American Express brings back a minimum income requirement for its cards

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• Phil says:

  20 Jul20 July 16:11

  Wow, my non-working wife just applied yesterday. No immediate confirmation so presumably they will reject her! Thankfully the Barclaycard Avios card worked for her.

  I’m half tempted to take 2 years off all Amex so I’m eligible for more bonuses later on.

  • Lady London says:

    20 Jul20 July 21:23

    And rightly so. The little woman may be contributing just as much as you to the household but you’re the important one as you have a job and a salary.

    I hope Amex has thought through where they are going with this.

    • polly says:

      20 Jul20 July 22:23

      How hard would it be to continue to accept family income. Certainly many non earner contributing partners within a household will be be rejected without this op being considered.
      Many people on this site consider their investment and pension drawdown sums as personal income. Think l feel some challenges arising. Amex may consider applications if you phone in to explain further. My Oh literally just under the 35k, turned down for the BAPP. First time ever. We are surprised, as all possible spend goes on Amex. Feels unjust. Will be phoning Amex to appeal, and to express surprise.

      • JDB says:

        20 Jul20 July 22:45

        If you were Amex, why would you accept family income to which Amex has no access if anything goes wrong? Other card providers don’t accept family income for that reason and while Amex has historically been very generous, financial circumstances have changed considerably and Amex wishes to moderate its exposure. I, and others have been warning for about a year that nobody can expect (ie feel entitled) to chop and change cards with any degree of confidence. What is unjust about Amex complying with new suitability rules, getting fed up with players and reducing its credit exposure in increasingly tough economic times?

        • showmethemiles says:

          21 Jul21 July 15:13

          Barclays does accept. My wife got a new CC about 3 months ago.

      • yorkieflyer says:

        20 Jul20 July 23:34

        Of course the earning partner can continue uninterupted as before but now unable to churn and swap with a non earning partner. Can’t really blame Amex can we?

      • Lady London says:

        20 Jul20 July 23:48

        Uh? What did I miss? I thought a man was responsible for his wife’s debts until he put a notice somewhere like The Times announcing that he wasn’t responsible? And presumably the other way round?

        Did the law change while I wasn’t looking? Or am I renembering the law of another country?

        • Polly says:

          21 Jul21 July 09:59

          A bit presumptuous. Assuming one is a churner, totally untrue in our case. We genuinely apply for and use a BAPP, and actually PAY the fee, amazing, l know.
          Plus, Amex are choosing to ignore investments/savings etc that earn quite a bit. Retired people will feel excluded, is that ok with you also? Not just retired, but also just below the U.K. medium earners, as you rightly pointed out JBD. Their 241 avios LH annual flight might be their big treat. Now this will not be possible.
          Of course l agree with the risk issue. However, anyone can lose their 35k job. But the retiree can still pay their Amex bill from substantial ( un recognised ) savings/ investments etc by Amex. Think the retired person is the lower risk applicant in this case TBH.
          But, each to their own opinion. Amex may have to look at this, as they will lose a LOT of higher spenders with these new earn limits.
          It is a real shame.

        • Polly says:

          21 Jul21 July 10:10

          Lady London, just love your comment, keep it up. So many people are going to be excluded here, not allowed to eat from the trough anymore,,,
          Esp as people actually spend on their med. As that means mega fees rolling in every millisecond to Amex. And still they’re not happy. It’s not like Amex is a loss making company either.

    • yorkieflyer says:

      20 Jul20 July 23:36

      Or the little man such as myself now I’ve just retired and Mrs Yorkieflyer is the breadwinner

    • Phil says:

      21 Jul21 July 14:43

      She’s the important one in more ways than I!

      The point here though is it doesn’t really matter whether I or she is making the money. We are married. Everything is intermingled. We both own the house, I own the cars, she’s the named account holder on most of the direct debits. In the eyes of the law we’re effectively one person anyway. So why does it matter if the cash is mine or hers?

      Per citizens advice bureau:

      “If a married couple has a joint bank account, the money is owned jointly as long as they’re married. It doesn’t matter who put the money into the account. On the death of one partner, the whole account immediately becomes the property of the other. Debts and overdrafts relating to a joint bank account will be the responsibility of both or either partner, irrespective of who incurred them.”

