How to Beat the Amex Pop-up

All information about the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by 10xTravel.

There’s nothing more frustrating than applying for a card only to be denied. You try calling, only to be denied again. Whatever the reason for the denial, it’s discouraging to feel like you wasted a hard pull on your credit for nothing.

American Express has a uniquely frustrating way to show you you’re ineligible before you apply for a new card—the pop-up.

Let’s take a look at what the Amex pop-up is and some strategies we’ve seen that have helped it go away.

What the Amex Pop-Up Jail Means for Cardholders

The Amex pop-up is a window that appears when you’ve applied for a new Amex card, letting you know that you will not be eligible for the welcome offer on that card for a variety of reasons. Users call this Amex pop-up jail.

While landing yourself behind the bars of Amex pop-up prison doesn’t prevent you from continuing with your card application, it does eliminate your chance to earn the card’s welcome offer. And if that’s why you were applying for the card, continuing with your application may be pointless.

Why the Amex Pop-Up Appears

Luckily, it’s no mystery why the Amex pop-up appears.

Over the last few years, American Express has been trying to crack down on people opening their cards purely to earn their welcome offers. In your quest to maximize American Express Membership Rewards points, you may land behind Amex’s digital bars.

Amex prefers loyal long-term customers over those simply trying to get as many bonuses as possible. Long-term customers who use their cards for everyday expenses make Amex the most money. On the flipside, welcome offer-hunters lose Amex money.

And to make matters worse, the pop-up typically isn’t tied to just one type of card or card family. Usually, once it shows up, it keeps showing up no matter what Amex card you try to apply for.

How the Pop-Up Jail Affects Your Rewards Goals

Although this isn’t a full shut-down of your Amex accounts, it can feel like it. If you’re unable to open any new American Express cards, you’re locked out of many lucrative bonuses.

If you’ve been targeted for an offer or a welcome offer is at its all-time high, landing in Amex jail can really grind your gears.

Steps To Overcome the Amex Pop-Up Jail

Alas, you’ve landed in Amex pop-up jail.

You don’t need to dig an escape tunnel to return to the free and easy days of approved Amex applications and their lucrative welcome offers. Instead, with a good dose of patience and a little strategy, you can get yourself back to earning some of the most competitive welcome offers available in the world of points and miles.

Let’s take a look at how to break out of the Amex pop-up jail.

Wait Before Reapplying

Once the pop-up shows up, the best thing you can do is wait. Generally, it will take a few months until you’re pop-up-free.

That can seem like a lifetime in the points and miles world, particularly when limited-time welcome offers are up for grabs. There’s nothing more frustrating than getting a 100,000 point welcome offer for The Platinum Card® from American Express only to then see the pop-up denying you the offer.

However, while you’re waiting, there are plenty of things you can do to help your chances of freeing yourself from the pop-up.

Spend More on Amex Cards

The most effective action we’ve seen to get the pop-up to go away is spending more on your existing American Express cards.

Remember, American Express is trying to create long-term card users. What better way to show them your loyalty than by being that customer.

It helps to keep in mind how card processing companies make money.

Every time you swipe your card, the processors receive payment in the form of a transaction fee, which is typically between 2% and 3% of the purchase price. This is how they’re able to offer rewards at 1% to 2%. If offering you those rewards encourages you to use the card more, the bank will make up the difference on the spread. When you’re just opening the card for the welcome offer and not putting any more spending on the card, you’re costing the bank money.

Banks aren’t in the business of losing money. By putting more spend on your Amex cards, you’re helping Amex make more money.

That doesn’t mean you should overspend with your existing Amex cards, but rather shift your current expenditure from other cards to your Amex ones.

Thankfully Amex has some cards that offer solid rewards on everyday spending.

For example, The American Express® Gold Card earns 4X Membership Rewards points on the first $25,000 spent at U.S. supermarkets every year and 1X points per dollar after that (see rates and fees). It also offers 4X Membership Rewards points at restaurants on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points thereafter.

The American Express® Green Card offers 3X Membership Rewards points at restaurants, including delivery services (see rates and fees). It also offers 3X Membership Rewards points on travel, and that isn’t limited to travel booked through American Express Travel.

These generous bonus spending categories can take the sting out of putting more spending on your American Express cards. Plus, this can be a great opportunity to let your credit report cool off and fall below 5/24 so you’ll be eligible to open some Chase cards as well. Think of it as a win-win.

In the meantime, you can combine Amex points with other users—through airline transfer programs—to score the redemptions you want.

Reduce the Frequency of Applications

If you’ve received the pop-up, don’t start a new application with American Express anytime soon.

