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IMPORTANT:  Following changes to the American Express sign-up bonus rules in March 2019, this article is now out of date and you should not rely on it.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

18,000 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.

  • Howard says:
    7 Jan7 January 18:07

    I did a self referral from my Amex Plat to SPG.

    Have not got the 18,000 bonus for referral.

    When I called Amex they said you can’t self refer!!!

    Is this correct ?

  • Saffy says:
    7 Jan7 January 18:08

    Couple of Q’s as relatively new to this
    : I took out a BA Amex in May 2018. Got to within £500 of hitting the 20k 241 voucher in Nov 2018, so applied for a Amex preferred Rewards Gold card and have been spending on that since to earn rewards and convert to BA Avios. Currently have 84k Avios with approx. 30k or more to come from flights/hols booked in March/April.
    I plan to swap back to BA Amex in early May to trigger the 241 voucher and then hopefully book flights for April/May 2020 to KL.

    Am I doing the right thing by continuing with this strategy, or should I be looking at an alternative?
    And what should I do after may 2019 – swap to BA Platinum or remain with regular and Amex gold?
    Grateful on any advice.

    I have a partner who I could refer if it helps. Not used them yet, but happy to do so if it assists.

    Thank you in advance

    • Genghis says:
      7 Jan7 January 18:42

      Best advice I can give is not to bother with the BA blue card. Voucher only valid for 1 year and as BA flights released at t-355, makes booking hard to get flights when you want them nigh impossible. As such, cancel and get BAPP in 6 months’ time.

    • Doug M says:
      7 Jan7 January 18:57

      Firstly Rob makes the case that you never spend £20K on the basic card, if you spend that much you get the BAPP card and get a two year voucher at £10K rather than a one year voucher at £20K, along with abextra 10K Avios on the spend and 25K Avios as the signup bonus. If you’re happy to churn, then refer partner to Gold, then cancel you card, and become sup on partner card. 6 months after you cancel, get partner to ref you, they cancel and become sup on yours. Repeat until Amex decide to end this. Don’t apply for sup cards until Amex offer you points for doing this. Aside from doing this with Gold cards you can separately do the same with BAPP cards if you wish and have sufficient spend.
      Alternate tactic Is to keep Gold if you spend £15K and get extra 10K points and pay the fee after first year. You really need to work the numbers and decide for yourself. Remember Amex Rewards can convert to things other than Avios, and this has value.
      Also think about Platinum. £450/year puts people off, but you don’t need to keep the card a year, and the referrals from Platinum earn 18K, you get some hotel statuses, and good insurance as well as 3rd party lounge access. The sign up bonus is 30K, but if referred it’s 35K, you’ll be offered a su card at no cost for the first one and an extra 5K points. Get this, spend £2K, and you could earn 42K points in a month, refer partner for Gold andBA from this and you could get an extra 36K points. It really is worth consideration.

      • saffy says:
        7 Jan7 January 19:06

        Thank you for both your replies. If I cancel the BA blue card then I wont get the 241 voucher in May? I am able to be flexible on dates, so was hoping that I would find something avail with the voucher at least. Can I upgrade now to the BAPP and would it trigger the 241 as I have already spent over 10k? Or would I have to spend another 10k before I get the voucher? (and pay the annual fee presumably)

        • Doug M says:
          7 Jan7 January 19:14

          You get the voucher when you pass the target, not year end. Never done upgrade, sure someone will answer. 2 years so much more flexible than 1.

        • Genghis says:
          7 Jan7 January 19:19

          Don’t cancel yet! Trigger the voucher first.

          If you upgrade now you’ll trigger the voucher immediately it should then be valid for two years (but in reality might not be so would require some chasing).

          KUL can be a popular route if you have specific dates (and you kind of do given the blue one year 241 validity) so might be worth upgrading.

      • Rob says:
        7 Jan7 January 22:44

        This is why you never spend £20k on the free card – https://headforpoints.com/2018/04/23/no-one-spend-20000-free-british-airways-american-express-card/

  • saffy says:
    7 Jan7 January 19:32

    I was only waiting until May to trigger the voucher, as we don’t want to travel before April/May next year, so didn’t want the clock to start ticking any earlier.
    I realize now that the BAPP is far better with a 2yr validity, but was already well on the way to reaching the 20k before fully understanding (wish i had discovered HFP earlier 🙂
    Am I right in thinking then, that I should upgrade to a BAPP now. It’ll trigger the 241 (but have a 2yr validity, so still allow me to travel in April/May 2020)
    Will I also get any Avios benefits by doing this?
    Should I upgrade by phone to confirm this, or is online ok?

    Mnay thanks

    • Polly says:
      7 Jan7 January 20:25

      Yes upgrade to bapp now, it will trigger your 241 with 2 yr validity. You just have to travelled outbound before the voucher expires. So well worth it. But b4 you cancel refer your OH for a bapp too, or gold or spg,
      And upgrade on line, it will ask you for your bapp no. Once your oh has their new card, stop spending on the bapp. Concentrate on the new card spend bonus.
      Don’t cancel till both your 241 and final avios have transferred to your baec.

