American Express runs promotions all the time. One day a year, for the past 3 years, they have had a wonderful promotion called
Small Business Saturday. This promotion allows you to spend money at a small business and get a statement credit back.
This year, the promotion allows you to spend up to $30 and get a $30 credit if you play your cards right. I will be eligible for over $1,000 of credits this year and I'll explain how.
Now that you know that every American Express card is worth $30 this year, how can you get more? Obviously, you can sign up for more cards. If you are only interested in promotions,
I recommend AMEX cards that have no annual fee.
The problem with signing up for more cards is that AMEX limits you to 4 credit cards per account so that can only take you so far (charge cards do no count towards the 4 card limit).
The answer is Authorized Users. It's nice to add your spouse to your account and you to your spouse's account, but we can do better!
An Almost Limitless Supply of Authorized Users
What if you could add lots of Authorized Users to your accounts? I'm here to tell you that you can. You can add whoever you want as an authorized user, all you will need is their Name, Address, Birthday and Social Security Number.
What if you could add lots of Authorized Users on your account without knowing lots of social security numbers? I'm here to tell you that you can. There are reports of people adding authorized users over the phone without needing SSN.
What if you could add lots of Authorized Users online without knowing lots of SSNs and without adding lots of people to the account? I'm here to tell you that you can and this is the best part.
If You Only Read One Part, Read the Next 3 Paragraphs
I found this out by mistake, but here is an interesting nugget about American Express. You can add your spouse (or anyone else) as an authorized user on your account. When you are done, you can add your spouse again as an authorized user on your account. When you are done, you can add your spouse again as an authorized user. I could keep going, but I think you get the point.
Interestingly enough, it doesn't end there. When you are done adding your spouse, you can add
yourself as an authorized user on
your account. When you done adding yourself, you can add yourself as an authorized user on your account. You probably get the point again.
Every time you add yourself or your wife to the account, you will get another credit card with a new account number. There are no new annual fees for the new cards, but each card is eligible for promotions separately.
Limits
Some limits to this practice:
- If you sign up the same person twice at one time, you will approved for one and American Express will send you a letter saying that the second card application is cancelled because it is a duplicate.
- Limit of 99 authorized users per credit card account
- American Express probably won't like this too much when they figure it out. Try explaining to a rep why you need to add yourself as an authorized user. Don't sign up for 99 cards per account. Add a couple per account and you'll be fine. Remember, it's important to push the limits, but you want to be pushing the limits less than other people.
- Excessive numbers of Authorized Users can trigger a Financial Review by American Express. As long as your provable income matches what you told American Express on your application, a Financial Review is nothing to be afraid of.
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