For example, I would suspect that someone who has been a responsible member for years with $150K+ income and utilization under 10% would probably have more spending power than someone who makes $75K as a new member with 20% utilization across all cards.
Another hint might be if you have a "Pay-over-Time" limit, that might be a conservative guide to what AMEX would approve without question.
If your spending patterns are within the financial means you reported to AMEX at the time of application and your account is kept current, you'll probably be fine without worrying about your spending limit. Your initial spending limit is probably somewhere in the range of your other revolving credit accounts. If you have some extraordinary expense to charge, use that Spending Power tool to check.
@RedWolfFish77 wrote:Hello! I was approved for the Amex Gold last week (super excited), does anyone know a decent way to somewhat guesstimate how American Express views your spending limit? I've been reading/told that playing around with "check spending power" is strongly disadvised to do and can cause a financial review/shutdown of the account.
Thank you!
I had the card for a year and three months and could never 'guesstimate' how much my actual spending limit was. And I believe it fluctuated up and down.
@wasCB14 wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:Another hint might be if you have a "Pay-over-Time" limit, that might be a conservative guide to what AMEX would approve without question.
As a potentially very conservative data point, my Bus Plat POT limit is $15k and yet when I asked about a $100k charge Amex said they would approve it. I do also have Schwab Platinum ($35k POT) and Gold ($15k POT) though, so $65k combined across the three.
Sadly I think I'll have to write a check for that ~$100k though.
Right, I agree that the POT limit may be a very conservative estimate. My POT limit is $18K but when I have tested the Spend Limit function, AMEX has allowed much higher charges. As a new cardholder, I would think that might be a good place for OP to start, though. However, I've had numerous cards with them, been a member for decades, have a high FICO, a thick and aged credit file, and fairly high income so all of those probably help. I believe the highest single charge I put on my Gold card was $5K. I didn't test it beforehand and it was accepted with no issues. I know better than to use it a lot but I've occassionally done a single query on it. Just before I saw this thread, I had just tested $150K and it was accepted to my surprise. 
That gives me confidence that I could probably put anything I would normally charge on it within reason and it would be approved.
Just curious @wasCB14 but will you have to write a check for the $100K due to AMEX not being accepted for payment? I wondered why you asked and then said you'd probably write a check.
@Aim_High wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:Another hint might be if you have a "Pay-over-Time" limit, that might be a conservative guide to what AMEX would approve without question.
As a potentially very conservative data point, my Bus Plat POT limit is $15k and yet when I asked about a $100k charge Amex said they would approve it. I do also have Schwab Platinum ($35k POT) and Gold ($15k POT) though, so $65k combined across the three.
Sadly I think I'll have to write a check for that ~$100k though.
Right, I agree that the POT limit may be a very conservative estimate. My POT limit is $18K but when I have tested the Spend Limit function, AMEX has allowed much higher charges. As a new cardholder, I would think that might be a good place for OP to start, though. However, I've had numerous cards with them, been a member for decades, have a high FICO, a thick and aged credit file, and fairly high income so all of those probably help. I believe the highest single charge I put on my Gold card was $5K. I didn't test it beforehand and it was accepted with no issues. I know better than to use it a lot but I've occassionally done a single query on it. Just before I saw this thread, I had just tested $150K and it was accepted to my surprise.
Just curious @wasCB14 but will you have to write a check for the $100K due to AMEX not being accepted for payment? I wondered why you asked and then said you'd probably write a check.
A plumber previously took Amex on an $11k emergency job, but isn't interested in taking any CC on a ~$100k non-emergency job. I got plumbing estimates quite a while ago but the contract isn't 100% finalized due to delays in finishing up electrical work.
@NRB525 wrote:What sort of monthly volume do you expect for the Gold spending? If it's four digits, I'm not sure it will be a problem. Mid-five digits right out of the gate might be another concern.
I agree that may be a reliable guideline for some credit profiles, @NRB525, but wouldn't you temper that with income, current monthly debt obligations, and experience with other credit limits showing a past history of repayment? OP hasn't stated any of those factors and they may be significant. We know AMEX will approve profiles for charge cards with FICO's in the 600's and relatively thin profiles in some cases. And I've seen approvals from college students who are still in lower income brackets. Since this is a charge card, I would expect them to prefer new cardholders are limiting charges to what they could realistically repay based on a percentage, say 30% to 60% for example, of gross monthly reported income. Even if I reported income of $50K (gross monthly income of $4166), four-figures might almost be pushing it for a profile carrying heavy student loan debt, car loans, and/or mortgages. Of course, this is just my opinion of how they would evaluate, but we've also heard of members getting denied charges in the four-figure range.
Either way, I agree that mid-five-figures out of the gate as a new cardholder is more indefinite except for very high income.