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Got Amex Platinum? Get 1,000 Membership Rewards points for adding a supplementary card

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Last July, I wrote about a special American Express promotion offering 1,000 Membership Rewards points (= 1,000 Avios, amongst other things) for each new supplementary cardholder added to your Platinum charge card account.

Reader Trevor emailed me over the weekend to say that the promotion is still working OK.  He recently added a new supplementary cardholder to his account, and received the 1,000 points 40 days later.  (This sounds like a long time, but the application page says it could take 90 days.)

Full details of this promotion and the application link can be found here.

Each Platinum cardholder can add up to five supplementary cardholders for free, which would get you 5,000 Membership Rewards points.  One of these will receive a Platinum card and will be eligible for their own Priority Pass, can access Eurostar lounges and can claim their own Club Carlson Gold card and other hotel status cards.

The other four supplementary cards will be Gold cards.  These four cards still benefit from the Platinum travel insurance but do not receive any of the other benefits.  (It is possible to make these additional cards into Platinum, but there is a £170 charge.  This is not worth the money in my view.)

Because these are charge cards and not credit cards, Amex undertakes stricter checks when issuing supplementary cards than is usual, so don’t bother trying to get a supplementary card for your dog.

I couldn’t even get one for our nanny 18 months ago, as she wasn’t on the electoral register – Amex insisted on receiving copies of her passport and other documents which was simply too much trouble.


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:

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

Comments (11)

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

  • Hingeless says:

    They also give access to virgin australia lounges!

  • martin says:

    The supplementary cardholder also has the option of receiving a green Amex – handy if they also hold a gold card and need some way of differentiating them in their wallet!

    While there is a credit check involved, I’ve held a supplementary card since I was 18, so I’m not sure how strict it is. It’s come in quite handy over the years for the travel insurance – which covers me, my partner, and any hypothetical children. Some parts of the policy only apply if I used an Amex-issued Amex card to purchase the travel, but it doesn’t need to be the platinum supplementary card. (My dad is no doubt pleased he’s not picking up the bill.)

  • Brendan Sweeney says:

    AMEX recently changed their terms so that the main cardholder is fully responsible for spending on supplementary cards ( previously the supplementary cardholders were joint and severally liable) so they may have relaxed their checks on additional cardholders

  • DeltaCharlie says:

    You do need to have held the card for more than 6 months for this to work. You can also get 500 Avios for supplementary on the BAPP.

    • Trevor says:

      I applied after 6 hours after receiving my card, so don’t think there’s a prerequisit amount of time. I also waited ages for it to get approved and got a call to validate the application. Didn’t realise there’d be a credit check for supp as well, so guess that’s why it took longer, but since they can do a credit check and realtime validation on online new card application in seconds, it still doesn’t explain the delay.

  • Jon says:

    Can anyone confirm the CX Marco Polo gold benefit is definitely gone for Amex Plats as of 31st March? They have had a habit of extending it in the past…

  • Josh Fisher says:

    Can you use the Virgin Australia lounges even with a UK Platinum card? How do you access them?

    Do we have to be flying Virgin Australia?

    Thanks

    • Rob says:

      I am guessing it is an Oz Plat benefit but they never check the card. In the same way that Eurostar lounge access is only a UK Plat benefit but you would easily get in with an overseas one.

      Yes, would definitely require a Virgin Oz ticket.

  • boi says:

    I got my plat card last week, as well as supp card. can I still get this bonus 1000 MR though i didnt apply via their link?

    • Rob says:

      Don’t think so, but if you make a complaint saying you think it is unfair you get points for getting one later, they may give them as a goodwill gesture.

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

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