American Express application rules: One welcome bonus per card, per lifetime
Amex pays each card's welcome bonus once per lifetime. If you have ever held that specific card, expect the offer to be worth $0 to you — even years later, and even if you closed it.
Reviewed: Data verified 2026-09-15 · Credit Upside editorial · Updated 2026-09-16 · How we rank
Also reported
- Amex generally allows about 5 open Amex-issued credit cards at once; charge cards are counted separately and more loosely.
- Applying through a referral or a targeted offer does not get around the lifetime-bonus language.
American Express cards we track
30 open American Express cards in the database, with the printed earn rates and what they are actually worth.
- The Business Platinum Card from American Express
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
- American Express Business Gold Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card
- Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card from American Express
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card
- American Express Business Green Rewards Card
- Blue Business Cash Card
- Blue Business Plus Credit Card
- Lowe's Business Rewards Card from American Express
- Centurion Card from American Express
- The Platinum Card from American Express
What this is, and what it is not
These are unofficial patterns reported publicly by cardholders and the points community — not issuer policy, not underwriting criteria, and not a promise of approval or denial. Issuers do not publish their application rules, they change them without notice, and every application is decided on your full credit profile and income. Treat everything here as context for a decision you make yourself.
Common questions
What is American Express's main application rule?
Amex pays each card's welcome bonus once per lifetime. If you have ever held that specific card, expect the offer to be worth $0 to you — even years later, and even if you closed it. It is a pattern reported by cardholders, not published policy, so treat it as a strong prior rather than a certainty.
Does American Express publish these rules?
No. No issuer publishes its underwriting criteria, and none of them will confirm these patterns. Everything on this page is reconstructed from what applicants report publicly, which is why each item carries how well established it is rather than being stated flatly.
Will following this get me approved?
No. These describe when an application is usually pointless, which is a genuinely useful thing to know — they say nothing about whether a given application will succeed. Income, credit history, existing exposure at the issuer and plain luck all matter, and none of them are visible here.
Which card should this spending actually be on? The demo re-scores a year of realistic spending against every card in a wallet — free, no signup. See it on sample data →
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