American Express (US) & Credit Card Family Language

The world of miles and points can sometimes be an exercise in reading and understanding terms and conditions. Whether it is credit card welcome offers, frequent flyer programs, or hotel loyalty programs, understanding the terms and conditions of the program or offer you are interested in will pay dividends.

American Express (US) is a great example of this, between the pop-up, no lifetime language offers, and their credit card family language restrictions. These aspects can feel like a lot to remember, but they are imperative if you have started with US credit cards.

Let’s take a look at American Express (US) and the credit card family language restrictions they have on new card welcome bonuses.

What is American Express (US) Credit Card Family Language?

American Express (US) is well known for its lifetime language restriction, in which cardholders can only receive the welcome bonus on each credit or charge card once per lifetime (for what it’s worth, a lifetime is considered 7 years or so). That being said, there are no lifetime language links that often work around this restriction.

The credit card family language restrictions imposed by American Express (US) are a relatively new addition, but equally as important to understand. American Express (US) has separated some of their personal credit cards into families and these families can restrict cardholders from earning the welcome bonus on another card within the family.

For example, suppose you already earned the welcome bonus on a credit card that earns Membership Rewards. In that case, you may be ineligible to earn the welcome bonus on another Membership Rewards earning card. The family language restrictions vary from card to card, so there is no hard and fast rule, and reading the terms and conditions is important to understand any restrictions.

You can see a sample of the family language restriction wording below:

The wording is structured as “You may not be eligible…”, so while family language is in place for many American Express (US) cards, you never truly know until you apply if it will impact you. Ultimately, when signing up for a new credit card welcome offer with American Express (US), the pop-up governs whether you will receive the welcome bonus or not.

Designated American Express (US) Credit Card Families

American Express (US) designates four personal credit card families that include family language restrictions: Membership Rewards cards, Marriott Bonvoy cards, Delta SkyMiles cards, and Cash Back cards.

Within each family, each card will have different family language restrictions applicable to that card only. This means that before you apply, ensure you read the offer terms and conditions to fully understand any restrictions on the new card application welcome bonus.

As of the time of writing, American Express (US) has only used credit card family language for personal cards. This means that business cards are unaffected, and require a less strategic approach when applying.

Membership Rewards Cards

There are three personal credit cards issued by American Express (US) that belong to the Membership Rewards family, and as a result, have family language restrictions: The American Express Green card (US), the American Express Gold card (US), and the American Express Platinum card (US).

	Credit Card	Welcome Bonus	Net Value
	American Express Platinum Card (US)	80,000 Membership Rewards	$1,065	Apply
	American Express Gold Card (US)	60,000 Membership Rewards	$995	Apply
	American Express Green Card (US)	40,000 Membership Rewards	$730	Apply

The American Express Green card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the American Express® Gold Card or previous versions of these Cards.

The American Express Gold card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Premier Rewards Gold Card, the Platinum Card®, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley or previous versions of these Cards.

The American Express Platinum card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Charles Schwab, the Platinum Card® from American Express Exclusively for Morgan Stanley, or previous versions of these Cards.

The way this credit card family is structured means it makes the most logical sense to apply for the Green card first, then the Gold card, and then the Platinum card. Essentially, you want to work your way up the chain of credit cards to still be eligible.

As mentioned above, there is no family language on any of the business cards that earn Membership Rewards at the time of writing this article, including the incredibly valuable American Express Business Gold card (US) and the American Express Business Platinum card (US). 

This means you don’t need to be concerned about your order of application for American Express Business cards, and instead should just pursue the card that is most interesting to you when the offer or value proposition is right.

Marriott Bonvoy Cards

Both of the Marriott Bonvoy personal credit cards issued by American Express (US) have family language restrictions: the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card (US) and the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card (US).

	Credit Card	Welcome Bonus	Net Value
	American Express Gold Card (US)	60,000 Membership Rewards	$995	Apply
	American Express Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card (US)	85,000 Marriott Bonvoy	$515	Apply

The American Express Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, or previous versions of these Cards. 

The American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card or the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card or previous versions of these Cards. 

The optimal approach for this family of cards is similar to Membership Rewards, in which you want to start from the bottom and move your way up. Since there are only two cards, it makes the most sense to get the Bevy first and then the Brilliant card down the line. Both cards often have elevated periods of great bonuses that are worth taking advantage of.

Delta SkyMiles Cards

There are three credit cards that earn Delta SkyMiles that live within the same credit card family: the American Express Delta SkyMiles Blue card (US), the American Express Delta SkyMiles Gold card (US), and the American Express Delta SkyMiles Platinum card (US).

