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New year, new credit card? Learn which Amex cards you can get, based on the cards you have

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We don’t do very many ‘first principles’ articles on Head for Points.  However, I ran a version of this article a year ago and it was very popular.  More importantly, I’ve ended up emailing the link to at least one reader per day since then so I know it is a key topic.

Many of us will be taking advantage of the New Year to make a fresh start on their loyalty credit card strategy.  A lot of people do not fully understand the rules on what American Express sign-up bonuses they can get, which might mean that you are missing out on some free points and miles.

IMPORTANT:  Following changes to the American Express sign-up bonus rules in March 2019, this article is now out of date and you should not rely on it.  Please click here to read an article outlining the new Amex bonus rules.

The question we are looking at is:  what are the rules regarding earning a sign-up bonus when you take out an American Express credit or charge card?

The simple answer is:  you will receive a bonus (subject to hitting the qualifying spend target) if you do not have, or have not had in the last six months, an Amex card which earns the same rewards currency.

Let’s look into this more closely.

The rule does not relate to just the card you are applying for.  It also applies to cards which offer the same kind of reward.

For the cards we cover on Head for Points, the main rewards currencies are:

Cards which offer Membership Rewards points

Cards which offer Avios

Cards which offer Marriott Rewards points

Cards which offer Nectar points

Here are a few points you should note:

To clarify, you cannot get a sign-up bonus on a card if you have had another card in the same ‘family’ above in the last six months.  If you have or recently had an Amex Platinum, you cannot get a bonus if you apply for an Amex Gold, for example.  There are NO restrictions on you getting a British Airways, Starwood or Nectar card as they belong to a different ‘family’ on my list.

The six months rule only applies to cards on which you were the primary cardholder.  Being a supplementary cardholder on someone else’s American Express card does not matter.  If you are currently a supplementary cardholder on your partners BA Amex, for example, you WILL still get a bonus if you apply for your own BA or BA Premium Plus Amex.

Cards which are not issued directly by Amex have no impact on this discussion.  If you only have the Lloyds Bank Avios credit card, you WILL still get the bonus on either of the two British Airways American Express cards or any other card listed above.

Just because you have previously converted Membership Rewards points into Avios, Starwood or Nectar does NOT block you from the bonus on the dedicated British Airways, Starwood or Nectar American Express cards.  A lot of people are confused about this in my experience.

More importantly – and a common mistake – you cannot get a bonus on a Gold Business or Platinum Business card if you have or recently had a personal Gold, Green, Platinum etc.  This is because a company cannot have a Membership Rewards account, only an individual.  The Membership Rewards account for a Gold Business or Platinum Business is in the personal name of the individual who applies and so the standard rules apply.

You cannot have both the free British Airways credit card and the paid British Airways Premium Plus credit card.  Upgrading or downgrading between the free and paid BA cards will not trigger a bonus because you will have had an Avios-earning card in the last six months.

Similarly, if you switch from Platinum to Gold or vice versa (although you can have both) you will not receive a bonus on the new card  You should also note that you do not get your first year of Gold free if you downgrade from Platinum – the £140 kicks in immediately.

You can apply for the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex – and gets its generous sign-up bonus – irrespective of what other Amex cards you have.  The only no-no would be if you have cancelled an SPG card in the last six months.  The bonus is 30,000 Marriott / Starwood points which is worth roughly £150 of free hotel stays or 10,000 Avios or other airline miles.

Similarly, you can apply for the Nectar Amex – and gets its generous sign-up bonus of 20,000 Nectar points, worth at least £100 – irrespective of what other Amex cards you have.  The only no-no would be if you have cancelled a Nectar Amex card in the last six months.  This card is free for the first year.

I hope you found this helpful in clarifying any confusion.  Please post any further questions in the comments – I will add the best ones back into this main article.

If you want to know more about any of the cards above, here are my reviews:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review, American Express Platinum review, American Express Rewards (ARCC) review, British Airways American Express (BA Amex) review, British Airways Premium Plus American Express (BAPP Amex) review, Nectar Amex review, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG Amex)

I also look at Amex Gold Business here and Amex Platinum Business here.

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 Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (275)

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

  • Grant says:
    7 Jan7 January 14:33

    1) You can apply again in 6 months time and be eligable for the bonuses again.

