Once again it appears I am going to reach my MSR ahead of schedule. Apparently I spend a lot more money than I thought I did....
Can someone remind me about timing for Amex cards? Might be time to pull the trigger on that Aspire...
Amex will approve 2 of their (Amex)
credit cards in a rolling 90 day period. (This rule doesn’t apply to or count Amex
charge cards.) I think you’re coming off of a Hilton Surpass and that’s your only Amex card? If so, you should be fine. Knock on wood you don’t get the pop up. Keeping up spend on your Amex card(s) should help to avoid the pop up.
DO NOT self-support from your Surpass to the Aspire. Even though Amex hasn’t yet come after self-supports on or to their co-branded cards (like the Hilton), I would not advise risking it because it’s clearly a practice Amex does not condone and may do something about in the future. If you do not have someone’s Amex support link to use, please consider using a fellow DISchurner’s link and make sure you’re getting the “best” 150k Hilton points/$4k MSR offer.
As you might know, the Aspire comes with a $250 airline incidental fee credit every calendar year (the same kind of credit found on the Amex Gold, Platinum, and Biz Plat). Right now is “triple dip” season, so if you go for the Aspire card in the next week to 10 days, you’ll have a $250 credit to use before the end of the year, which resets for another $250 credit starting 1/1/20, and a third $250 credit starting 1/1/21 before you’re billed a second AF. Essentially you’d get $750 in airline credits (not to mention 2x cardmember year $250 resort credits, Free Weekend Night Certificates, a 150k Hilton points SUB, Diamond status, etc.) on 1x $450 AF if you decide to cancel or downgrade the card after the second AF is billed. If you decide to keep the card, the Aspire’s benefits still more than pay for itself, especially if you have any plans to stay at a Hilton (or you can downgrade to a no-AF Hilton card and wait for an upgrade offer).
Unfortunately, as you may know, the Amex airline credit no longer works on gift cards. The airline credit is harder to use now that airline gift cards are off the table, but there are still ways to bank it if you don’t have a flight coming up, where you’d upgrade seats or check in bags. See the discussion here for ideas about which airline you could select year and how to use up the credit: