The Explorer Credit Card (New AMEX Card!)

[forumninja]

Called up and the agent said possible to link the accounts but said the bonus points from Gateway would be lost. He recommended to spend it first before linking. Obviously did not go ahead with the linking!

 

[purpleparrot]

I currently have the Explorer card and am thinking about getting my wife to apply for one. She is currently not earning but AMEX has this line in it's eligibility T's & C's:
I have a personal or household gross (pre-tax) annual income of $65,000 or more

Has anyone had experience applying for a non-working spouse based on the household income mentioned above? If so, has it been approved succefuslly by AMEX?

I might call then to check as I don;t want to risk getting a credit hit for my wife if it is declined.

Interestingly if you generate a referral link it only mentions personal income rather than household income as eligibility criteria :idea:

I had this exact same query a couple of months ago. I phoned AMEX and they told me it was based on household income. When you start the application I think there's a screen that discusses that it is household and not personal income. In any event, as you complete the application it asks for income and partner's income. My partner is self-employed, earns much less than $65k and was approved immediately.

 

[Colonel Flagg]

Called up and the agent said possible to link the accounts but said the bonus points from Gateway would be lost. He recommended to spend it first before linking. Obviously did not go ahead with the linking!

I tried tonight twice and got the same answer about losing the Gateway points

Can the Gateway points be retrieved if you do link ?

 

[JessicaTam]

I currently have the Explorer card and am thinking about getting my wife to apply for one. She is currently not earning but AMEX has this line in it's eligibility T's & C's:
I have a personal or household gross (pre-tax) annual income of $65,000 or more

Has anyone had experience applying for a non-working spouse based on the household income mentioned above? If so, has it been approved succefuslly by AMEX?

I might call then to check as I don;t want to risk getting a credit hit for my wife if it is declined.

Interestingly if you generate a referral link it only mentions personal income rather than household income as eligibility criteria :idea:

You will be fine.

 

[rfc4eva]

I got my points and then called to link and the lady said absolutely and even spruiked that i'd be getting better value for my points on the Ascent program.24-72 hour wait

 

[Blackswan]

I got my points and then called to link and the lady said absolutely and even spruiked that i'd be getting better value for my points on the Ascent program.24-72 hour wait

Sounds like the agent I spoke with a few weeks ago, she was said I was smart to move to Ascent given the better value. Points transferred almost instantly. Only problem - the $400 travel credit disappeared from Amex travel website upon linking. I've had to call a few times to chase it up.

 

[rfc4eva]

Just checked mine aren't in there.ill wait another 48hrs.I dont have the $400 credit but i havent paid the $395 yet.

 

[NoName]

So I've read quite a bit on this thread regarding the linking/unlinking to ascent in order to be able to transfer the 110k bonus pts on a 1:1 basis instead of 1:0.75. Question I have not been able to find an answer for (admittedly could have missed it) is this: everyone I have read here appears to have had an already existing ascent account, mainly through the platinum edge card. I don't have this. If I was to open a card in a few months time that was on the ascent program will I still be able to link my Explorer card to it?

 

[daft009]

Yes, I'll be doing the same in a month or 2

 

[imipenam]

Just checked mine aren't in there.ill wait another 48hrs.I dont have the $400 credit but i havent paid the $395 yet.

Data point: My travel credit also disappeared after linkage. After about 2 - 3 weeks, upon paying the $395 fee, the travel credit reappeared again. If you are going to ring up, I suggest ringing up the foreign call centres. I rang the Australian centre to enquire about the travel credit early on but the CSR was nosey enough to see that my accounts were linked and said it wasn't meant to be ... and was going to initiate an enquiry on my account. I told her in no uncertain terms to leave my account alone. Fortunately, nothing happened to my linked accounts and points. I have since used my travel credit successfully. Worst scenario, ring up Amex travel if you need to book in a hurry and get them to apply the credit manually.

 

[albyd]

That was my thinking too. I saw it disappear. Not in a hurry to use it - figured I'd book over the phone when I'm ready and they can see I haven't used it yet and just apply it manually. Will have been more time since the linking to muddy the waters. Points uplift from linking is worth a lot more than $400 so prepared to forgo it in year 1 to ensure no unnecessary digging around to "find" it.

