I had just been approved for the 100,000-point Biz Platinum, so I figured another application probably wouldn’t be denied. So, being a bit stubborn, exactly 30 days later I applied again for the AMEX Biz Amazon card [which now comes with a straight $125 gift card, with no extra $100 bonus, and no longer requires $3,000 in spending], and I was still instantly denied. However, the denial letter no longer cited the card-slot issue. Instead, it said my card balances were too high and I had too many hard pulls [one AMEX card had a high balance, and last month I was denied for several newly launched US Bank cards as well as the Rakuten co-branded card]. It seems the card-slot issue is not absolute: even if your last denial was due to the card limit, you might still be instantly approved next time—or instantly denied like I was. There are also DPs showing that calling recon can sometimes get around it.
Another interesting point: when applying for the AMEX Business Platinum through a link sent to your email by phone, the application status page shows it as “Dummy CODE.” Based on comparisons before and after, approval odds for applications under this Dummy Code do not seem low.
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[The following was originally posted on 06/03]
In late May, I wanted to take advantage of AMEX’s 6-month minimum-spending window for new card bonuses, so I planned to apply for an AMEX Biz Amazon card [because Chase had shut down all my accounts, I currently didn’t have a suitable Amazon co-branded card. Having Prime alone was not very useful, and I was missing out on 5x rewards. The AMEX Biz Amazon card was a good fit. Normally, this card required $3,000 in non-Amazon spending within 3 months to earn the welcome bonus, and with the pandemic policy, having 6 months to complete it would make things much easier].
But while the idea sounded great, I ended up running into the 5-card limit.
According to our records, you currently have the maximum number and type of American Express Card accounts that we allow.
My profile: I had 3 Hilton Aspire cards and 1 AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant personal credit card, for a total of 4 cards.
Based on the denial letter, this really was due to the card limit. Quite a few DPs currently suggest this restriction is very YMMV. Also, there are Reddit DPs showing that if you were denied because of the 4-card limit, calling recon gives you some chance of getting approved for a fifth card after all. Maybe my luck has just been bad lately, so I decided to skip recon.
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