Time between applications

[SamG]

My OH 2 years is up on Oct 5th. I am thinking to get the current BA 60k offer which ends on the 10th. But I’m wondering about applying for a Gold on the 6th.

Does anyone know of any “velocity” type rules Amex has on applications?

Of course they may deny one or both on an individual basis which no one can predict !

[JDB]

@SamG Amex policy on quick fire applications changes and can be applicant specific, but in general we have seen them tighten criteria in the last 12 months.

Also, if you say your OH’s two years are up on 5 October, personally I would be very wary of applying on the following day with any great degree of confidence of getting the SUB. The cancellation date in Amex’s systems that determines SUB eligibility can be different from eg the date you called to cancel. The risk is that by cutting it too fine, you are then set back for a further two years for the sake of maybe a few days. I appreciate this isn’t ideal if you need to get both apps in before 10 Oct but those are risks of the game.

[SamG]

I chatted and double checked the date so I’m confident in that part. Agree that they’ve tightened things up a lot from what I’ve read on here (and banks generally) so 2 cards in a week does sound like it’d be pushing it

That said now I’m thinking about it more, the Gold is a “slam dunk” for us – 0 fee, I usually get some value out of the deliveroo credit and I could use all the lounge passes in April as 5 of us are flying out on a cruise charter.

Whereas BAPP I’ve got to pay the full fee and we likely wouldn’t get massive value out of the 2-4-1 voucher, certainly no long haul plans over the next couple of years that we could use it on. Still got heaps of Avios so no major requirement to earn a big chunk at the moment.

So perhaps I’ll try for both and if I don’t get the BAPP I can always try again next time there is a decent offer, whereas if I got the BAPP now then I can’t get Gold for 2 years.

[momomo]

Thanks for raising a question pertinent to me too!

I planned on making a Marriott and BAPP combo application before the BA offer expires. I recognised the risk in applying for both on the same day (if the BA app is completed first, I wouldn’t get the Marriott SUB), however, I hadn’t heard about Amex tightening criteria…

Generally, I never get accepted immediately, it usually gets referred. In light of this, is there anything special I should be doing (e.g. avoiding applying on weekends)?

[SamG]

No idea about Amex specifically but I’d try do it during weekday working hours – through my professional experience in this / related areas auto approval systems are often offline during evening / weekend hours as maintenance windows or there may be some upgrade happening etc

The BAPP wording seems to be “apply by” not “approved by”

I wouldn’t do BAPP until you were approved for Marriott ideally as if they get reversed you won’t be eligable for the Marriott bonus