[UPDATED] Did I Sign up for The Wrong AmEx?

aldoboy on 20/12/2016 - 16:29
Last edited 29/12/2016 - 16:22

Hi folks
I've been in this forum for a few years now
Missing out hundreds of AmEx deals
So last week impulsively I signed up for AmEx Essential credit card
I received my card yesterday with a little over 20k credit limit
Upon searching for AmEx deals here, I found out that AmEx Explorer is probably the best card to go, I should have gone through referral link as well
I'm thinking to change my Essential to Explorer, but would that be possible?
or can I apply/add Explorer card and splitting the credit limit?
But will they still honour the sign-up bonus?
Should I just forget about it and stick with Essential card?
Anyone in similar situation?
Please advise, many thanks!

UPDATE
So I called AMEX today and as I have activated my essential, I won't get my explorer bonus
But I still pulled the trigger to see how things go
Regardless, I will still use the travel credit to offset the annual fees
Funny thing is, my limit on essential in higher than explorer :p
Once I received the card, I'll go ask to see if they can swap the limit

Financial

Comments

  • bluesky on 20/12/2016 - 16:45

    Since you can have more than one Amex cards, why not sign up for the Amex Explorer as well, if you feel that card suits you more. Although not much, keep the Essential until at least after you get its bonus, before cancelling it, if you want to do so. It only requires $750 spend.

    As for the Explorer bonus, I remember reading that people with existing Amex cards are also successful in getting the Explorer bonus. The thread on the Explorer card will have more details/accounts on this; also, others with experience will probably come on and shed light on this.

    When you apply for the Amex Explorer, Amex will provide you a limit, bearing in mind what it has already allocated to you in the Essential. However, Amex will allow you to spread the limit among the two cards as you see fit. Naturally, if you intend to cancel the Essential, then spread most of the limit to the Explorer card first.

    • aldoboy on 20/12/2016 - 17:04

      Hi bluesky, I saw your AmEx essential post, very comprehensive :)

      So if I'm signing up for the Explorer card, will they still honour the 100,000 Bonus Points? from T&C it says "This introductory offer is available to new American Express Card Members only"

      Should I just wait for a few months before applying for a new credit card as it will affect my credit score?
      I stupidly applied for 28Degrees last night as I'm going overseas in two weeks and it has lowered my veda :(
      The application is now under review

      • bluesky on 20/12/2016 - 17:11

        I read others' accounts, that despite the T&C saying it is for new Amex card members, they still get the bonus. Best if you refer to the Explorer thread to see if there are any intricacies to this; since it does not concern me, I only skim the accounts.

        As for whether the fact you applied for the cards in close succession might damage your chances, that is a different story. If I were you, at this point, the 28degrees is more important, if you are going overseas. So at least, let that card be approved first, before applying for the Explorer.

        • EFC94 on 20/12/2016 - 17:15

          I applied for the base level velocity card, got the bonus points after spending the required amount. Then signed up for a platinum edge card about a month later and also got the sign up points after the minimum spend.

        • aldoboy on 20/12/2016 - 17:17
          +1

          Thanks
          I'll go check Explorer thread and I'll probably call CS tomorrow see if they can still give Explorer sign-up bonus

        • aldoboy on 20/12/2016 - 17:24

          @EFC94: how long was the gap between the two applications? did you redeem your velocity bonus points prior to applying for platinum edge?

        • EFC94 on 20/12/2016 - 17:28

          @aldoboy: Probably applied for platinum edge about a week later….wasnt even expecting the bonus points, they just showed up after I'd spent whatever the amount was.

        • aldoboy on 20/12/2016 - 17:30

          @EFC94: did you fulfill required spending amount for your velocity prior to applying for platinum?

        • EFC94 on 20/12/2016 - 17:35

          @aldoboy: yep

  • potm on 20/12/2016 - 17:13

    AMEX sign up bonuses are given when a new rewards program is created for you, despite what the terms and conditions say.

