Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday! My wife and I have a $6,000 bill that is coming up in the next few weeks, so we (mostly me) are trying to figure out which new credit card to get to pay the bill (and earn a new sign up bonus along the way). Traditionally in December, this is the time of the year that most travel hackers focus on spending the holidays with their friends and family setting themselves up for a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass in early January or getting a new American Express Platinum Card for the opportunity to go for the “Triple Dip” – where you can use the new card benefits at the end of 2023, again in 2024, and one more time in early 2025 before the annual fee is due.
My wife currently has a Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card and I am over Chase 5/24, so the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass is off the table for us. My wife has never had *any* American Express cards as the primary account holder, but she is an authorized user on a few of my AMEX cards. The “Triple Dip” on the AMEX Platinum seems like a no brainer, but AMEX has messed up our plans by adding a “Family Rule” on the American Express Gold Card that says:
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® from American Express, American Express Platinum Card® by Charles Schwab, The Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or previous versions of these Cards.
Basically, if she gets the AMEX Platinum, she will not be eligible for the AMEX Gold sign up bonus in the future. So this is where the dilemma comes in. Should she go for the “Triple Dip” on the AMEX Platinum and forgo ever getting a sign up bonus on the AMEX Gold? Or should she get the AMEX Gold now and then apply for the AMEX Platinum in the future (maybe in December 2024)?
If that wasn’t enough of a dilemma already, AMEX wasn’t done messing with our plans since they recently introduced new “up to” sign up offers. Frequent Miler wrote a great post about the various sign up bonuses for these 2 cards.
AMEX Platinum:
- Earn up to 150,000 Membership Rewards Points
- Earn 125,000 Membership Rewards Points
- Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards Points or more
AMEX Gold:
- Earn up to 90,000 Membership Rewards Points
- Earn 75,000 Membership Rewards Points
- Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards Points or more
Our Decision
Depending on which card link you use to apply, you will see a different sign up offer and could receive any number of AMEX MR Points. After thinking through all the possibilities, I think our plan is for my wife to apply for the AMEX Gold card in December (she will try a few different links to see which offer seems the best) and then apply for the card through that link. Then in December 2024, assuming the “Family Rule” does not affect her ability to get a sign up bonus on an AMEX Platinum, she will apply for that card in December 2024 to go for the “Triple Dip.” A lot can change in the world of miles and points in 365 days, so we will see if our plan works out in December 2024.
Do you think that is the correct approach? Let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree with our plan. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend everyone!
If your wife can get the Platinum 150k offer I would go for that and pursue the triple dip. She can always get a Gold without a sign up bonus later. If you use the monthly credits the Gold card almost pays for itself.
Hi Harv, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I just feel like it would be difficult to give up a possible 90k AMEX MR Points on the AMEX Gold Card.
I’d grab the Gold this year, and keep your fingers crossed that there’s a good promotion on Platinum to “upgrade” to. Another option would be to see if you could get both Gold and Platinum this year, but that would be a large spending requirement.
Those are some good ideas, but I’m not sure my wife would be interested in getting both cards at the same time and I think I would rather have her apply for a Plat Card next year rather than upgrading the AMEX Gold to AMEX Plat.
Did you consider business gold for 150k instead?
I opened this last week and the terms don’t mention platinum. I have business and personal platinum but received no popup and was logged in for the application. “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. If you are not eligible for a welcome offer, we will notify you prior to processing your application so you have the option to withdraw your application.”
Also, does your wife have an Amex Offer to open either card you mentioned? Sometimes that happens, and I even receive email offers. Maybe it means they consider you eligible.
Hi Nun, my wife doesn’t have a business, so she only considered personal cards. She was instantly approved for a 90k AMEX Gold Card using my referral link.