    2) The majority of anecotdal evidence says your Feb 2020 booking will be fine. As a data point, I asked this question of both Amex and BA before I cancelled my BAPP card with a ‘used but not yet flown’ 241. Amex told me the 241 would be cancelled. BA told me it had been redeemed at the point the tickets were booked and could not be cancelled. I’m due to fly in May and so far so good.

    I’ve read a number of times here and elsewhere that even if you haven’t used the 241 for a booking it will not be cancelled when you cancel the card, despite what Amex say.

    • Grant says:
      7 Jan7 January 17:01

      I was prepared, perhaps foolishy, to take the BA CS agent’s word for it and cancelled by BAPP after that call. Time will tell, but so far nothing has changed on my booking in my BAEC account.

      On the timescales point, this is the key para as far as you are concerned in Rob’s article…

      To clarify, you cannot get a sign-up bonus on a card if you have had another card in the same ‘family’ above in the last six months. If you have or recently had an Amex Platinum, you cannot get a bonus if you apply for an Amex Gold, for example. There are NO restrictions on you getting a British Airways, Starwood or Nectar card as they belong to a different ‘family’ on my list.

      The example Rob uses is Plat to Gold, but same would apply for Gold to Gold. You could churn a card from another family in between if you wanted to leave it longer than 6 months.

    • Genghis says:
      7 Jan7 January 17:09

      De facto, companion vouchers do not disappear when cards are cancelled, despite what anyone tells you.

    • Polly says:
      7 Jan7 January 20:43

      Please ignore both Amex and BA on these 241 issues. They stay in your ac. Only thing to watch out for is, if you cancel your flight, and you don’t have the bapp anymore, there is the slightest chance you might not have the voucher returned. But here on this forum, no evidence of that…touch wood…
      amex and ba, They don’t really know their own rules. Just ask us on here….

  • Nick_C says:
    7 Jan7 January 14:44

    Just applied for the SPG Amex and approved immediately. Is there a bonus for adding a supplementary card to this account?

  • Paul says:
    7 Jan7 January 15:21

    O/T Anyone with any experience of Amex offering additional MR if a supplementary card is requested after the account is set up with one card – or might it just appear under offers tab on user account? If offered how many MR are offered on AmEx Prem Plus?

    • Genghis says:
      7 Jan7 January 15:25

      Yes. Whether offered or not.
      The Platinum card, earns MR = 5k
      The Premium plus card, earns avios = 3k.

    • Grant says:
      7 Jan7 January 15:29

      I’ve had 3k MR from Gold and 3k avios from Prem Plus but I’ve always waited until the offer appeared in my tab

      • Polly says:
        7 Jan7 January 20:45

        We got it without it appearing in our tb.
        Plus l rang up innocently asking for my extra 1k for our spg, and got it…surprised by that one..

  • Nate1309 says:
    7 Jan7 January 15:32

    If you have a supplementary card holder do they get 5 x referrals too?

  • Jon H-S says:
    7 Jan7 January 16:06

    I have Platinum and my wife has platinum supplementary. We both have PP (priority pass) cards and use them quite a bit. If I get a Gold card for my niece as a supplementary will she also be able to get the PP card albeit with different terms and conditions. (I think 2 free accesses per year and paid access after that). Will the other gold card benefits apply?

    • Genghis says:
      7 Jan7 January 16:11

      Giving your niece a free Gold supp on your Plat does NOT come with a PP or lounge club card (like if it was a main card). Terms and conditions remain the same as your Plat. It’s effectively just an extra card on your plat account, i.e. spending by her on the Gold card in USD only gets 1 point / £ spend, not 2 as if it was a main Amex Gold.

  • Jtz says:
    7 Jan7 January 16:27

    Couple of questions

    So I had cancelled the shop on my gold charge card before upgrading to plat, and realised that I received the supplementary for plat too, I called and told them I cancelled it before and was going to apply for the bonus MR, which I thought was 5000, they gave 3000 as goodwill gesture.

    Can I add another supplementary for free on plat to get the 5000?

    Also I just found out from my parents they have £10,000 they want to spend on a company that don’t take Amex….is there any way I can use Amex, this would make up all of there gold (referred them) spend and help my plat spend and potentially if I refer myself to spg?

