Amex Changes Mercedes-Benz Platinum Card Bonus Terms - Prior Platinum Cardholders Excluded

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

Update: Beginning March 22, 2014, American Express Card Members will no longer have access to American Airlines Admiral Club and US Airways Club airport lounges through Airport Club Access / Airport Lounge Program. This means that Card Members will no longer be able to gain complimentary access to the American Airlines airport lounges (known as Admirals Club lounges) or the US Airways Club airport lounges as a benefit of their Platinum Card Membership.

TPG reader Debbie wrote to me that she was interested in applying for the Mercedes-Benz Platinum Card from American Express, which comes with all of the same benefits that I value with the personal Platinum Card (American, Delta, US Airways and Priority Pass Select lounge access and $200 yearly airline credit) as well as a 50,000-point bonus when you spend $3,000 within the first three months.

However, reading through the terms, she noted that "This offer is not valid for existing Platinum Card members from American Express. You are eligible to receive points for only one Card account."

You might recall that during my last major round of credit card applications back in March, I had decided when making my current credit card inventory list, to replace my then-current American Express Platinum card with the Mercedes-Benz version and score an additional bonus in the process.

Back then, the terms simply stated that the "Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have had this product within the last 12 months." I confirmed on this Flyertalk thread that those with a regular Platinum had been getting the bonus with no issues, though, so it was as if Amex considered the two cards as separate products.

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However, instead of switching and foregoing the sign-up bonus, I applied for the Mercedes card as a new applicant, and then once I got it, I canceled my old Platinum card over to it, scored the new bonus, and was off to the races.

Since then, though, it looks like Amex has started cracking down more on applicants who want to score bonuses both on the personal Platinum and Mercedes-Benz versions and it has amended to terms to include previous cardholder-ship of the regular Platinum Card as an exclusion to getting a new bonus on a second Platinum card.

That's unfortunate, and I would love to hear any recent reader experiences to the contrary, but it just goes to show that if you find a great credit card deal, you should get in on it while you can since issuers can change the rules whenever they please and that can leave you without the chance of any bonus at all.

For more details on the Platinum Card and its benefits, check out these posts:

-The Amex Platinum Card Review
-Is the Amex Platinum Worth the $450 Annual Fee?
-Maximizing the Amex Platinum $200 Annual Airline Rebate
-Understanding the Amex Platinum Lounge Access Benefit
-The Amex Platinum Fine Hotels & Resorts Program
-My Experience Getting Refunded for the Global Entry Application Fee With My Amex Platinum Card