American Express launches a spend-based bonus promotion for Gold and Platinum cardholders

American Express has launched a new bonus points offer for many people – but not everyone – who have Preferred Rewards Gold or The Platinum Card.  The deal may also be available to Green, Centurion and Amex Rewards Credit Card holders.

It is a very simple ‘spend this, get that’ offer.

On my Platinum card, I have:

‘Spend £6,600 betweeen 11th July and 11th August and receive 6,000 bonus Membership Rewards points’

My wife has a more reasonable offer on her Gold card:

‘Spend £700 between 11th July and 11th August and receive 1,000 bonus Membership Rewards points’

There are a couple of things you need to note:

You are not automatically registered.  You need to go to the ‘offers’ section of your Amex online statement page and click ‘save to card’.

It doesn’t start until 11th July

Spend via ‘Payment Aggregators’ such as PayPal does not count

Looking at our comments section yesterday, there are many different versions of this offer.  The most aggressive was:

‘Spend £13,300 between 11th July and 11th August and receive 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points’

I think the smallest was:

‘Spend £300 between 11th July and 11th August and receive 500 bonus Membership Rewards points’

Important ….

If you are tempted to hit your target by putting your Summer holiday spending onto your American Express card, remember that Amex charges a 3% foreign exchange fee.

The bonus points above do NOT offset the 3% fee.  You are still better off using a specialist credit card which offers no rewards but has no FX fees.  The free Tandem Money credit card is even better, offering 0.5% cashback on your FX spending as well as not charging any FX fees.

I think it is fair to say that I won’t be triggering my 6,000 bonus points, although I am sure we can divert £700 of spending onto my wife’s Preferred Rewards Gold.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review