When applying for a new American Express card, you’ll either log in before starting or be prompted to do so toward the end of the application process. This is how Amex can decide if they want to extend the welcome offer to existing cardmembers.

Like most things in the points and miles world, we can’t prove that Amex is tracking this data, but it is reasonable to think that they would be: it‘s easy for them to see how often you’re applying for a card. Since they already suspect you’re abusing their welcome offers—hence why you’re in Amex pop-up jail—if they see you’re trying to apply for lots of their cards, they’re less likely to allow you to get the welcome offer.

You won’t know if the pop-up has gone away if you don’t apply for a new card. Just be sure you’re not trying to apply for a new Amex card every month. If you get the pop-up, wait a few months before trying again.

Improve Your Credit Score

Improving your credit score can also help make the Amex pop-up go away.

Credit card applications make a hard pull on your credit score, which can hurt it by a few points. While it’s not a major deal, easing the number of card applications you’re making gives you a cool-off period to help your credit score grow.

Ensuring you’re making any debt payments regularly and punctually, as well as paying off any other credit card balances in full before their due date, will help to improve your score.

Improving your credit score isn’t guaranteed to get you out of Amex jail. But, it can only better position you for future approvals from all card issuers.

Close Cards You’re Not Using

In addition to spending more on your American Express cards, you might want to close any Amex cards you’re not using.

You want to show American Express that you’re an active user of their products, so keeping cards open that you aren’t using gives the wrong impression.

Closing credit card accounts doesn’t hurt your credit score significantly unless they’ve been open for a very long time. If you have unused Amex cards you opened just for the welcome offer, you should consider closing them.
If you have an Amex card account that’s been open for many years but you never use it, try to get a product change from Amex to another card you could use more often.

Reach Out to Customer Service

Finally, it doesn’t hurt to give Amex a call.

Ask why the pop-up is showing up on your account and what steps you can take to remove it.

If you’re lucky, they may suggest a time when you can reapply with confidence.

Tips for Avoiding the Amex Pop-up Jail in the Future

Of course, your best course of action is to avoid the pop-up in the first place.

Putting regular spending beyond the welcome offer periods on your Amex cards is the number one prevention method when it comes to staying out of Amex jail. But there are a couple of other things you can do to further prevent the pop-up.

Slow Down With Opening New American Express Cards

The first thing you should do to avoid the Amex pop-up is to slow down with opening new American Express cards. For starters, you should familiarize yourself with the American Express bonus and application rules.

Although the rules say you can open two personal cards every 90 days, this may not be the best course of action. Rather than viewing this as permission to open two new cards every 90 days, you should aim not to do this more than once every six months. Sprinkle in some business cards or cards from other banks to slow down the velocity at which you’re opening Amex cards.

Don’t Abuse American Express Cards

This can’t be stressed enough: don’t abuse American Express.

Amex is more thorough in preventing people from abusing their products, but even worse than getting the Amex pop-up, abuse could lead to Amex shutting down all of your accounts.

You might be abusing your American Express cards without even knowing it.

Some of the common ways people do this is by closing cards within the first year or only using the cards for purchases when they have a statement credit or an Amex offer. These actions may seem innocent but can make Amex think you’re trying to game the system.

Instead focus on being an active user of their cards. Don’t just hit the credit card minimum spend and forget the card.

Look for Upgrade Offers Instead of Opening New Cards

Another great option to earn bonus points without actually opening a new American Express card is to keep an eye out for upgrade offers.

Just as you can change products from a higher-end card to a middle- or lower-tier card, you can also move up the food chain. From time-to-time, Amex will offer you the opportunity to upgrade to a higher card and give you a bonus to do so.

These upgrade offers will exclude you from welcome offers in the future, but are a good way to signal to Amex that you have interest in more of their products. If you want the perks of The Platinum Card from American Express but the welcome offer isn’t as high as you’d like it, you can upgrade instead.

Utilizing upgrade offers is a really great way to help prevent the Amex pop-up. It shows Amex that you’re interested in their products, that you’re actively using their cards, and it slows down new applications. Upgrading your card is a great, proactive way to beat the pop-up. Plus, you can get some bonus points along the way.

Wrapping Up Your Path to Amex Approval

Seeing the Amex pop-up when you apply for a new card isn’t the end of the world. There are a lot of things you can do to make the pop-up disappear. Your greatest resources are time and patience.

Rather than wait for the pop-up, be proactive in preventing it from happening in the first place. Space out your applications, use your Amex cards regularly and look for upgrade offers rather than opening new cards.

Whether you’re getting the pop-up or trying to prevent it, these strategies will help you stay a happy customer of Amex cards for years to come.