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Get a possible 1,500 American Express Membership Rewards points for £3 spend

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American Express has, it seems, been running an interesting promotion with Admiral Insurance since the end of August, not that they bothered to tell us about it.

If you are a new customer to Admiral and take out a policy before 31st December (paid with your Amex charge card), you will receive 1,500 Membership Rewards points.

Now, Admiral is presumably hoping that you will splash out for a car insurance policy or the like.  However, Admiral also does travel insurance.  As an example, cover for a weekend away in the UK from 7-9 December for one person costs £3.07.

There are no rules in the promotion about what sort of insurance qualifies, so this should work fine.

1,500 Membership Rewards points is good for 1,500 Avios, amongst other things – a very good deal for £3.07.

Before you book, you need to register your Platinum, Preferred Rewards Gold or Green American Express card at this website.  Whilst the main text says the closing date was 30 October, the small print does say 30 November – as does the covering email that Amex is using to promote this to people.  October also has 31 days, so it would be odd closing registration on 30 October.

And, whilst you need to register by the end of November, you not need to pay for your policy before the end of December.

Note that you will not receive your bonus points when the transaction posts to your card statement.  They will arrive separately, no later than 28 February.

There is one possible fly in the ointment.  These policies are written by a firm called Rock Insurance Services – not owned by Admiral – and that is what appears on your card statement.  Amex may not automatically pick this up as being an Admiral transaction and so you may have to retroclaim your bonus points in March. 

Expect to have to do a couple of rounds of email ping-pong via the Amex Secure Messaging Centre before they get added on.


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 (19)

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

  • lallyr says:

    I bought my car insurance and put the entire amount on the Amex last week. Now I see this promo. I have registered. What do you think my chances are for getting the points or shall I spend the £3 points to get it?

    • Raffles says:

      Depends how Amex awards the points. If they wait until the end of the promo and compare a list of registered people against the list of policy buyers, you’ll be OK.

      • lallyr says:

        Sent £2 and got a one night policy. Safer bet for the 1,500 points. Thanks for the post.

  • lallyr says:

    Don’t think it would have worked Raffles. My car Inisurance posted as Admiral but the £2 insurance posted as ROCK INSURANCE SERVICES CRAWLEY.

    So I think one must buy the £2 insurance to be on the safe side.

    • Raffles says:

      I agree that I don’t think it will post automatically. But a couple of emails with Amex CS via the Secure Message Centre will see you OK, especially when a lot of us are making the same complaint at the same time.

  • g2-c74d428b3fe4991fc2f2089b312fa3f9 says:

    Has anyone contacted CS yet to claim the MR?

    • Raffles says:

      I think the rules said they would post within 8 weeks of the end of the promo? This is one you need to diarise for 2013 to chase.

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

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