Check On Your American Express Application

Disclaimer: I do not receive a commission for any credit card links in this post. 

I applied for the Delta Platinum Skymiles Business American Express Card that I wrote about the other day. This card has a great temporary offer through July 7 for members of Delta’s Skybonus program. The amount of elite miles that this card offers as a bonus is a huge reason to apply for this card!

This card was going to be perfect for my Delta strategy for my elite status this year. I really do not have any plans to fly Delta much but I have a lot of Skymiles sitting there and want to book some trips next year. Having Platinum Elite status or higher allows me to redeposit my award miles for free (if done before 72 hours of departure), so that is the number one perk for me to go for Platinum. The funny part is that I will achieve Platinum without really flying Delta this year (5 flights)! That is because I rolled over 22,000 MQMs (medallion qualifying miles) from last year, flew 11,000 miles, and will receive 50,000 more MQMs from credit card spending (30,000 MQMs from my Delta Reserve and 20,000 MQMs from this offer).

So, I went ahead and applied for the offer today. I knew it would go into pending mode since I already have four credit cards with American Express (read about that limit here). Sure enough, they took me to a screen stating that I would need to call to confirm information. The screen gave me the phone number – 800-582-6471 – and a tracking number. This line is open Monday – Friday from 8AM-midnight, Saturday 9:30AM – 9PM, and Sunday 10AM – 9PM ET. 

I called and the representative was very helpful as she verified just basic personal information and sent my application through for processing. After a moment, she came back on the line and said it was declined due to the amount of cards I have with them (which she said “is a good thing”). I told her I was expecting that and would be fine with closing down one of my credit cards so that I might receive this one. She transferred me to customer service to close the card and then I was sent back to the first department to have my application submitted yet again.

To check on the status of my application, I went to a special website American Express has for this purpose – link. The nice part is that it updates realtime – when she told me it was declined, it showed on the page. When it was resubmitted, it showed as in progress.

Summary

To check on the status of your American Express application (for any Amex card), they make it very easy and user friendly. Just go to this website and enter your social security number and zip code. If you want to call because it says you are denied or it says in progress for too long, you can call their reconsideration line at 866-314-0237. If you are at the magic four credit card limit, be ready to tell them which card you are willing to close. Being proactive on that can be a good thing as they will see that you are willing to work with them on it. Remember, these banks want your business. This is why I typically will be holding my American Express cards until I have to close one to get another one.