The complete guide to Amex’s one-bonus-per-lifetime restrictions

American Express has rewards credit cards with generous welcome offers and worthwhile benefits. Although Amex doesn’t impose a hard rule like Chase’s 5/24, the issuer is fairly restrictive regarding application rules and lifetime limitations on their cards.

Not only does American Express limit the number of cards you can have and how often you can apply, but it also tries to ensure that applicants are only eligible for one welcome offer per lifetime on each of their card offerings. This makes it critical to carefully choose when you apply for a new Amex card, as doing so may disqualify you from earning an even higher welcome bonus in the future.

Here’s what you need to know about Amex’s one-welcome-bonus-per-lifetime policy.

Many years ago, American Express would allow you to earn welcome offers on the exact same card multiple times. However, since 2014, the issuer has clamped down on applications and began limiting customers to one bonus per card per lifetime, regardless of how much time had passed since they last applied for that card.

In other words, you can apply for The Platinum Card® from American Express (see rates and fees) and earn a welcome offer once and only once. If you open the offer details link on the card’s application page, you’ll see the following language:

“Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or previous versions of the Platinum Card.”

The current bonus on the card is a generous 80,000 Membership Rewards Points after you spend $6,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership. However, you could be targeted for a higher welcome offer through the CardMatch tool (offer subject to change at any time). As a result, if you apply for the 80,000-point offer and receive a higher one at a later date, you’ll almost certainly be ineligible for it.

Caveats

There have been reports of people getting approved and earning the welcome offer again several years later. Additionally, you may be approved for the bonus if the terms of the offer don’t include the above language about previously having the card before.

Finally, American Express also introduced a warning several years ago as part of its online card application process. If Amex deems you are not qualified for the card’s welcome offer, you will likely see a pop-up box stating so.

In general, though, the issuer’s one-bonus-per-lifetime rule was implemented to discourage applicants from applying for Amex cards solely for the welcome bonuses.

Related: Choosing the best American Express credit card for you

This rule covers all of Amex’s cards. American Express maintains a strict rule of one bonus per card for life regardless of the family of cards (cobranded hotel and airline, business, cash-back and rewards cards).

Although this rule covers all Amex cards, you can earn a welcome offer on personal and business cards of the same type.

For example, the American Express® Gold Card (see rates and fees) and American Express® Business Gold Card (see rates and fees) are from the same card family, but one is a personal card and the other a business card. Amex allows you to earn the welcome offer for each card — as long as you have never been a cardholder of that card in the past.

Note that this also applies to rebranded or updated cards. For many years, the American Express® Gold Card was called the Premier Rewards Gold Card, and the current offer — 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership — explicitly references that older product:

“Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or the Premier Rewards Gold Card.”

Related: Credit card showdown: Amex Gold vs. Amex Business Gold

Officially, American Express does not have a cap on the number of cards you can have. However, the unofficial policy from Amex says that most cardholders will be restricted to at most five Amex consumer and business credit cards. They’ll also be limited to no more than 10 Amex cards with no preset spending limit (formerly known as charge cards). This latter category includes the American Express® Gold Card and The Platinum Card® from American Express.

For example, TPG’s Nick Ewen has the following American Express cards currently open:

The information for the Hilton Honors Aspire has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Since five of the seven are credit cards, he has reached his cap on credit cards with Amex.

Related: Chase’s 5/24 rule: Everything you need to know

Tracking which Amex cards you have applied for in the past will obviously give you a better idea if you are eligible for a certain card’s welcome bonus or not. If your organizational skills aren’t up to par, don’t fret — American Express has a welcome bonus qualification tool to warn applicants if they are ineligible for one. Here’s how it works:

When you apply for an American Express card that you’ve already had in the past, you’ll receive the following message before your credit is pulled:

Because you have or have had The Platinum Card, you are not eligible to receive the welcome offer.

We have not yet performed a credit check. Would you still like to proceed?

In essence, if you think you had a card before and thus are not sure if you’re eligible for the welcome offer, Amex should alert you with a pop-up message when you apply.

There is a possible exception to the rule for Amex welcome offers. Typically, you’ll see the verbiage noted above on the landing page of an application:

Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card.

If your card application does not include this restrictive language, but you have had the card in the past, this could mean that you’ve been targeted for the card by American Express and are eligible for the offer. Check your email for targeted offers or log into your American Express account and look for pre-approved offers with no lifetime language.

Just make sure to double-check before submitting your application for the pop-up message by Amex alerting you if you are ineligible for the welcome bonus. Taking a screenshot just before clicking apply is also a good idea. That could help if you run into issues receiving the bonus after you meet applicable spending requirements.

Although American Express has restricted welcome offers to one bonus per lifetime per card, cardholders can still apply and get approved for a card without the welcome offer. The language in the offer terms highlights the ineligibility of the welcome offer, but it typically doesn’t restrict approval.

However, it’s also worth pointing out the additional verbiage from the above screenshot:

“We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.”

This overly-broad statement essentially retains Amex’s ability to use additional factors from your credit report and history with the issuer to determine if you qualify for an offer. This shouldn’t impact most applicants — but if you’ve shown a pattern of opening cards, earning welcome bonuses and then canceling those cards after just one year, that could be a red flag.

Given the wide range of American Express card offerings and once-per-lifetime restrictions, you should time your applications strategically to ensure you get the highest possible welcome bonus. And don’t forget to check the CardMatch tool to know if you qualify for a possible targeted up to 150,000 Membership Reward points on the personal version of The Platinum Card from American Express and a 75,000-point targeted offer on the American Express® Gold Card (offers subject to change at any time).

Related: The ultimate guide to credit card application restrictions

Related: Which is the best American Express credit card for you?

Additional reporting by Danyal Ahmed, Chris Dong, and Christina Ly.

Featured Image by Wyatt Smith/The Points Guy.