Navigating the Amex US Family Language Restrictions

American Express US has recently been adding restrictive language to the terms and conditions of certain card families, which makes new cardholders ineligible for welcome bonuses if they’ve already held or currently hold a similar card in the same family.

This means that you may wind up excluding yourself from being eligible for a future welcome bonus in the future, if you’ve held a different card in the same family before.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at which cards have family language restrictions, and how this changes the strategy when applying for new American Express US cards going forward.

What Are the Family Language Restrictions on Amex US Cards?

Restrictive language limiting welcome bonuses on new credit card applications isn’t new; however, it’s historically only ever applied to welcome bonuses for members who already had the exact card they’re looking to sign up for.

For example, if you earned a welcome bonus on the American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Card, cancelled the account, and then reapplied for it again at a later date, you may not be eligible to earn the welcome bonus again, even if you get approved.

However, Amex US has recently added even more restrictive language that applies to entire families of credit cards, which means that you may not be eligible to receive a welcome bonus even if you’ve never had a card before.

As a reminder, American Express US offers multiple cards that earn their own Membership Rewards points, as well as a number of co-branded partnerships with airlines and hotels. When multiple different cards earn the same type of points, it’s called a “family” of cards.

For example, if you’d like to earn Delta SkyMiles, you could apply for one of four American Express US co-branded cards from the Delta family:

• Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card

In the past, you could apply for all four Delta SkyMiles cards in any order, and still be eligible for all the welcome bonuses.

However, as of late 2023, that’s all changing.

Every American Express US card comes with terms and conditions with wording that may limit welcome bonuses in certain situations.

As of 2023, the terms and conditions on each Delta SkyMiles co-branded card say that you may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you currently have or have had the card, or if you have or have had any of the other Delta SkyMiles cards in a higher tier than the one you’re applying for.

This means that if you were planning to apply for the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, you may not be eligible for the welcome bonus if you’ve already had or currently have the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, which are higher-tier cards.

In other words, if you currently hold, or have held in the past, a card in a higher tier than the one you’re applying for, you may not be eligible to receive the welcome bonus on the lower-tier card.

Therefore, the order in which you apply for credit cards is more important than ever before, as you want to make sure you’re levelling up rather than levelling down.

Which Amex Cards Currently Have Restrictive Family Language?

Before we dive into the strategy, let’s recap the various families of Amex US cards and the ranking of cards in each family.

Membership Rewards Family

There are three cards in the Amex US Membership Rewards family:

American Express most recently introduced family language to this family of cards in February 2024.

In this family of cards, the restrictions around welcome bonuses are summarized in the following blurbs:

American Express Green Card

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the American Express® Gold Card or previous versions of these Cards.

American Express Gold Card

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Premier Rewards Gold Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or previous versions of these Cards.

American Express Platinum Card

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or previous versions of these Cards.

Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab or previous versions of these Cards. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors.

In other words, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus in the following situations:

• For the Green card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Green, Gold, or Platinum card
• For the Gold card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Gold or Platinum card
• For the Platinum card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Platinum card

Delta SkyMiles® Family

There are four cards in the Delta SkyMiles® family of co-branded American Express US credit cards:

• Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card
• Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card

In this family of cards, the restrictions around welcome bonuses are summarized in the following blurbs:

Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Options Credit Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or previous versions of this Card. You also may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer based on various factors, such as your history with credit card balance transfers, your history as an American Express Card Member, the number of credit cards that you have opened and closed and other factors.

In other words, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus in the following situations:

• For the SkyMiles® Blue card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Delta SkyMiles® Blue, Options, Gold, Platinum or Reserve card. 
• For the SkyMiles® Gold card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Delta SkyMiles® Gold, Platinum, or Reserve card
• For the SkyMiles® Platinum card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Delta SkyMiles® Platinum or Reserve card
• For the SkyMiles® Reserve card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Delta SkyMiles® Reserve card

Marriott Bonvoy Family

There are only two personal credit cards in the Marriott Bonvoy family of Amex US credit cards: the Marriott Bonvoy Benvy American Express Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card.

In this family of cards, only the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card has family language for welcome bonus restrictions, as follows:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card or previous versions of these Cards.

