HUGE AMEX new card bonus offers for Delta Amex cards (Partner offer, Terms apply) – Mega MQMs and SkyMiles!

After a slow start to the year Amex has again boosted the new card bonus offers for both the personal and business Delta Amex cards. They are all solid offers and worth considering if you are in need of either A) a chunk of SkyMiles or B) a chunk of elite MQMs (without flying is nice, right).

• You can find ALL the links to ALL the offers HERE on the blog <-LINK (Reserve cards are inside other card links fyi)!

Having said that, there are some warnings in our modern age of all things points becoming more and more complicated. Let’s look at each possible bit of turbulence that could cause issues for you.

• First off all the offers are subject to the 1x in a “lifetime” rule, that is, the welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product. This is not really your lifetime but if Amex says you have ever had it before.

• Next if you are going for Platinum Medallion or lower status the MQD exempt spend number for these cards (either one or a combination of a number of them) is still $25,000. However, if you are going for Diamond this year it is a mind numbing $250,000 spend to be fully MQD exempt (before 31DEC18).

• Amex is now not MS friendly for new card bonus points. If you have been in the past, shall we say a creative spender, this will not work in 2018. Now as for the spend after the new card bonus that is yield mixed data points so YMMV up to 25k or 250k.

• You are limited to 4/5 Amex credit cards. For most readers you are NOT going to be approved for these if you already have 5+ Amex credit cards (charge cards do not count). There are exceptions but for most this applies.

• The bonus points for spend is limited to 1 each of these cards. That means, if you could, keeping the above in mind, you could hold all 3 of the personal Delta Amex cards (Gold, Platinum and Reserve) as well as all 3 of the business cards (Gold, Platinum and Reserve) and spend your way to max bonus on EACH of these cards. You can not hold duplicates of them anymore and get bonus points for spend on duplicate cards (say two business Delta Amex Platinum cards) as you could in the past.

• You do NOT get with the Platinum or Reserve cards the BOGO certs (buy one get one free) until year two of card membership, that is, until year two fee bills. At that point, at year two, you can decide if you want to keep or dump the card and if you do so inside 30 days you can get your fee back but the cert does stick in your account (no matter what Delta or Amex tells you). You do NOT have to pay for the BOGO with the same Delta card that created the cert.

Now that is a lot of somewhat negative things to consider – yes. However, there are clearly some big pluses as well. They are:

• Each card is a UNIQUE product so you can get the new card bonus once for each of the cards. That means if you have or have had the personal Gold Delta Amex you CAN go for the business Gold Delta Amex and get the bonus for that as well (and still keep the personal card if you want). Same applies for the Platinum and the Reserve card.

• Anyone can get business cards. You do NOT have to have say a corporation to get business cards (nor an EIN number). In fact if you are NOT getting business cards when you go for new cards you are really missing out on possibly hundreds of thousands of points per year. Just be honest when you apply and if you do not make money, say from buying and selling on Ebay, then put ZERO and then there is a slot for the rest of your income to help with your approval of a business card!

• Also remember the personal or business Reserve card comes with a ton of perks for the fee like: Sky Club access when flying Delta, better chances for upgrades if you A) hold the card and B) spend at least 25k on the card. Also the 2nd year BOGO cert is good in coach or 1st class (vs. just coach for the Platinum cards).

• The bonus cash back with the Gold and Platinum cards is for just about ANY Delta purchase. My wife got the Platinum card at the 1st of the year and got a $2 set of headsets onboard and got the full $100 credit triggered. Also buying a $50 e-Gift card on Delta.com has worked in the past.

Bottom line is simply that these are all BIG bonus offers (many as big as ever offered) and if you are in need of points NOW would be a time to consider getting any of these cards if you have NOT had them before! – René