    Since you have an Essentials card, you will have a Gateway membership rewards program. The Explorer card is under the same program.
    You can never be certain but my guess would be you would not get the bonus points. You wouldn't be able to challenge them about it either because the terms are clear that its for new card members only.

    Don't regret the 28 degrees sign up. Having a no foreign exchange fee card is always a good idea if you travel or buy online from overseas.

    • aldoboy on 20/12/2016 - 17:22

      That's what I'm afraid of, I saw some people are still getting the bonus points despite having other card in the same gateway program
      But I'm not sure how long was their gap between the two and if they have got the sign up bonus prior to apply for another

      I won't regret it as long as it's approved :p, unfortunately it's still under review , probably due to my low credit score:(

      • potm on 20/12/2016 - 17:31

        The majority of people applying for the explorer had the edge which uses the Ascent program. People were getting their explorer linked to the Edge's Ascent program which meant no bonus points. That was easily fixed by calling up to get the cards unlinked.

        Since Essential and Explorer are under the Gateway program this is probably not possible. Haven't had any reports about that situation though, not many people have an essential so nothing is for sure.

  • bluesky on 20/12/2016 - 17:21
    +1

    Thanks potm, so what you are saying is because OP already has the Gateway program; hence Explorer bonus is unlikely. If that is the case, OP, maybe a better strategy is call up Amex, and said you sign up to the wrong card, can they please transfer you to the Explorer, which has the Explorer bonus. If they say no, it is just a phone call. Since Amex customer service is quite exemplary, they may do that for you.

    • aldoboy on 20/12/2016 - 17:28

      Yes I'll do that tomorrow
      I'm not a frequent flyer
      For those who have Explorer in the similar situation, is it easy to sell your $400 travel credit to cover the annual fee?

  • [Deactivated] on 20/12/2016 - 20:13

    Are you a member of any organisations such as AMA, ADA, Engineers Australia etc.?

    Worth looking into to see if you can apply for one of their special cards.

    • aldoboy on 21/12/2016 - 18:26

      I'm a member of ACS (Australian Computer Society)
      I don't think they still have AmEx anymore

  • HeWhoKnows on 21/12/2016 - 10:54
    -6

    Dumb place to ask this question. Why don't you just pick up the phone ring up AMEX and leave us alone. What a time waster.

  • beatNeng on 23/12/2016 - 09:07
    +1

    Regarding the issue of signing up for the essential card then wanting to change to explorer. I made a very similar mistake (although I did not actually activate my essential).

    I called up Amex about cancelling the essential card and explained I wanted the explorer instead. Two phone transfers later and I found myself in a 3 way phone call with US and AU based CSRs.

    The AU CSR acknowledged that because I'd signed up for the essential first, the explorer's bonus points would not be awarded automatically however he was happy to award the bonus points (I will have to call up and manually request they be applied once I've met the $1500 spend).

    Reading about all the people who were awarded the bonus points even if they were already an AMEX cardholder in various threads here at OZB, I was still fairly confident that I'd get the points due to not activating the essential. However this is my experience of a very similar situation.

    • aldoboy on 23/12/2016 - 13:12

      Thanks for sharing
      So did you cancel your essential or ended up having both?
      I just got my 28 degrees approved this morning
      I'll give them a call on Tuesday to leave some gaps
      Btw, how many points do we get from referring someone to Explorer? same 10,000 or higher?

      • beatNeng on 23/12/2016 - 16:02

        I cancelled the essential card which I gather is why he was happy to award the explorer's points instead.

        Referring someone to explorer nets the referee 20,000 bonus points according to the AMEX website.

  • Jared17 on 28/12/2016 - 19:35

    Have similar thing with OP but difference is I had the essential card for five months or so now and intend to apply for the explorer card to take advantage of the bonus points. Just not sure if I will still get it since both belong To the same program as others stated.

    Have anyone else the same experience? Thanks.

