Strategy to obtain US Amex

[QF_Flyer]

Been a while since I first applied for my Hilton Aspire Amex in 2022.. crazy to see this thread is now 700+ pages.

Some questions for the ones with multiple US Amex..
1. How do I go about applying for a 2nd Amex? Do a normal application or Global Transfer again?
2. Do I get the bonus points as an existing US Amex cardholder?
3. If I am doing ~$150-200k spend a year, what card should I go for? Bonvoy Brilliant or Amex Platinum?

1 - Normal route if you have ITIN, GT route if not (they'll process it using internal data).
2 - You're eligible for the bonus on each card once per "lifetime" so it depends what card you're applying for. There's also NLL links, which in theory get you another bite of the cherry.
3 - Depends what your spend is on. All flights, Amex Plat; all Marriott stays, Brilliant. Plus a million other things to consider inbetween!

 

[blacksultan]

1 - Normal route if you have ITIN, GT route if not (they'll process it using internal data).
2 - You're eligible for the bonus on each card once per "lifetime" so it depends what card you're applying for. There's also NLL links, which in theory get you another bite of the cherry.
3 - Depends what your spend is on. All flights, Amex Plat; all Marriott stays, Brilliant. Plus a million other things to consider inbetween!

Apparently lifetime for Amex US means 7 years .

 

[Franko Costa]

My second chase reinstatement request was denied today .
Apparently my cards were queued for a periodic review ( random )
Apart from previous reasons a new one was aggressive credit seeking with less then 20 % credit usage .

20% is high. Work out when you're statement closes and pay it down ex 1% when starting out

 

[aaa99]

Do you still earn points/count towards min spend if you pay off the balance before statement closes?

 

[levelnine]

Do you still earn points/count towards min spend if you pay off the balance before statement closes?

Yes

 

[blacksultan]

My $0.02 here, though you've done a good job of pushing all that through in the time period!

I think biggest Q from me would be whether or not you have a FICO score yet? The Amex App doesn't work for this any more (not for a few years) for non-ITIN people, but Creditkarma does - use whatever ID document you provided to Amex, drop any letters and add zeroes to the end, is others' advice - my experience is that the passport number (not long expired) that I provided Amex with originally is still my "SSN" (doesn't work as an ITIN, because it doesn't begin with 9, apparently).

That said, the above is more relevant to other issuers - I think you'd have a semi-decent chance of getting another Amex. Applying and using ITIN in the SSN field is correct, can also recommend the Green as a keeper in my opinion (the 3x on everything travel, transit, restaurant, is a good all-rounder for a decent annual fee - but that depends if you've got huge spend in that area). 40k seems the norm in term of SUB, though I got 60k + $200 travel credit (in the form of 20% back on up to $1,000 spend) via Resy (but that was a few years back).

I'd definitely wait until you have a visible FICO for Chase etc., probably my thoughts would be to leave it six months since last application too, and of course avoiding exceeding 5/24. Once you're on the Chase ladder, prioritise getting any of those you want, purely because of the 5/24 thing - I don't believe Business cards affect 5/24 though, others could correct me here (I don't yet have Chase myself).

Only some biz cards that appear on your personal report affect 5/24

20% is high. Work out when you're statement closes and pay it down ex 1% when starting out

No the issue pointed out was that my credit usage was too low - Less than 20 % !

 

[blacksultan]

Do you still earn points/count towards min spend if you pay off the balance before statement closes?

Be cautious about doing that especially if u then spend again before statement closes . . Banks frown upon that as risky behaviour .

 

[lilkid28]

1 - Normal route if you have ITIN, GT route if not (they'll process it using internal data).
2 - You're eligible for the bonus on each card once per "lifetime" so it depends what card you're applying for. There's also NLL links, which in theory get you another bite of the cherry.
3 - Depends what your spend is on. All flights, Amex Plat; all Marriott stays, Brilliant. Plus a million other things to consider inbetween!

1. Thanks. ITIN worth getting and what's the easiest way getting one these days?

2. What's the highest, or one of the higher bonus points on offer for Amex Platinum and/or Bonvoy Brilliant card?