A bug in the Amex application algorithm

[can]

Player 2 canceled her BAPP card before the summer (without discussing it with me 🙂 ). I explained her the benefits of 241 voucher again, and she decided to get back to it. We knew about the 3 month rule before reapplying for the same card.
We waited.
We rang up Amex CS, which confirmed the three month rule. At the end, we applied online and got an error message that it was a duplicate application. It was odd, there was no duplicate. We thought perhaps the three month rule changed or we made a mistake in calculating it.
After many calls and hours wasted, we were told that representatives do not know what was going on. We were promised a call from the “manager”.
Waited for that about a week.
The manager said that
[drum rolls please],
since we canceled the card without canceling the supp card first, the system did not allow us to re/apply.
Yes, I was her supp card holder, and yes, we didn’t cancel the supp card first.
It stroke me really odd though that they cannot close the account properly and allow her to reapply.
The manager explained it is like a bug in the system and they cannot manually override it.
So we have to wait, she said, for a call from them when the issue is fixed.

So we are still waiting after a month.

[BJ]

Weird, I doubt that is the reason. I have never cancelled SUPs before closing accounts; they have always been cancelled by amex on account closure and no subsequent issues ever encountered.

[can]

Me, too. I might have cancelled a card or two, all with one or two supps.
That’s why I wanted to share it, it was odd, and I cannot think of any reason why we would get an odd error message. It was not a rejection, but a duplicate application!

[NorthernLass]

Someone else posted the other day that they were declined for the BAPP then mysteriously accepted 2 weeks later, so I think there are definitely glitches in the system currently. I am hoping this is true as I was also declined recently despite my financial circumstances actually improving since I last held one!
I’ve never cancelled a supp either, this sounds like typical Amex nonsense. Unless you have loads of avios and can immediately use another 241 I’d strongly suggest waiting the full 24 months so you can get another sign up bonus.

[BJ]

You could both call and ask to speak direcfly with the applications review team. I’m sure they have no problem approving applications manually which they see fit.

[can]

BJ wrote:

You could both call and ask to speak direcfly with the applications review team. I’m sure they have no problem approving applications manually which they see fit.

We were told the “system didn’t permit it”. That’s why they referred us to a manager.

[DJ]

Slightly off topic – I’m not so sure about the 3-month rule actually exits. I was rejected for a Gold Amex Credit card at one point, and they were unwilling to manually review the application due to internal scoring.

So I decided to reduce the credit limit on one of my cards, and applied again about a month later and the new application was then accepted.

I have also applied for two different products at the same time without problem too.

[Luca M]

DJ wrote:

Slightly off topic – I’m not so sure about the 3-month rule actually exits. I was rejected for a Gold Amex Credit card at one point, and they were unwilling to manually review the application due to internal scoring.

So I decided to reduce the credit limit on one of my cards, and applied again about a month later and the new application was then accepted.

I have also applied for two different products at the same time without problem too.

I think the 3 months rule refer to closing a particular card product (e.g BAPP) and reapplying for the same one later… other card issuers have 6 months rule

[Magarathea]

The same thing has happened to me and I put up a forum threat on this last month.

https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/amex-cancelled-my-new-credit-card-application/

In summary, the online application system cancelled my application as it thought this was a duplicate application.

Amex are aware of this problem and they have confirmed to me that it is their problem and nothing to do with what I have done or not done. When they could not resolve it for me by the end of August, they raised a complaint on my behalf and this is currently going through it’s 7 week investigation progress. Whilst this is in progress I cant make an Amex application.

[TGLoyalty]

3 month rule? I’ve applied for the same product after 2 weeks and been accepted

[can]

Got a call, oddly after I put up this post, and told that the bug is now fixed and we can reapply 🙂

[Magarathea]

I also got a call today to say bug is fixed and I can now re-apply.

[can]

We got approved with a lower limit though..

