Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

1,000 quick free Amex Membership Rewards points for iPad / iPhone users

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

American Express has teamed up with Venmo, a new secure online payments service which – with shades of Paypal – allows you to pay for transactions online without having to input your card details.

If you didn’t get the email from Amex, this is how it works:

You need to download one of the following apps from the App Store: YPlan, Hotel Tonight, livingsocial, Drivr, Bizzby

Open the app, log in (create an account if you don’t have one) and go to Settings

On the page where you store your credit card details, there will be a box marked ‘Send to Venmo’ which should be ticked if it is not automatically ticked

Add details of your Amex Platinum, Amex Gold or Amex Green and save

That’s it! You can then delete the app from your iPhone or iPad.

I tried it with YPlan and it worked fine – simply click the ‘equals sign’ logo in the bottom left to go to Settings and then go into the credit card pages.

What is not clear is if you can register supplementary cards as well. I have, just in case I get a double bonus.

You have until 14th November to register your card, so there is still time to do this if you were planning to apply for an Amex Gold (review) or Amex Plat (review) but have yet to do so. Think of it as an extra 1,000 points sign-up bonus!

Note that points can take 8 weeks to hit your Membership Rewards account.

This offer is not available for Android devices …. don’t ask my why.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend 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:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 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 Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

American Express Membership Rewards

Comments (53)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • PalCsaky says:
    4 Oct4 October 07:38

    Would that work with Nectar Amex?

  • MattBennion says:
    4 Oct4 October 08:08

    Time to use a friends or familys Apple device then…

  • Alan says:
    4 Oct4 October 08:15

    Well I’ve registered my Android device anyway, will see if it works!

    • Frenske says:
      4 Oct4 October 11:30

      Which App you used for this? The living social only accepts cards no Venmo listed.

      • Alan says:
        4 Oct4 October 11:41

        I did the Hotel Tonight one, but I was under the impression that Venmo ran the background software thus registering the card did the trick, although no £1 transaction on my account so perhaps not!

      • Rob says:
        4 Oct4 October 12:29

        Once you’ve saved an Amex in the apps settings, Venmo will show in the future.

  • reed says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:07

    doew it work with ba amex . or bavios
    thx

    • Jonny says:
      4 Oct4 October 09:09

      T&C’s just state Amex Plat, Gold or Green. Which makes sense given that they’re giving free MRs.

  • BruC says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:10

    I downloaded YPlan and registered my details.. how do I know that it’s gone through? Is there a confirmation email?

    • Rob says:
      4 Oct4 October 09:18

      No email. You have to trust them, I think.

      Alternatively, load one of the other apps and see if it recognises that you have a card stored via Venmo.

    • Jonny says:
      4 Oct4 October 09:20

      Log in to your Amex online account, and check the “pending transactions” statement of the relevant card.
      I have a £1.00 pending charge for Yplan (which presumably is some kind of authorisation and won’t actually come through) – gives me comfort that it is registered correctly though

      • Rob says:
        4 Oct4 October 09:21

        Good spot.

        • Brendan says:
          4 Oct4 October 09:54

          Hmm nothing listed under pending transactions for me. May need to download another app to see if it worked

          • Brendan says:
            4 Oct4 October 10:34

            Downloaded Bizzby and went into the add card details part and my Amex was already listed under Venmo so it seems to have worked but I don’t have the pending transaction so it may not be a sure way of knowing.

  • Oh Matron! says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:28

    Thanks for this, quite nice 🙂

    Quick Q though… I can see where I can check the total number of MR points I have, but where can you see the actual points earned?

    • Oh Matron! says:
      4 Oct4 October 09:36

      What I actually meant was each individual point earning instance…

      • Oh Matron! says:
        4 Oct4 October 09:57

        Just read the above comment. Pending transaction from DRIVR 🙂

  • Jonny says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:55

    Can you register multiple cards on one app?

    Or do you have to do it on different apps? Or even different devices?

  • Roger says:
    4 Oct4 October 10:07

    The smartphone market is largely Android these days and it is disappointing to see another opportunity for Apple users denied to the majority of us who don’t use iPhone/iPad.

    The app is not available from Play Store. I read somewhere that Android users could register by using one of the retailers using Venmo. As a previous customer, I tried using livingsocial but there was no such opportunity probably because I already had cards listed. I’ll perhaps try again as a new account.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!