In 2014 American Express changed their signup bonus rules to allow one bonus per card type in a customer’s lifetime.
That’s a policy they had in place a decade earlier. It doesn’t just cut off the sorts of customers that Amex wouldn’t want. They cut off customers that are after signup bonuses, but also customers who — despite being clearly savvy in the world of rewards cards — aren’t even aware of the restrictions on personal cards that you’re only eligible for one bonus per product during your lifetime.
American Express backed off of this policy once before. After losing the Costco partnership, American Express wanted to show growth – to show Wall Street it was still a growth company – by any means necessary. I had hoped that would shift them more towards ‘customer acquisition mode’. But after a series of further setbacks they appear to be entering cost cutting mode.
