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So I decided to upgrade my Green Card to a Gold Premium Rewards Card after ~1 month... Here is what happened:
I spoke to a live rep and they took a look at the account and confirmed the upgrade; I was happy since I wanted the extra benefits. I logged in the following day to see that my account was upgraded to a 'Traditional Gold' which did not sound right so I called back. After speaking with another representative, they told that I would not be able to upgrade to a card with a higher base annual fee during the first 13-months so I asked them to explain how I was upgraded to a 'Traditional Gold'.
Here is why I am sharing (in case anyone is looking to upgrade during their first 13-months)...
You can upgrade from a Green to a Traditional Gold during the first 13-month since the base annual fee for a Green is higher than the base for the Gold. The annual fee for a Green card is $95, compared to the annual fee of the Traditional Gold which is $85. The additional $40 fee that gives you the $125 total annual fee, is for the reward benefits associated with the Traditional Gold card and does not count when you are considering an upgrade. Of course, this is all irrelavant when you hit your 13-month tenure.
In summary....
Zinc to Green or higher -- upgrade not possible during the first 13-months
Green to Traditional Gold -- possible
Green to Premium Rewards Gold or better -- upgrade not possible during the first 13-months
Premium Rewards Gold to Platinum -- upgrade not possible during the first 13-months
Oh course, they told me I can always apply for a new card and close my other one...
EDIT: corrected some grammer
When doing an upgrade with AMEX do they pull your credit again?
@Anonymous wrote:When doing an upgrade with AMEX do they pull your credit again?
No, they reviewed the account internally.
AmEx upgraded me from green to traditional gold less than a month after getting green (I responded to a promotional mailout I received.) They did pull my credit again though.
@Anonymous wrote:AmEx upgraded me from green to traditional gold less than a month after getting green (I responded to a promotional mailout I received.) They did pull my credit again though.
I wonder if your credit was pulled because you responded to an offer... I confirmed with all three reports that neither a hard, nor a soft inquiry was made as a result of this upgrade; I kept the same account number.
@Iincognito wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:AmEx upgraded me from green to traditional gold less than a month after getting green (I responded to a promotional mailout I received.) They did pull my credit again though.
I wonder if your credit was pulled because you responded to an offer... I confirmed with all three reports that neither a hard, nor a soft inquiry was made as a result of this upgrade; I kept the same account number.
yes, responding to an offer is a new application... doing product changes with amex is a simple product change and no credit is ever pulled.
@Creditaddict wrote:
@Iincognito wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:AmEx upgraded me from green to traditional gold less than a month after getting green (I responded to a promotional mailout I received.) They did pull my credit again though.
I wonder if your credit was pulled because you responded to an offer... I confirmed with all three reports that neither a hard, nor a soft inquiry was made as a result of this upgrade; I kept the same account number.
yes, responding to an offer is a new application... doing product changes with amex is a simple product change and no credit is ever pulled.
They do keep sending me offers to upgrade from Gold to Platinum, so if I understand this answer correctly I gather accepting that would trigger a hard pull even though I've had my AMEX card since 1982, and even though AMEX does monthly soft pulls, so they ought to know all they need to know about me. In any case, for me the higher annual fee on Plat isn't worth it because most of the extra perks that I don't already get with Gold are travel-related and I don't travel that much. If I had a job that required frequent business travel then I might consider Plat.
Upgrading from Gold to Platinum through an offer on your Amex account website would not result in a hard pull.
I got Gold in May 2008. Went to Platinum in June 2009 by clicking on the upgrade button. Then called in and reverted to Preferred Rewards Gold in May 2010. There were no hard inquiries in any direction.
Now they have the upgrade to Platinum button on my account website. But I'm not inclined to click it.
@Creditaddict wrote:
doing product changes with amex is a simple product change and no credit is ever pulled.
That was always the case for me.