[Scott]

Also been having this problem since July, numerous wasted phonecalls, etc. Eventually was advised by a techy type person that it was a fault in their systems, and to lodge a formal complaint as it’s the only way it would be fixed.
Not had a response yet, but interested to hear some folk are being told it’s now resolved.

[Whisper2]

I have just had a Gold card application cancelled due to it being a duplicate application. I have not done an Amex application for about a year. When I called the agent said it was because I had cancelled the my old Gold card just over 2 months ago and that I must wait 90 days before re-applying.
Is this just the agent making stuff up and is the duplicate application “glitch” still a thing, or is there a new 90 day period when you cannot re-apply? A few years ago I had re-applied after 1 month.

[alig4th]

Sounds like this was some sort of glitch, but don’t have any ones m idea what the supp card thing is about (surely if you cancel your account, the supp is cancelled as well… In fact, it’s right there in the T&C they read you when you cancel).

What I have found in the past is that the system won’t let you reapply 90 days from when the account balance was zeroed out… So either the last credit refunded to your bank (e.g. because of a pro-rata refund) or the final balance paid off. I suppose technically the account isn’t “closed” until the balance is squared away.

[JDB]

Is it a “glitch” or is it simply that Amex doesn’t want people cancelling and more or less immediately reapplying, presumably with a view to avoiding the fee that most cardholders are expected to pay. The sense of entitlement in suggesting that somehow Amex is at fault is quite remarkable.

[can]

It’s not entitlement. It is the constant inconsistencies dealing with the Amex agents. When I first was dealing with this issue, literally every agent told me something different, inconsistent with what the previous ones said.
I escalated to a manager who fixed it.
They didn’t have to give us a card 4-5 months after cancellation. But they did.
And in all honesty it was player 2’s fault to cancel it in the first place. I wouldn’t. I highly value the BAPP card.

[can]

And what makes it a glitch/bug is the error message you receive: duplicate application.
They could’ve just rejected it on the grounds of recent cancellation.

[Scott]

JDB wrote:

Is it a “glitch” or is it simply that Amex doesn’t want people cancelling and more or less immediately reapplying, presumably with a view to avoiding the fee that most cardholders are expected to pay. The sense of entitlement in suggesting that somehow Amex is at fault is quite remarkable.

I’ve been told by an Amex (UK) agent that it’s a fault. He seemed very knowledgeable, after dealing with numerous agents who didn’t have a clue, but advised it wasn’t something he could fix himself and recommended raising a complaint.

My problem was first experienced in July, I got my hopes up when I saw above posts back in Sep saying it had been resolved, but unfortunately my issue persists.

The complaint has been in for over two months now. Apparently they aim to resolve within something like seven weeks but they’ve said they have a big backlog (taking around 11 weeks to close complaints when I last spoke to them.)

[Scott]

alig4th wrote:

What I have found in the past is that the system won’t let you reapply 90 days from when the account balance was zeroed out… So either the last credit refunded to your bank (e.g. because of a pro-rata refund) …

This is interesting to hear because there was a refund to my card in question many months after it was closed, although I can’t recall whether this happened before or after I first experienced the ‘duplicate application’ message.

[Scott]

Just want to update that after chasing Amex yet again (after a three month wait to have a complaint rejected!) they got back to me at the end of the year to advise they had resolved the problem on my account. New application today got instant acceptance.

I don’t know what the specific problem was but really disappointed that it took them 6 months to fix it. Lodging a complaint, at their behest, at the time felt like the wrong approach, and so it turned out to be.

[Ladyshopper]

I didn’t know about the 3 month rule. I cancelled a Gold card back at the end of October, and applied for a new one a couple of days ago using a referral link from my husband. Got the “this is a duplicate application so it’s been cancelled” result and email, which confused me (I’ve applied in the past before with breaks as short as a month). Phoned up and was told it would need to go to the back office, and I should hear in 3-5 days.

If they tell me I can’t have a new card as I have to wait 3 months, will the class this new application as the date I have to wait 3 months for, or the original card closure?