One
introduce
In general, credit card transfers rarely give rewards, just simply change a card (you can refer to our "Credit Card Transfer Summary"). But AmEx's generosity is once again evident here, and his family often has credit card upgrade rewards (targeted):
Upgrading a card to a more advanced card in the same series may also get another transfer bonus, such as the common Blue Cash Everyday (BCE) upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred (BCP), and spending $2,000 for 3 months can get a $250 bonus.
The upgrade offer is not limited by the once-a-lifetime policy, such as you have a BCP card before, and then one day saw the upgrade offer of BCE upgrade to BCP, and it does not affect you to receive the upgrade reward.
AmEx upgrade rewards are generally targeted and usually no direct link is available. Upgrade offers for Hilton series co-brand cards often have a direct public link.
Two
overview
2.1
【2022.3 Update】Amex Everyday -> Everyday Preferred 40k Upgrade Bonus is back in the air
This upgrade reward has had a wave in January, and another wave in these days. There is now another wave of ED upgrade offers to EDP with the email header "You're invited to upgrade and earn 40,000 points"; someone signed in and saw it in the Amex Offers area. You can check your email and online banking. Deal End: 2022.5.31.
2.2
brief summary
It feels like this upgrade reward is about a big wave every year. The following table summarizes the Amex Credit Card Upgrade Rewards in recent years, which do not necessarily exist now, for reference only:
Three
How to get upgrade rewards
AmEx upgrade rewards are generally targeted, so you will often be contacted directly by personal email, etc. Of course, we don't know how the target pattern is, this is their internal algorithm, but the probability of receiving an upgrade offer after the card has a period of time is actually quite large:
Receive targeted email: Sometimes Amex will email you directly to say that a card has an upgrade offer, such as the recent BCE-> BCP upgrade offer in the picture below
Appear in the Amex Offers area: Sometimes the upgrade offer option will appear directly in the Amex Offers area of the Amex online banking page, usually in a very prominent place. For example this:
Direct link: This is a relatively rare, once most famous link for Hilton's no-year upgrade to Surf (then Surpass became Ascend and after Aspire was introduced, there was no direct link available). Other series of card upgrades have not yet seen a similar direct link. However, even if there is this link, it does not mean that it can be upgraded directly, of course, Amex needs to review it first.
Phone customer service: Last night when my friend called, customer service told him that he had an ED-> EDP upgrade offer, but he had forgotten whether he had received an email before. But at least it can be proved that customer service can see whether there is an upgrade offer in your account, and if you are not bothered, you can also call and ask.
Amex webpage: After logging in to Amex, click on All cards, pull to the corresponding card, if there is an upgrade reward, you may also be able to see the upgrade offer directly here. But be aware that even if there is no upgrade offer, the web page will also show request for upgrade, but you have nothing to upgrade at this time, so be sure to see if there are any rewards before upgrading.
Four
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
4.1. How is the annual fee calculated before and after the upgrade?
The annual fee for the card before the upgrade is refunded back to you in accordance with the prorated. Then, the general upgrade of the card will be directly charged a year of annual fee.
4.2. Does it take one year to hold a card for a promotion or demotion?
As long as the total history of this card is more than 12 months, it does not take a full year to be downgraded from a premium card. But many times from the low-level card upgrade needs to hold the card for a full year to give you an upgrade offer, but there is a DP show that less than a year can also get the upgrade offer, in short, compare YMMV.
4.3. Will there be a Hard Pull for the upgrade?
No, basically Soft pull can do it. And the credit history is also the same card that continues, so upgrading doesn't hurt your credit history.
Five
summary
If you want to maximize Amex's rewards, there is no doubt that the existence of this upgrade offer needs to be taken into account. When applying, you can apply for both the card with no annual fee and the annual fee, and then hold the version with no annual fee or low annual fee, and wait quietly to get the upgrade offer. Because this policy does not currently have a similar restriction on taking only once, if it is long enough, it can also get a lot of wool from Amex.
Finally, heartache Amex... I wish you all a pleasant stay.