 

[Ken1]

Just checked mine aren't in there.ill wait another 48hrs.I dont have the $400 credit but i havent paid the $395 yet.

My $400 Travel Credit showed up under My Redemptions around a week after I received and started using the card. Just under a week later I called and spoke to someone in the Philippines call centre asking to have the Explorer card de-linked from Ascent to Gateway and that was done straight away. I spent the $1500 and received the 110,000 bonus points. Five days later I phoned and spoke to someone in the US call centre around 5am on a Sunday morning to ask to have the Gateway and Ascent programs merged to Ascent. I was told that normally you can't combine the two programs because the points in Ascent are worth more but that he would file a request to the back end team and that I would hear from someone in 3 to 5 business days.

I didn't hear anything from anyone and didn't see any changes in my account to the two programs when I checked each day and was thinking that the request had been unsuccessful and that I would have to call and try again in another few days. A week later I logged in and saw that under the Explorer card to view points under card number xx_xx and then saw that the points had been moved to the Ascent program, including the 110,000 bonus points so I was very relieved and very happy, so a big thank you to everyone who has posted their advice and experiences here.

The $400 travel credit always showed under My Redemptions, both before and after the Gateway account was created and then combined back to Ascent. The $395 annual card fee was posted to my card account on the day the statement was issued, just under two weeks later.

I've read here that some people have had the $400 travel credit disappear when accounts were delinked or relinked but have been told by Amex that they can call up to use it, even if it is not showing under My Redemptions at the time. Yours may still show up soon. There have been lots of examples of points transfers not showing for a few days but eventually showing up.

 

[annielee]

When i called yesterday for both MR to be linked, the agent said no problem and even told me the pros of getting both merged, and told me to wait for 3 days for the points to be transferred, as at now, i can only see both MR merged but Gateway points not transferred yet.. will wait for another 2 days...

 

[SOPOOR]

I've had my card for two weeks odd noe
The travel credit has shown up as 400
But when I go to book the option to use it doest come up

Terms and conditions say that it will become available once I pay the annual fee after the first month.....

OH well. As I was trying to use it last night

 

[JessicaTam]

I've had my card for two weeks odd noe
The travel credit has shown up as 400
But when I go to book the option to use it doest come up

Terms and conditions say that it will become available once I pay the annual fee after the first month.....

OH well. As I was trying to use it last night

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

 

[Dr Ralph]

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

I'm yet to use mine. But I have used the spend $200 get $50 offers recently. When I did so it asked if I wanted to use the $400 credit as my payment.

Edit - appears you can definitely do it online:

How to redeem your travel credit (https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/explorer-travel-credit.html):

'Step 1: Visit americanexpress.com.au/travel
Step 2: Login with your account details.
Step 3: Search the best options across airline, hotel, experiences or car hire to suit your itinerary.
Step 4: When you're ready to make your booking, choose to redeem your Travel Credit. Your booking value must be equivalent to, or more than your Travel Credit amount.
Step 5: Pay for additional costs with your American Express Card, Membership Rewards points or both!
Step 6: Review and confirm your booking.'

 

[annielee]

as long as you can 'see' $400 credit in your account, then you can redeem it online..some of us can't see it anymore coz of the MR linking, but we still can access the travel credit via a phone call..

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

 

[Steady]

I have only just got this card so have yet to use the travel credit, however my understanding is that you have to ring up to use it. I.e. it can't be used online.

Happy to be corrected.

I'm yet to use mine. But I have used the spend $200 get $50 offers recently. When I did so it asked if I wanted to use the $400 credit as my payment.

Edit - appears you can definitely do it online:

How to redeem your travel credit:

'Step 1: Visit americanexpress.com.au/travel
Step 2: Login with your account details.
Step 3: Search the best options across airline, hotel, experiences or car hire to suit your itinerary.
Step 4: When you're ready to make your booking, choose to redeem your Travel Credit. Your booking value must be equivalent to, or more than your Travel Credit amount.
Step 5: Pay for additional costs with your American Express Card, Membership Rewards points or both!
Step 6: Review and confirm your booking.'

as long as you can 'see' $400 credit in your account, then you can redeem it online..some of us can't see it anymore coz of the MR linking, but we still can access the travel credit via a phone call..

