As I have mentioned before on Head for Points, the American Express Platinum sign-up bonus of 50,000 or 52,000 Membership Rewards points (good for 50,000 or 52,000 Avios or various other things) is a great deal.
The Amex website was updated this week to say that the 50,000 points offer will end on 3rd March. (The 52,000 points is for people who are referred.) My best guess – and I honestly don’t know – is that it will drop back to 40,000 points, which is what it was until last Autumn.
So, if you meet the £40,000 household income requirement and have not had a Platinum, Gold or Green Amex in the last six months, you need to decide whether to go for it before the deadline.
If you apply direct, you will receive 50,000 Membership Rewards points (see here for what that gets you). Remember that you can cancel for a pro-rata refund of your £450 as soon as you’ve hit the £2,000 spend target. Cancel within 3 months, and your net fee will only have been (3/12ths of £450) £112 – a fantastic deal for 50,000 Avios!
However, the Platinum card has some great benefits – Cathay Pacific Gold card (= BA Silver and gets you into BA lounges), Starwood Gold, Club Carlson Gold, Accor Gold, 2 Priority Passes for lounge access when not flying BA etc – and you may decide that it is well worth keeping once you have got used to the benefits. I have had once since 1999.
You can get a higher bonus of 52,000 points if you are referred – please e-mail me at raffles [at] headforpoints.co.uk if you need a referral. There is £80 Quidco cashback on offer if you apply directly for the 50,000 point version, but I can offer you a deal which should make the referral route more valuable.
Raffles – I’ve never been tempted by this before but with a pro-rated cancellation fee it sounds v appealing. Would a Gold supplementary cardholder qualify for the bonus MRs? If so, then there’s another decision – this or the Starwood Amex……decisions decisions.
Yes – supp card holders are not counted as card members by Amex…
Yes, having a supp Gold card on someone else’s account doesn’t matter.
Would someone with the Starwoods Amex get the bonus? Was planing to wait 6 months as the ‘important information’ says existing American express customers are excluded – has anyone got the Platinum while already holding the SPG?
That ‘important information’ is wrong. I can promise you that 100%, based on doing a number of referrals for BA and SPG Amex holders.
The correct text is what appears on the main Amex website page, ie only someone who has, or has had in the last 6 months, an Amex card offering Membership Rewards points (ie a Gold or Green Amex) will not get a bonus.
BA, SPG, Nectar etc is fine.
Thanks for this Raffles. Do you know if Amex lets you split your available credit from an exisiting card onto a new card i.e like MBNA?
The Platinum card is a CHARGE card, not a credit card. You do not have a credit limit – Amex lets you keep spending until it decides you have spent too much! You must also clear the bill at the end of the month, you cannot roll over a balance.
However, if you do have an Amex credit card (BA, SPG, Nectar) and want to increase your chances of Platinum acceptance, then it still helps to go on the Amex website and reduce your credit limit a bit. This is only worth doing if Amex gave you a silly limit in the first place which you never get near.
Looking at the T&Cs it seems that the referrer’s bonus is only conditional on the approval of the friend’s application so does this mean that friend applies, is approved then cancels a week later without charging anything to the card thenreferrer still pockets bonus – because this seems ripe for potential abuse.
The gold card “free for first year” deal would effectively mean that the bonus is completely cost free?
It is not really open to abuse, because Amex at its discretion could take back the points from the referrer. And referrers are likely to be long-established Amex members anyway who would not want to ruin their relationship with Amex.
Anyway, the £40,000 income threshold for the Platinum card means that the sort of people who get accepted are unlikely to be the sort of people looking to make a few quick points from Amex.
Gold – yes, effectively. If you have a friend who earns £20,000 then it is certainly worthwhile for both of you if you can persuade them to sign up!
I’ve managed to get 2 referral bonuses since I got my Gold card last month, my Dad who is a keen points collector was easy, I sent the details to someone else and to my surprise they also signed up so I’ve got a nice 24k bonus plus I was referred by Raffles so I should be getting 22k welcome bonus.
Trying to persuade someone to take out the Gold card which is free for the first year is certainly easier than persuading them to take out a £450 a year Platinum card!
There is also the option to share your referral link on Facebook!
Was not suggesting abuse- just that the T&C’s allowed for it. Even with poorer insurance I (as a frequent but mainly LCC flyer) love the CXgold and PP benefits of Plat and long may they continue.
But is a £450 fee really justified? I guess if you’re Raffles and manage to refer 2 people a year, the referral points would already cover the fee though
A question I address myself in this post! – http://headforpoints.com/2012/12/19/is-american-express-platinum-worth-the-450-fee/ However, Hilton Gold has been dropped since I wrote that!
So the offer ends 3rd March – but so long as we sign-up before then, we still have three more months to reach the £2000 spend, right? Or do we have to hit £2000 before 3rd March?
3 months from whenever you sign up
Phew, good thing I got mine a month ago. Only paying half price (£225) and the £80 cashback has tracked. But will likely cancel after 1 year because the fee goes back up to £450 which is not worth it for me.
How did you get it for half price?
Hi Mike, can you please pass on how you got the half price fee? Thanks
It was a targetted mailshot that Amex sent out at the start of the year. It had a personalised application code in it and so was not transferable.
Raffles, I have an AMEX plat. My wife doesn’t work. Can she qualify based on household income? If so my plan is to refer her, let my card lapse and then we get the benefits through her. Thanks for your advice.
Yes, should be OK. Homemaker is usually an option on the application form.