Cash Back Family

There are three credit cards in the Amex US cash back family of cards:

• American Express Cash Magnet Card
• American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card
• American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card

In this family of cards, the restrictions around welcome bonuses are summarized in the following blurbs:

American Express Cash Magnet Card

You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees if you have or have had this Card, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

American Express Blue Cash Everyday® Card

You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees if you have or have had this Card, the Cash Magnet® Card, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

American Express Blue Cash Preferred® Card

You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees if you have or have had this Card, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

In other words, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus in the following situations:

• For the Cash Magnet card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had an Everyday Card, a Blue Cash Everyday® Card, or a Blue Cash Preferred® Card
• For the Blue Cash Everyday® Card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Blue Cash Everyday® Card or a Blue Cash Preferred® Card
• For the Blue Cash Preferred® Card, you may not be eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had a Blue Cash Preferred® Card

Other Cards

American Express US has continued to add restrictive language to different card families in the recent past; however, not all cards have the ‌restrictive language at this time.

For example, the American Express Hilton Honors co-branded card lineup is unaffected by family language at this time.

Plus, the restrictive family language hasn’t reached any of the American Express business cards at this point.

However, this could change at any point, so be sure to double check the welcome bonus restrictions before you apply for a new Amex US product to ensure you’re eligible.

Strategizing Around Amex US Family Language Restrictions

Despite the changes in the terms and conditions, there’s still a lot of opportunities to take advantage of the generous welcome bonuses from American Express US products throughout your lifetime.

In fact, by just being strategic about the order in which you sign up for Amex US cards, the restrictive family language won’t actually matter.

Work Your Way Up

If you’d like to remain eligible for welcome bonuses on any Amex US family of cards, you simply need to start at the lowest tier in each family, and then work your way up.

At this time, there’s no language restricting you from being eligible for a welcome bonus on a higher-tier card if you’ve held a lower-tier card.

For example, you aren’t breaking any of the terms and conditions for receiving the welcome bonuses if you go ahead and first sign up for the American Express Green Card, followed by the American Express Gold Card, and lastly the American Express Platinum Card, as it suits your personal spending patterns, and while still adhering to American Express’s application rules.

What’s more, signing up for lowered tiered American Express cards has always been the best long-term strategy, even before the restrictive language was implemented.

Pay Attention to Terms and Conditions

The credit card landscape is constantly changing.

It’s possible that card offers may show up in the future that don’t include the restrictive family language, or, going in the other direction, it’s possible that the wording in the terms and conditions may get even more restrictive.

Either way, it’s worth getting into the habit of quickly checking the American Express terms and conditions before applying for a card. You never know when it could help you out, or when it might change your approach if you find out you’re not eligible.

There are also certain cards, like the American Express Hilton Honors cards and all American Express US business cards that don’t currently have the restrictive family language.

Although this may change in the future, for now, it might make sense to prioritize putting some of these cards in your wallet sooner rather than later.

Think Long-Term

The US credit card landscape has always been a long-term play. It’s best to think months, if not years, ahead, and map out your own strategy based on your personal travel and credit card goals.

One of the main reasons for doing this is to help keep the Chase 5/24 and the American Express five credit card limit rules in mind throughout your planning.

Another part of the long-term planning is remembering American Express’s once-per-lifetime language, which means that you can’t receive a repeat welcome bonus on the same card.

Given this, it’s always best to hold out for the highest welcome bonus available before applying for a card, rather than adding a card when it’s a less lucrative offer.

Lastly, it’s important to highlight that the restrictive family language on all of the cards we’ve covered doesn’t necessarily exclude you from a welcome bonus in the future:

You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer…

Even if you’ve had one of the higher-tiered cards before, it’s entirely possible that American Express US will still grant you the welcome bonus.

Fortunately, American Express has been pretty good at letting customers know when they won’t be eligible for a welcome bonus without making you submit an application, receive the card, and hit the minimum spending requirement with nothing to show for it.

In cases where you’re not eligible for the welcome bonus, a pop-up will usually show up on your screen when you’re applying to let you know.

Of course, signing up for a card with restrictive language when you’ve already had a higher-tier card comes with some additional risk. However, depending on your risk tolerance, it still may still be worth a shot, and it still may be worthwhile if you can take advantage of the card’s benefits.

Conclusion

American Express recent introduction of family language restrictions complicates the strategies for maximizing ‌welcome bonuses on certain cards.

However, there’s still plenty of lucrative opportunities available, and by starting with the lowest-tiered card in each family and working your way up, you can remain eligible for welcome bonuses if you decide to apply for a higher-tier card in the future.

When it comes to signing up for Amex US cards, just make sure you’re thinking long-term, and also being mindful of the ever-changing terms, conditions, and application rules.