Playing the Travel Card Signup Rules Game

We all know that rewards card signup bonuses make it easy to rack up a ton of points and miles in a hurry.

Unfortunately, most travel credit cards put a limit on how often you can earn a new bonus on a card after you close your account.

For rewards credit cards offered through Chase, for example, you need to wait 24 months to earn a signup bonus on a card you’ve already earned the bonus for. For Citi cards, on the other hand, the required waiting period is 24 months from the time you opened or closed a Citi card within the same travel program (American Airlines, Citi ThankYou Rewards, etc.).

American Express has the most restrictive rule of them all. Each of their rewards and travel credit cards comes with a once-per-lifetime rule—as in, you only get one shot to earn the signup bonus with each of their products.

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The good news is, American Express doesn’t actually consider your entire life to be once-per-lifetime. According to all data available, the card issuer seems to consider a lifetime as any time in the last seven years.

If you have had a specific American Express product within that timeframe, you may qualify for the card again. However, since you won’t earn the bonus offer even if you meet the card’s requirements, you shouldn’t sign up for a repeat American Express card unless you want it for its ongoing perks.

Considering other major card issuers like Chase, Citi and even Barclaycard don’t take such a hard line against people who want to earn a bonus more than once, the once-per-lifetime policy does seem pretty severe.

Fortunately, there is more than one way to deal with this policy. For starters, it’s important to note that this rule limits the signup bonus to once per American Express product. Since each card is considered a different product to the card issuer, you can earn similar bonuses as long as they are from different cards.

Let’s say you earned the signup bonus from the discontinued Hilton Surpass hotel credit card in the past. No matter what, you could sign up for the new Hilton Business Credit Card and the new Hilton Aspire card and earn the 100,000 bonus points on each because these are entirely different products altogether.

Finally, it’s important to note that the once-per-lifetime rule only applies if American Express includes their standard disclaimer wherever you apply. Typically, the disclosure will say something along the lines of, “welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product.”

If you receive a direct mailer for a rewards credit card you’ve had in the past and it doesn’t include this disclosure or one that’s similar, you can apply and earn the signup bonus again no matter how recently you’ve earned the bonus.

While American Express definitely makes it difficult to take advantage of their signup bonuses, we have to play by their rules. For the time being, that means taking advantage of their lucrative signup bonus offers once every seven years or potentially sooner if you get a direct offer in the mail.

Fortunately, there are a ton of competing hotel card offers to consider if you’ve blown through all the best American Express travel cards already.