    I’d like some ideas on a non Amex card, because I will probably cancel plat as soon as I hit the spend and referral points, no brainer would have gone for hilton if it was still available, ihg…I’m thinking but can’t quite put a valuation on their points, have only redeemed free nights with them through the first accelerate promo and tbh any redemption would probably be overseas.

    Genghis, would love your ideas please.

    • Genghis says:
      7 Jan7 January 16:33

      Lots of specific requests today… 🙂
      1) Worth trying adding a supp. So even though you cancelled it you received one? Does this still exist? Another supp would then be £170 but like I said above, refundable prorata so worth a punt perhaps.
      2) Assuming you’re not a Curve Amex beta user, options for putting the £10k on Amex mainly revolve around Billhop. I’ve never used them, fees too high for me at around 3% but others have reported them cutting them deals with large amounts. Failing that, the IHG black card is an easy solution. For £99 card fee and the £10k spend you’d get 20k sign up bonus + 20k spend points + the free night in any IHG property + Plat status. This card is my go-to non-Amex. I have one and so does my wife. Like Rob, I value the points at 0.4p ea.

      • Jtz says:
        7 Jan7 January 16:55

        Thanks Genghis,
        Yep the plat supp just turned up in the post,
        Will try adding gold but can someone be a supp for 2 different accounts? Or can the person who is my plat supp also be a gold supp?
        Yep ihg maybe might just have to go down that route, is the card fee refunded pro rata? Hmmm…might go well with the 2 free night promo already on too

        Anyone on Amex beta , could you give us a heads up on when the rest of us can join?
        Thanks

        • Genghis says:
          7 Jan7 January 16:58

          No worries. One person can be a supp on two different accounts of different people or whatever – doesn’t make a difference. IHG black fees not refundable pro-rata (only Amex do that). I’m in the Amex beta but it’s not yet been released I don’t think when roll out is to everyone.

          @Rob do you now have a tester of the Curve metal card? How you finding it?

        • TGLoyalty says:
          7 Jan7 January 17:36

          the free night isn’t issued until the card anniversary.

        • Polly says:
          7 Jan7 January 20:49

          With Billhop, if you call them they may offer you a reduced rate, if you tell them you have a lot of spend coming through. I got a 2% fee for a certain amount of time. Worth asking.
          Also if you need to hit a bonus early, might be worth the Billhop fee as it will balance out the card fee maybe on the bapp or plat cards. Just a thought.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      7 Jan7 January 16:37

      If you add a gold supp (free) you will get the 5k bonus – done this a couple months ago.

      If I had £10k to put on a non-AMEX IHG Black card would be my preference.

      Platinum status, 20k points for joining, 20k for the spend and a free night in a hotel worth c£200-300 a night in a major city. Its a better return for £99 than most other cards.

      Value 1 IHG point at 0.4p so

      • Jtz says:
        7 Jan7 January 19:45

        Thanks TG, will add a gold supp and see if it triggers the 5000
        Thanks Genghis and TG for the ihg card recommendation, need to think it over, esp as the free night would be a year from now, but if all else fails will probably go for it for something better than nothing

  • Mac says:
    7 Jan7 January 16:30

    Does anyone know whether adding a supplementary cardholder to an Amex Plat card creates a “financial link” between the main cardmember and the supp cardholder for the purpose of the credit reference agancies, in the same way a joint bank account or loan does? Would the supp cardholder’s credit rating impact the primary’s credit rating or vice versa?

    • Genghis says:
      7 Jan7 January 16:34

      No and no. But a supp going crazy and spending loads on the card, which is then not paid off by the main card holder, would.

      • Doug M says:
        7 Jan7 January 19:00

        Only if you’re crazy enough to give the sup the card.

      • DaveL says:
        7 Jan7 January 20:12

        “But a supp going crazy and spending loads on the card, which is then not paid off by the main card holder, would.”
        Surely this would only serve to benefit the credit score of the main cardholder? Nothing untoward….

  • Rda says:
    7 Jan7 January 17:25

    Can you self refer from Amex Gold credit card to SPG amex?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      7 Jan7 January 17:38

      A Gold Credit Card holder can refer a number of other AMEX including but not limited to BA, Nectar and SPG.

      With Self Referral you take the risk of getting no referral points as it’s not in the spirit of the promotion and highlighting it to AMEX would be a major error.

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