Today, KUKU helped a family member apply for an AMEX Green credit card (all-time-high 45,000 + $150 Away bonus through the 15th), and it was instantly approved. However, AMEX did not provide an option to directly view the card number right away. At the same time, no email came in for quite a while; only after a few hours did several emails gradually arrive. We noticed something different in one of them: it allowed us to view the Instant Card Number through a link! This is a new method!
Before discussing this new method, let’s first review the old ways AMEX previously allowed users to view the Instant Card Number.
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Quick Review
Previously, AMEX mainly allowed people to view the Instant Card Number in two situations: right after an instant approval, or when replacing a credit card with a changed card number.
View After Instant Approval
After an instant approval, you may be prompted to view it directly. You can only see it once, and sometimes it shows an error instead. In those cases, AMEX may offer some Credit as compensation (remember to take a screenshot).
View After a Card Number Replacement
If you need to replace your credit card and the card number changes, you can use View Card Number inside your Online Account (this also applies if AMEX proactively replaces your card number).
- Path: Account Service → Card Management → View Card Number
Some blogs previously wrote that this was also one of the ways to view the number for an instantly approved new card, but that is actually not the case. If your newly approved credit card has already been added to your online account, you will get an error if you follow this path, because you did not actually trigger a card number replacement.
After clicking Close, you will then see “Status of your replacement Card.” You can check the shipping status of the card there, although that status is often delayed by 1-2 days.
It looks like this:
If you prefer, after logging into your account you can also directly enter the following URL, then select the credit card whose shipping status you want to check to achieve a similar result:
https://global.americanexpress.com/account-management/card-replacement
After this review, we can see that in the past, viewing the Instant Card Number was either tied to a card-number replacement or was a one-time-only method, which was not very convenient. Maybe AMEX also felt this was not ideal, so now it has started to change?
The New Method
As mentioned at the beginning, we waited quite a while for the Approved email. This seems to be a method AMEX has only recently introduced: the email itself includes a link for viewing your Instant Card Number.
- Email subject line: Your American Express application was approved!
- Where to find it: the button is very obvious and large, right in the middle of the email: Get your Card number now
Steps to View It
The link goes to a URL where the red portion is a code tied to your application information. The exact logic behind it is unknown. It looks like this:
https://gim.americanexpress.com/accountdelivery/web/accountdelivery/retrieval/home?encPcn=(a specific code for your card)#/accountdelivery/instantVerification
Just like the previous method, there are three steps in total: verify identity, confirm the Agreement, and then view the card number.
It also lets you add the card to various mobile payment wallets, as shown below.
At the same time, this link allows you to view your Instant Card Number repeatedly, which is very user-friendly, though it also means fewer chances for a little “easy win” compensation in the past (previously, if you were supposed to be able to view it but couldn’t, AMEX might give a statement credit as compensation).
Note: The entire process must be completed within 20min. If it times out, you need to reopen the link and go through the process again.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this is a nice improvement. The highlights, in the author’s view, are:
- Because the link is sent by email, cards approved after review should also be able to view the Instant Card Number.
- It allows repeated viewing, which is more stable than the previous one-time-only method.
It is still unclear whether this has been rolled out widely yet. Feel free to share your DP!