Confirming when you can see it in your account, it is easy to use online

 

[SOPOOR]

Confirming when you can see it in your account, it is easy to use online

I'm having trouble with mine

I haven't paid the annual fee

I see my credit but when I check out the option to use the travel credit isn't there.
The demo video they have shows it.
But mine doesnt

 

[illumination]

I have just had a read through every single comment in this post (all 134 pages) over the span of a few days. I did this for my own interest and also to learn about the intricacies of how people have been using this card. It was also partially out of fear of being criticised, as billbro did, for "not reading every single comment in this thread". I also did it because I was trying to see if anyone else has experienced what I am about to go through in terms of my intentions of this card.

What a read. Here are my observations/opinions on the billbro incident:

• People were unnecessarily hostile to billbro who asked a question and was told to "read a few pages - you won't have to look far to find your answer". It's not that this is not true - it's just that as he himself said, he's asking a question which someone probably has the answer to which can be answered in a more efficient way than trawling through 120 pages. I am fortunate enough to now have access to a wiki which ironically only came about because of that discussion and was made by him himself.
• On the point above, I didn't understand the need for such hostility when the question was asked in such an innocent way. Sometimes you get clowns who demand an answer as if you owe them something. billbro simply asked and as he said, if you didn't want to answer, you didn't have to and no one would've cared (including himself) - as long as I guess, one person answered him
• There were plenty other people that I saw asking repeated questions throughout the pages. Some, in fact, gave off a more expectant attitude than him, yet they didn't get any flak.
• I am a regular on another forum where plenty of people ask plenty of repeat questions. I only find it is necessary to berate them if it was something they missed in the title and if they ask in a demanding way (but as stated above, you could always simply choose to ignore them and not reply)

On the card and the deal itself, it has been an extremely entertaining read with plenty of good anecdotal experiences shared by the members here.

Here are my questions that I have from myself.

I have a Plat Edge and Velocity Platinum. I intend to cancel the Plat Edge and get the Explorer (i.e. keep the Velocity Plat). My primary concern is actually around my points balance on the Plat Edge. I wish to retain this balance but will not be able to unless I use it all up. I have looked into transferring the points to another MR Ascent member, but there is a limit of 50k per calendar year and this does not suit me as I have more than that.
I considered having the MR Ascent points convered to MR Gateway, but I'm literally taking a downgrade so decided this wouldn't be worth it.
I then thought, maybe I can convert to MR Gateway, and some time in the future convert MR Gateway to MR Ascent by re-applying for the Plat Edge or another card in the future which is part of the MR Ascent program.
I have also considered warehousing the points in SPG, but as I will be transferring at a rate of 2:1 which can then be converted 1:1 to the airlines that I am most likely to transfer to, it doesn't make sense to do that either.

I've fully got my head around how to structure, relink/unlink to obtain the bonus - my primary concern here is actually around my MR Ascent points balance.

In this scenario, I can't see this working for me at all so I don't think I will go ahead with applying for the Explorer to replace my Plat Edge. Does anyone have any other ideas for me?

The other one is for my friend - currently holds what was previously known as the BMW Gold AMEX which actually earns into MR Gateway. He is also intending to apply for the Explorer for the points, but I don't imagine this would work. I can see there was one reference in the past 134 pages of someone who cancelled it a few weeks before applying for the Explorer with the intention of getting the bonus points. I wonder whether he got the points? I don't imagine he would've, seeing as he previously had a MR Gateway account. Maybe I'll PM him to find out what happened as it seems he has not commented back to share the outcome!... although I can't find his comment anymore =/ damnit.

Also the wiki indicates the person who lost their points after linking Gateway back to Ascent after obtaining the bonus points lost their points. This has now been resolved! I can't edit the wiki so I hope somebody else can