      The issue here is KYC. Amex seems to have lost sight of who its customer base is.

• Yorkshire rich says:

  20 Jul20 July 18:06

  I know it was already touched on a few pages ago, but maybe Rob can run a poll on who will now hardly view the site due to not been able reach the income to get an Amex.

  • showmethemiles says:

    21 Jul21 July 16:29

    I think you’re looking for Twitter..

• Johyu5 says:

  20 Jul20 July 18:07

  Boo hoo pensioners, you’ve already ruined the future for younger generations with your xenophobia, hoarding of homes, forced lockdowns, triple-lock pensions and incessant urge to continue voting for the worst political party because of your self-interests. This is hardly retribution for all of the above, but a small victory some of us will cherish.

  Do us all a favour and sail off into what’s left of your meaningless empty twilight years to enjoy accentuated aggravation from not having your points/churning served on a silver platter. Oh, and a newfound 90-day cap a year to enjoy that precious holiday home in the EU.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    20 Jul20 July 18:29

    Mmmm, a shame you lump everyone in the same boat according to our age, perhaps you should get back to your empty headed social media driven life while you munch your avocado with oat milk decaff

    • Oviplokos1 says:

      20 Jul20 July 19:03

      Ouch, that hurts!

  • Navara says:

    20 Jul20 July 21:24

    Bet your parents and grandparents love you.

  • Mike Hunt says:

    20 Jul20 July 21:28

    Woke nonsense from Johyu5

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      20 Jul20 July 21:41

      I’ll admit to not knowing a precise definition of the word woke but it doesn’t feel like the comment you are replying to had anything remotely to do with wokeism from the understanding I do have?

      Unless it does mean ‘non-conservative views I disagree with but won’t attempt to refute’

  • Mike says:

    20 Jul20 July 22:05

    Most of the things you are complaining about are a consequence of policies you support. On the triple lock, the UK state pension is one of the lowest in the developed world and even if the triple lock is kept until 2070 the cost as a % of GDP will still be much lower than the EU today.

    • LittleNick says:

      21 Jul21 July 07:30

      Well said Mike, this always annoys me when people moan about the triple lock, which incidentally the Tories didn’t deliver on one year when inflation was very high, but always forget it’s very low compared to Europe.
      Just like to say as one of the younger generation (hope I still count!) we’re not all this rude!

  • Tsm says:

    21 Jul21 July 00:54

    Johyu5

    What an aggressive post
    And so unneccesary.
    No need for it.
    Knock the boomers all you like.
    Every one of them has paid their dues.
    Real acrostics are what it’s all about.

  • HBommie says:

    21 Jul21 July 07:40

    Hi Johyu5, thanks for your concern, I’m doing fine.

• Patrick says:

  20 Jul20 July 20:11

  sounds reasonable, in France to get the Platinum card you need at least 80k€ of net income last time I checked in 2020

• Ali B says:

  20 Jul20 July 20:49

  I applied for the BA premium plus card today and was knocked back. My salary is just above the threshold, plus 12k in rental income and roughly 15k in dividends.

  I phoned to ask why and was told it could be because the limit on my Nectar Amex is so high. For some reason it is double what I normally get on the BA card.

  Hopefully will get a positive outcome as without a 241 voucher I would be as well just looking out for good cash deals in business

• Lady London says:

  20 Jul20 July 21:29

  Oh dear, Can only endorse what Yorkieflyer said. Sad, sad to see this, each generation will have ifferent positives that happen for them, and negatives

• Will says:

  20 Jul20 July 21:43

  Have the BA card was looking to upgrade, looks like I’ll be stuck with an economy voucher…

• Robert says:

  20 Jul20 July 22:18

  Quite amusing reading all the earlier comments on here stating how much doctors earn, they couldn’t be more wrong. Must be all the southerners on hollywood salleries!

  • sloth says:

    21 Jul21 July 03:29

    It’s more amusing reading all the entitlement on display here ( as per usual). Amex are a business, they can change requirements as they wish and as long as they inform the public, they have done nothing wrong. As the old adage says, If you don’t like it take your business elsewhere. I’ve churned cards with the best of them but have no issue with Amex making it harder, we would all do the same if it was our business, no?

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