What You Need To Know About American Express’ Once-Per-Lifetime Rule (2024)

American Express cards include a restriction in the offer terms that says, “You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card.” Informally, this provision is referred to as the “once per lifetime rule.”

The restriction might not be in place for your entire lifetime but it’s important to remember when applying for American Express cards. You generally only get one shot at a welcome bonus per card, and you may want to bypass a mediocre offer.

For example, the American Express® Gold Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees) relaunched in 2018 with a welcome offer of just 25,000 bonus Membership Rewards® points. Currently, the welcome offer on the card is: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $6,000 on eligible purchases in the first 6 months of card membership, plus 20% back in statement credits on eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide within the first 6 months of card membership, up to $100 back.

That’s a huge difference. Unfortunately, cardholders who applied for the card at the relaunch will only ever get that 25,000 welcome bonus on the Amex Gold Card.

It’s never good to miss a card welcome bonus. However, Amex’s “once per lifetime” restriction means it’s especially critical if you don’t fail to earn an Amex welcome offer because you didn’t meet the spending requirements.

Although some people may assume you can only earn one welcome bonus per lifetime, Amex doesn’t check whether you actually earned the welcome bonus. Amex only considers whether you’ve had the card. So, if you missed earning a welcome bonus on an Amex card, you may never be able to earn one on that card.

It turns out that the “once per lifetime” rule isn’t quite as concrete as it may sound. Some cardholders have reported earning a welcome offer on an Amex card they’ve had before. So, how long is a lifetime? Well, it depends on when Amex purges its lists of those who have previously held a card.

Some cardholders have found they’re eligible for a welcome bonus on an Amex card they closed more than seven years ago. Others have found they’re eligible even sooner than that, in the five- to six-year range.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know exactly how and when Amex will purge its list of previous cardholders, making you eligible for a welcome bonus once again.

However, you can find out which cards Amex shows that you’ve held previously. If a particular card isn’t listed, your “lifetime” restriction on that card may have reset.

American Express has a welcome bonus qualification tool. When you submit an application for an Amex card, this tool checks your eligibility to earn the welcome bonus associated with the card. This check happens before your credit is pulled, which can help protect your credit score.

If you’ve previously held the card, the tool will show a pop-up message indicating you aren’t eligible for the welcome offer. You’ll then have the option to proceed with your application or cancel it.

American Express has a strict policy that applies to all its cards, including co-branded hotel and airline cards, business cards, cash-back cards and rewards cards. The policy states that each card is only eligible for one welcome bonus throughout its lifetime. Regardless of the type of card, customers are entitled to only one welcome bonus for that particular card. As far as we have seen, most American Express cards have the language stating the welcome offer isn’t available to applicants who have or have had the card in the general offer terms.

However, that doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to earn a bonus on a card you’ve already carried.

Legacy and Discontinued American Express Cards, Explained

A complicating factor of Amex’s “once per lifetime” rule is that American Express factors in legacy and discontinued cards when considering which cards you’re eligible for.

Say you’ve never had a Marriott co-branded Amex card before. You might assume that you’re eligible for the welcome bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees).

However, that’s not necessarily the case. If you previously held a Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card, you may not be eligible for the welcome bonus on the Bonvoy Brilliant.

There are a couple of situations where Amex’s “once per lifetime” restriction may not apply. American Express may offer cardholders a bonus for upgrading an existing card. In these prequalified offers, the language may differ and not mention anything about a lifetime restriction on receiving the welcome offer.

Card Upgrade Offers

At times, American Express will offer existing cardholders a bonus to upgrade their current Amex card to a higher annual fee card. These bonuses can differ from person to person, with some individuals even being targeted to receive a bonus for upgrading to a card they previously held.

For instance, a cardholder may have once held a Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card but only has the Hilton Honors American Express Card open. Amex may extend an offer to this person to upgrade their Hilton Honors card to the Hilton Surpass card despite having had the Hilton Surpass before.

Prequalified Offers

Another potential opportunity is American Express’s prequalified offers. As the name implies, these are cards that American Express has prequalified you for based on your existing Amex profile.

Some Amex cardholders have found that the “once per lifetime” language is missing on some cards for which they’re prequalified. That’s true even if they’ve had the card in the past.

That means it’s worth checking your Amex prequalified offers to see if you’re eligible for a card you had in the past. If you’re targeted for a card you’ve had before, pay close attention to the terms and conditions to check if the “once per lifetime” restriction is listed.

In recent years, Amex has changed its policy on the number of credit cards customers can hold at once. Additionally, there are reports that Amex caps the number of pay-in-full cards that customers can have open at once time.

For credit cards, Amex seems to have a five-card limit. Previously, the limit was reduced from five to four credit cards but has since been increased back to five. The five-card limit doesn’t apply to Amex pay-in-full cards, though, leaving the door open to having more than five.

Furthermore, there’s evidence that Amex is likely to limit customers applying for two credit cards every 90 days. If a customer applies for two credit cards on the same day, one of the applications may be put on hold as a fraud prevention mechanism. It’s important to note that there are conflicting reports on how pay-in-full cards are counted in this two-card limit. To be safe, customers should assume that Amex will limit them to no more than two total cards, including pay-in-full cards, every 90 days.

It’s important to be aware of Amex’s policies and guidelines to ensure customers make informed decisions when applying for its credit and pay-in-full cards. For instance, a “once per lifetime” rule may sound straightforward. However, as you’ve seen, Amex’s welcome bonus restrictions aren’t as clear-cut as the terms may indicate. A “lifetime” might be just a few years long, you may be restricted from getting a card you’ve never had and there are ways you might be able to get around this restriction.

The good news is Amex will warn you when you apply if you’re trying to get a card for which you’re ineligible to get a welcome bonus.

Forbes Advisor Credit Cards Writer Caleb Amundson contributed to this article.

To view rates and fees for American Express® Gold Card please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card please visit this page.