	Credit Card	Welcome Bonus	Net Value
	American Express Delta SkyMiles Gold Card (US)	40,000 SkyMiles	$440	Apply
	American Express Delta SkyMiles Platinum Card (US)	50,000 SkyMiles	$300	Apply
	American Express Delta SkyMiles Blue Card (US)	10,000 SkyMiles	$110	Apply

The American Express Delta SkyMiles Blue card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Options Credit Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

The American Express Delta SkyMiles Gold card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, or previous versions of these Cards.

The American Express Delta SkyMiles Platinum card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive a welcome offer if you have or have had this Card the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

The approach with this credit card family is interesting. I would scratch the Delta SkyMiles Blue card, as it just isn’t a great option in general. From there, I would recommend the SkyMiles Gold card, followed by the SkyMiles Platinum card to remain eligible for all welcome offers.

You might notice that the American Express Delta SkyMiles Reserve card (US) is absent from this list. While it would be a logical member of this family, it actually does not have any explicit family language restrictions, at least for now. It does impose restrictions on the Delta SkyMiles Gold and Delta SkyMiles Platinum cards, so make sure you get the SkyMiles Reserve card last.

Cash Back Cards

There are three cash back earning credit cards issued by American Express (US) that have family language restrictions: the American Express Cash Magnet card (US), the American Express Blue Cash EveryDay card (US), and the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card (US).

	Credit Card	Welcome Bonus	Net Value
	American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card (US)	250 cash back	$250	Apply
	American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card (US)	250 cash back	$250	Apply
	American Express Cash Magnet Card (US)	200 cash back	$200	Apply

The American Express Cash Magnet card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APR offer, and intro plan fees offer if you have or have had this Card the Blue Cash Everyday® Card, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card or previous versions of these Cards.

The American Express Blue Cash EveryDay card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees if you have or have had this Card, the Cash Magnet® Card, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card, or previous versions of these Cards. 

The American Express Blue Cash Preferred card (US) has the following family language:

You may not be eligible to receive the welcome offer, intro APRs, and intro plan fees if you have or have had this Card, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred® American Express Card, or previous versions of these Cards.

The family language on these cards is much more intertwined, and there isn’t much of an optimal path if you are interested in all three of them. The Cash Magnet and Blue Cash EveryDay cards restrict each other in their family language, which means it might make the most sense to get one of those cards, followed by the Blue Cash Preferred card.

Working Within The American Express (US) Family Language Restrictions

There are a few strategies that are worth implementing to strategically work within the family language restrictions that are imposed by American Express (US).

Order Your New Card Applications Accordingly

Thinking ahead and planning out your future card applications can pay off big time when working within the American Express (US) family language restrictions.

For the majority of the credit card families listed above, the order is straightforward. For example, you would never want to get the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card (US) before the Bevy card, even though the Brilliant is the far better card holistically. If you got the Brilliant card first, you would miss out on the bonus for the Bevy card, which is currently 85,000 Marriott Points.

American Express Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card (US)

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American Express Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card (US)

The American Express Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card (US) earns Marriott Bonvoy points and offers cardholders benefits such as instant Bonvoy Gold Elite status and 15 elite qualifying nights to work towards Bonvoy status.

BONUS
85,000 Marriott Bonvoy

MINSPEND
$5,000

NET VALUE
$515+

ANNUAL FEE
$250

FOREX FEES
No

EXPIRY
–

Applying haphazardly is the last thing you want to do with American Express (US), so thinking ahead should always be part of your strategy when it comes to earning miles and points through credit card welcome bonuses.

Ignore Family Language For The Bigger Welcome Bonus

American Express (US) cardholders may find value in ignoring certain credit card family languages and missing out on the welcome bonus on a particular card and instead prefer to take the opportunity to earn an even higher welcome offer on another card.

For example, I wouldn’t be too worried about missing out on the welcome bonus on the American Express Green card (US) as it is usually far from notable, especially compared to the Gold and Platinum cards. In my eyes, the Green card is worth skipping if there is a fantastic limited-time offer on the Gold card and a smaller offer on the Green card, but as always, others may not see the value in this strategy.

While I may have a different approach than many when it comes to maximizing the “once per lifetime” card rules with American Express, I think there is merit to the strategy of maximizing total points received versus applying for every card possible.

Always Review Terms & Conditions Before Applying

We would recommend always reading through the offer terms and conditions before applying for any credit card, but more specifically, the importance is amplified when applying for American Express (US) credit cards.

New card welcome offers in the United States can be weird, and reviewing the offer terms can help you notice targeted offers or unique offer links that may not have family language or lifetime language restrictions. A quick browse through the terms and conditions can save you frustration and stress down the line.

Conclusion

American Express (US) has always been a big proponent of outwardly restricting welcome bonuses through their lifetime language clauses, and the credit card family languages are an extension of that. While they are another restriction to be understood, you can work within them if you are strategic with your applications, thus maximizing your points earning potential.