    • aldoboy on 29/12/2016 - 00:52
      +1

      I'm going to give them a call tomorrow
      Will let you know how it goes

  • aldoboy on 29/12/2016 - 13:29

    So I called AMEX today and as I have activated my essential, I won't get my explorer bonus
    But I still pull the trigger to see how things go
    Regardless, I will still use the travel credit to offset the annual fees
    Funny thing is, my limit on essential in higher than explorer :p
    Once I received the card, I'll go ask to see if they can swap the limit

    • bluesky on 29/12/2016 - 16:14
      +1

      You won't have to ask, a letter will inform you that you can spread the total limit of the two cards however you want. They provided this limit taking into account the initial card limit as well.

      • aldoboy on 29/12/2016 - 16:25

        So I still have to assign them individually? or the limit is automatically combined?

        • bluesky on 29/12/2016 - 16:29
          +1

          No, they are individual limits. You need to contact them to re-assign as you wish.

        • aldoboy on 29/12/2016 - 16:45

          @bluesky:
          can we do it online like this ? amex transfer limit

        • bluesky on 29/12/2016 - 16:49

          @aldoboy: Logon to check; seems like I can only ask for a limit increase, not allocate it. The screen looks nothing like what is shown on above link; so maybe, it is for another country's amex cards.

        • aldoboy on 29/12/2016 - 16:59
          +1

          @bluesky:
          I see, I will just call them upon receiving my card
          thanks for that :)

    • Jared17 on 29/12/2016 - 18:15

      Thanks for the feedback.

      Wouldn't it be better to cancel your essential card first and then applying for the explorer to increase your chances of getting the bonus points. As someone else pointed out, the explorer has everything the essential card provides and more.

      Only reason I'm not cancelling it straightaway is I have a bunch of Amex offers on my current essential card to use. Also I have a bunch of supplementary cards on it, not sure if I can get them if I got the explorer.

      • aldoboy on 29/12/2016 - 23:10

        Well for my case, I don't think that's a good idea
        I'm not sure if closing a week old credit card can affect our ratings but there is a possibility our second application is rejected because of that and we ended up with no AMEX
        whilst yours is 5 months old, so it might be okay for you but I'd still go with the safer way

        • Jared17 on 01/01/2017 - 09:35

          ah okay. Didn't realize closing a credit card would down grade rating score.

        • aldoboy on 01/01/2017 - 18:28

          @Jared17:

          I'm not quite sure myself
          Did you end up applying?

          On a side note, anyone knows how often AMEX deals come up? I missed HN offer :(

        • Jared17 on 01/01/2017 - 23:51

          @aldoboy: I will wait till I finished using up those Amex cash back offers before closing the account and applying the explorer.

        • aldoboy on 13/01/2017 - 03:50

          @Jared17:

          I have spent more than $1500, can confirm not getting sign up bonus :(

        • The Champagne Mile on 13/01/2017 - 09:01
          +1

          @aldoboy: AMEX are usually pretty good at refunding most or all of the annual fee if you cancel within the first 3 months (and haven't used the main card perk - in the Explorer's case, the $400 travel credit). So if you're certain you are not getting the sign on bonus, you might want to consider calling them to cancel.

        • aldoboy on 13/01/2017 - 10:59

          @The Champagne Mile:

          Really? I thought they're pretty strict with annual fee and it's non-refundable as stated

          I haven't paid the annual fee yet as it hasn't reached statement period

          Should I just cancel it now?
          Will they ask for the reason?

        • The Champagne Mile on 13/01/2017 - 11:15
          +1

          @aldoboy: I have experience cancelling a couple of cards in the past 6 months, and they have been very accommodating in refunding fees. Just give customer care a call and state that you're wanting to cancel before annual fee hits.

          It would probably be fine if you were honest and simply stated that you were expecting the bonus points and they did not post, otherwise just mention that you have found a better credit card offer elsewhere and no longer have need of the Explorer.

        • Schema on 13/01/2017 - 11:19
          +1

          @aldoboy:

          I was told i wouldn't be getting the points.

          even called them and complained, spoke to a manager, still said i wouldnt get the points.

          1 week later i got my points.

          Took 2 weeks for my points to show up after i did the initial 1500 Spend, even with them telling me i wouldn't be getting them.

