Recently, out of the blue a Reddit comment appeared calming that there is a 3/90 rule on charge card. Then couple more comments were made supporting said post and one went on to say that this rule has been in place for several months (I can’t find these comments at the moment but I will update the post when I do but for now this and that will have to do).
My initial reaction to 3/90 claim was “these guys ought to be trolling” because how on earth have I not heard of something so trivial, and perhaps more importantly why isn’t any regular subreddit user confirming the rule? Then it occurred to me that most people who’ve been in this game aren’t going to experience 3/90 rule because they’ve already chewed through enough charge cards.
But I know people who’re willing to let me shop credit cards for them and fittingly enough one such person was a perfect candidate to shop for some American Express cards. On same day, we applied for 4 American Express cards, namely Hilton Ascend, Green, Premier Rewards Gold, Business Green, and Ameriprise Gold. As it turns out very single one of them was instantly approved. Needless to say 4 of them are charge cards and one (Ascend) is a credit card.
Why is approval of 4 charge cards in a single day an important data point? Because 3/90, similarly to 2/90 American Express credit card rule (see anti-churning), claims that one can only have 3 American Express charge card in 90 days.
Closing Thoughts
I don’t know why so many people are running into 3/90 rule and I didn’t. Maybe its a soft rule that Amex has put in place, maybe instant approval altogether avoids it, or maybe 3/90 just doesn’t exist and these reports are a result of some Amex representatives misinterpreting rules. Nevertheless, the point stands that 3/90, should it exist, isn’t a hard rule.
