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American Express Is Sending Out “Pre-Approved” Referral Offers With No Lifetime Bonus Restrictions (Targeted)

  • Alex Curtis

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.

    Right now American Express is targeting some folks with an offer that allows them to send “pre-approved” card offers to 2 people.

    The language of the email actually says “share a pre-approved offer with up to two close friends.”  You will earn bonus points if your friend is approved for the card.  Plus, the person you refer gets a welcome bonus after they reach minimum spending requirements.

    American Express typically limits you to earning the bonus on a card to once per lifetime.  So if you’ve had the card before, you can’t ever earn the bonus on it again.  But these offers don’t contain the same language that restricts you from earning the bonus if you’ve already had the card.  So while there’s no guarantee the person you refer will be approved, they at least won’t be limited because they’ve had the card before.

    If you want to be first to know about deals like this then be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

    Targeted Members Can Send Pre-Approved Offers for Select American Express Cards Where Both You and Your Friend Earn Bonus Points

    Are These Really Pre-Approved American Express Offers?

    Not really.  The language of the offer continuously uses the terms “pre-approved,” but it also says approval is not guaranteed.  And if AMEX doesn’t know who you are referring how can they pre-approve them?

    The email specifically states that you should invite 2 close friends.  So is American Express lowering some of the other approval requirements because they know you were invited by a customer of theirs that has been a valuable?

    But the truth is, we don’t know exactly what this means.  But American Express is calling it a pre-approved offer and are asking you to “choose wisely.”  Remember that American Express has the final say in all credit card decisions, so no offer is ever a guarantee.

    No Lifetime Welcome Bonus Restriction Language

    The best part of this offer is that the terms lack some of the fine print that you’ll see on most American Express card applications.  Most American Express offers and applications contain the following fine print:

    Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this card.

    This means that for the most part if you have had a card in the past you are generally not eligible for another welcome offer if you apply for the same card again.  However, interestingly there does not seem to be any restriction to this effect with these refer-a-friend targeted offers.

    So if this is true, it would allow you to invite a friend who has previously had the American Express card and they would be eligible for welcome bonus.  Normally they would not be eligible to re-earn an intro bonus on the same card again.  Of course, just because you are eligible doesn’t mean that you’ll be approved.

    These Are The Card Offers (That We Know Of)

    These offers seem to be only for personal cards.  We haven’t yet seen an offer for any of the American Express business cards.

    Jason’s Wife Was Targeted With This Deal, But He Wasn’t

    Some folks have received similar offers for other AMEX cards, including:

    Is This Offer a Good Value?

    Absolutely!  If you are sent this targeted offer to invite your friends than this can be a good opportunity to get your friends and family members hooked on the points and miles hobby.  In some cases they can even earn a larger welcome bonus with the referral offer and you also get a bonus for referring them.

    So this is a truly a win-win and could open up a great conversation on credit card spending and points earning with people you know.

    Have you gotten an offer on any of these cards or on different ones?  Please share in the comments.

    To stay on top of the latest miles & points deals, subscribe to our newsletter and have them delivered to you daily.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)