Get up to £50 American Express cashback with PayPal

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American Express has launched a cashback deal with PayPal. It is effectively free money if you are targeted for the offer.

There seem to be two versions, one for personal cards and one for business cards.

On my Marriott Bonvoy American Express, I am offered £15 cashback on a £70 PayPal payment.

On my Business Platinum card I am offered £50 cashback on a £250 PayPal payment.

Both offers expire on 4th March. Registrations are limited so register now via your online Amex statement or the app if you are targetted.

It seems that the cashback will trigger irrespective of whether you are sending money to a friend or making a purchase from a retailer. The wording implies that you must hit the spend target in a single transaction.

It isn’t necessary to have a PayPal account to buy something using the PayPal option online. This is a common misconception. You can simply click ‘pay with PayPal’ and enter your card details directly.

Remember that goods purchased via PayPal do not qualify for Section 75 cover if the retailer goes bust or the product is not as you expect.

This doesn’t make any difference compared to paying directly with American Express business cards or charge cards as Section 75 does not cover those anyway. You are giving up coverage if you use PayPal rather than an American Express credit card. PayPal does have its own redress scheme but it is voluntary.

Remember to register now, if targeted, on the American Express website and complete your transaction by 4th March.

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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

Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, Amex Rewards Credit Card, British Airways American Express, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Robin N says:

8 Jan8 January 08:48

No offer on 4 of my cards. Spoke to Amex couple of days ago about not getting any offers for last two months. Had to get the Shop small added manually. Firstly the chap started with the normal script (offers are not guaranteed and change time to time). After pressing a bit more he did say that after the last account review there are no offers on the account. He said the account will be reviewed after six months and offers may be added. He said there is nothing wrong with my account, payment history, spending pattern etc. Anyone else seeing their offers being dried up for last couple of months? I have had none.
- Lumma says:
  
  8 Jan8 January 09:10
  
  I’m starting to worry that my offers are drying up. Only got one hotel offer on my BA card and none at all on my rewards and (red) cards. Had to get shop small manually added too
- Phil says:
  
  8 Jan8 January 14:31
  
  All new offers stopped loading in Sept/Oct for me across all the cards on my account (including supplementary BAPP). My wife’s supplementary cards and main BAPP all get frequent offers, some of them even useful !!!
Martin says:

8 Jan8 January 08:49

I suppose the ideal free money scenario is if you and a friend or partner both have the deal and send each other £70. AIUI, there’s no fee invoked for this kind of transaction.
(Alas, no offer on any of my cards)
- ChrisA says:
  
  8 Jan8 January 10:03
  
  There is a 3% cost to this – I think the recipient only gets 97% of the money sent.
  - Doug M says:
    
    8 Jan8 January 10:07
    
    Not if you say it’s money for a friend. But do that with Amex for more than minimal amounts and PayPal will be on the case quickly.
Dance-Ace-Base says:

8 Jan8 January 08:52

I think AmEx are trying to get me to break up with them.

They give their “friends” £400 at Marriott, £100 at Harrods, £100 at Deliveroo, £15 at PayPal and 50k MR points just to stay friends.

Meanwhile I can get 50p back every time I donate £5000 to the Re-elect Trump campaign, and if I say I’m leaving them they say fine, see how you get on without us and we’re keeping the dog.
- kitten says:
  
  8 Jan8 January 09:40
  
  And when people call up to say why am I not getting offers” Amex says “your dinner’s in the oven”
vol says:

8 Jan8 January 08:56

Got it on my free membership rewards
and got it on Amex gold

Neither cards see much use so thanks for the heads up!
Mike says:

8 Jan8 January 08:59

Cannot pay PP on Amazon, not sure about M&S or JL. Apart from sending money to each other which risks account closure, whats the most optimum use of this free money?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  8 Jan8 January 09:01
  
  You can buy M&S e gift cards (I’ll be using them later for food stacking with money off coupons) and well as shop online.
  - Andrew says:
    
    8 Jan8 January 09:20
    
    +1
- mark2 says:
  
  8 Jan8 January 09:15
  
  You can buy John Lewis physical gift cards (£3 postage) but not e-gift cards, unless someone can prove me wrong.
- Aston100 says:
  
  8 Jan8 January 09:54
  
  There is no risk for a one off (or even a few smallish value) payment to friends & family.
  It is when people take the mick or pay large sums / regularly then you can expect trouble.
  
  I legitimately use PayPal backed up with an Amex to make small payments every month – things like pocket money, paying someone for an odd job, or paying for my share of a larger gift purchase etc No problems.
  
  People are too scared of what might happen, but IMO this is only an issue for those who are actively looking to exploit or take advantage.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    8 Jan8 January 15:49
    
    Agree. £70 will be fine.
Rjn21 says:

8 Jan8 January 09:17

Nothing on our family’s 9 BAPP. No spend x, get y avios. No shop small until added manually. A spattering of no use to me offers. We are considering dropping 2 of our renewals this year, as 2 more 241s (to add to the 2 live and 2 held in FTVs) are pointless at the moment anyway.
TimM says:

8 Jan8 January 09:19

Also nothing from Paypal on my personal and business Amex cards.
Mark says:

8 Jan8 January 09:36

Nothing in my bapp:(