How To Check What Amex Cards You’ve Had In The Past
I always suggest keeping track of all your credit card applications, with opening/closing dates etc. But many people have had credit cards even before they started to really take advantage or miles, points and welcome offers. So, it’s not always clear if you previously had a specific card.
If you have a long credit history, then it might be difficult to remember every American Express card that you’ve had in the past. But to make sure that you receive a welcome bonus, you need to make sure that you’ve never had that Amex card previously. And that even more important now with some great bonuses such as 150K for Amex Platinum and Amex Business Platinum, 130K for Amex Business Gold and 100K for Amex Gold.
Update: New American Express Welcome Bonus Tool, Find Out if You Qualify Before You Apply
How to Check
How can you check this? The answer is simple. Just ask.
I’ve never needed this for myself, but while helping a family member apply for an Amex card, I wanted to make sure that she didn’t have the card previously and she couldn’t tell me for sure if she did.
She didn’t want to go through the trouble of calling, so using the Chat feature on her Amex account she asked for a list of all American Express cards that she currently has and has had in the past. And voila, the CSR send her a list in the chat after a few question for verification purposes.
American Express considers “lifetime” to be 7 years, although in recent months we have seen some data points that suggest it might be around 6 or even 5 years. So the list you get, will not include cards that you’ve had more than 5-7 years ago. Another benefit of this, is that it is always useful to have something in writing if problems do arise after the application.
Guru’s Wrap-up
Having a list of all the cards that American Express says you have had in the past, could be useful to plan out your application strategy. You will know what options you have and you can decide which American Express cards are more valuable to you, from the ones you are eligible for a bonus.
1 thought on “How To Check What Amex Cards You’ve Had In The Past”
Thanks didn’t know about this. But I keep track of my cards and the list just confirmed what I had. Old Amex cards that I closed probably 5 years ago was still mentioned, so I guess it is 7 years probably