        • Jared17 on 13/01/2017 - 11:23
          +1

          @aldoboy:

          That sucks. But I guess it was always a long shot when you still have the essential. Thanks for the heads up

        • aldoboy on 13/01/2017 - 11:27

          @The Champagne Mile:

          How long have you been their customer?
          I might just say, I won't be travelling much hence no use of the explorer main perks
          I'm still considering whether I should keep it or not as 2 points for every $1 spent is actually pretty good and I might be able to sell their $400 travel credit for $300-350 to offset the annual fees
          Any experience in selling their travel credit?

        • aldoboy on 13/01/2017 - 11:40

          @Catalystic:

          were you in the same position ? as in having other gateway card?

          @Jared17:
          True, but I kinda expecting it
          However as Catalystic has said, it's only been a day for me after 1500 transaction cleared, might as well wait for a few weeks and cancel it within 3 months as TCM said or just pay the annual, use/sell their travel credit and cancel it before anniversary date

          I had two ozbargainer signed up using my essential referral, I don't know who they are but thanks so much lol
          having my explorer account running, I might be able to get someone from here or LinkedIn to sign up and further offset the fees, so I think it's pretty good to wait for a year and see how thing goes

          nb: I'm not suggesting anyone to use my referral link so I hope this post does not violate the rules, however if it does please delete the last paragraph

        • The Champagne Mile on 13/01/2017 - 12:42

          @aldoboy: if it's only been a day, then yes, definitely wait a week or so to see of the bonus points clear. I suspect that they will.

        • aldoboy on 13/01/2017 - 14:25

          @The Champagne Mile:

          Fingers crossed, how long do they usually take to clear explorer bonus points?

          The reason why I thought I won't be getting it because 5 days ago when they cleared $800 transaction, they credited $50 new member bonus into my explorer, I have stopped using my essential at $700 so I thoughtI could prevent $50 bonus from happening turned out they still send it as I hit $750 on explorer

        • enzioFirenze on 31/01/2017 - 22:00

          @aldoboy: mate did you happen to get the bonus points by any chance?

  • wsud3261 on 19/01/2017 - 12:54

    I had the Essentials card, which i cancelled then applied for the Explorer card. Just hit my minimum spend of $1,500 but ddnt get the bonus points. Got the points that im supposed to get instead 2 points/$1 spent. Sucks.

    • bluesky on 19/01/2017 - 19:53

      Don't lose hope just yet; reading others' accounts, sometimes a bit of wait - a few days, maybe a week after eligible spend.

    • Jared17 on 19/01/2017 - 20:49

      Thanks. Keep us updated if you can. I'm about to do the same thing but if no bonus points I might as well hold off.

    • wsud3261 on 26/01/2017 - 17:08

      Update: I have spent $2000 on 18Jan, and till now I still havent received the bonus points. I do suspect, I wont get it because it has been more than a week now.

      • andylch on 30/01/2017 - 15:04

        How long between you cancelled the Essential Card and activated the Explorer Card? Did you contact AE about this?

        • wsud3261 on 01/02/2017 - 00:24

          Within a month of cancelling and getting and activating the new card. I havent contaced AE just because I assume they'll read out the T&Cs again back to me.

        • Jared17 on 04/03/2017 - 08:49

          @wsud3261: Thanks for the final update. Appreciate it. I didn't cancel my essential and apply for the explorer based on this. On hindsight it was probably stupid of me to hastily apply for the essential and subsequently miss out on potential bonus points and travel credit and Amex lounge access for the explorer that I could have used on my recent trip.

          But I did benefit from the shopsmall and other many Amex promos in the past 8 months. So it wasn't a total loss.

  • aldoboy on 22/02/2017 - 07:07

    Haven't got the bonus, probably won't ever

  • coolsteps on 05/03/2017 - 11:56

    does anyone know if amex still allow you to do a product transfer or a downgrade over the phone without having to do a full application again and another credit check? or do you now have no choice but to do a new fresh full application over again if you want to change to a different card type?

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