      • Rob mc says:
        8 Jan8 January 07:11

        I thought if you upgraded and had already gone over the 10k spend the voucher will only have 1 year validity…

  • berneslai says:
    7 Jan7 January 20:01

    Is it possible to refer for a card that I don’t own (but have previously)? I’m a Platinum card holder and would like to refer a friend for a Gold credit card. I’m sure I’ve done this before but can’t seem to do it now.

    • Alan says:
      7 Jan7 January 20:04

      Yes, as per other comments they just need to click ‘other cards’ when they receive the referral link – you can try it yourself so you can see what steps they need to take. If it doesn’t work try a different browser. Doesn’t matter if you’ve held the card previously or not.

  • FC99 says:
    7 Jan7 January 20:22

    I’m booking Heathrow to Santiago on a 2 for 1 voucher and also for a third person on a cash booking. If I want all 3 to be on the same booking do I have to do this over the phone? There doesn’t seem to be a way of doing this online without having two separate bookings.

    • Alan says:
      7 Jan7 January 20:26

      Definitely can’t do online but I’m not sure they’ll be able to do it on the phone either – my recollection is there are issues with being able to create mixed points/cash PNR. (three people as 241 + a straight Avios redemption is fine though)

    • Polly says:
      7 Jan7 January 20:27

      2 separate booings am afraid, but always possible to call up and link them later.
      Over to you, Harry on that one..

      • Stu N says:
        7 Jan7 January 22:02

        You can’t mix cash and redemptions in single PNR. You can only link bookings if you’re Gold and even then it doesn’t always do much by all accounts.

        Does anyone have a useful level of BA status that gets seat selection etc? If only one person, put them on 241, if two have status put one on 241 and one on cash booking. Remember you have to have the person whose 241 it is on the redemption.

        • FC99 says:
          7 Jan7 January 22:10

          Thanks for the responses. None of the 3 have any status.

          I know someone who works at BA so I might be able to get the seat selection sorted out a couple of days before.

  • ScienceTeacher says:
    7 Jan7 January 20:49

    OT: Had a vehicle tax reminder though the door today. Went on the website and saw that they accept Amex! A tidy £210.00 to put through…

    • Alan says:
      7 Jan7 January 20:59

      Haha yeah takes the sting off slightly when paying these sort of bills!

      • ScienceTeacher says:
        7 Jan7 January 21:24

        Indeed. Didn’t realise the government website accepted them! I believe the Post Office blocks Amex on car tax too.

        • Andy says:
          8 Jan8 January 19:35

          I noticed car tax payment accepted Amex in December. Could even pay my car insurance with Amex!

    • RussellH says:
      8 Jan8 January 11:34

      That must be new, I think. I have always paid by debit card. But only £20, so not a great points yield. Due to renew soonish, so will see what happens.

  • Alan Shelber says:
    7 Jan7 January 21:21

    I have an Amex Gold Charge card and my wife has a supplementary card, for coming up to two years now. Neither of us has held another Amex card in the last 6 months.

    What is the best strategy, with using referrals and possibly referring each other, to maximise sign up bonuses?

    Would it be best to cancel the supplementary card before proceeding?

    My suggested strategy is as follows:
    1) Wait until a month after anniversary for points to post for spending £10k
    2) Upgrade to Platinum using referral link for 20k MR, add supplementary after upgrade, meet spend in month 2, cancel in month 3 after receiving bonus
    3) Self-refer to SPG and BAPP from Amex Platinum (if I can meet the spend), cancel once targets hit
    4) Refer wife to Amex Gold CC in month 2, meet spend by month 6, cancel in month 10
    5) Wife can refer me to SPG and BAPP from Amex Gold CC 6 months after 2), cancel once targets hit
    6) Wife refers me in month 9 to Amex Gold CC – meet spend by month 11
    7) Refer wife month 16 to Amex Gold CC again
    8) Repeat 2 & 3
    9) Add and cancel supps as required for each new sign up

    Genghis, another one for you perhaps? 

    • Genghis says:
      8 Jan8 January 06:38

      By the look of it you know what you’re doing. I suggest you sit down with a pen and paper / excel spreadsheet and work it out based on
      – which points you want to earn
      – risk appetite of how many cards you want to apply for
      – how quick you spend cash (ie £2k a month is 5 months for BAPP 241)
      – the 6 month min fallow period.
      – appetite for spending cash (eg if you crunch numbers are you willing to accept a higher cost of obtaining avios if it means spending more money, eg holding Plat for longer)?
      – at each stage eek out max referral bonus and the supp additional points.

    • Jon says:
      8 Jan8 January 13:53

      Hi Alan, not sure if just a typo, but the 10k bonus MP post after having spent £15k, not £10k on the gold card.

  • Stephan says:
    7 Jan7 January 22:18

    Looking to use the companion voucher to book an open jaw business class to New York and Chicago, are all BA business Class flights equal in quality or is it possible to identify which ones are better?

    • Darren says:
      7 Jan7 January 22:28

      747 Upper Deck is a CW mini cabin which is a favourite of mine, 777 is my least fave.

    • Alan says:
      7 Jan7 January 23:58

      747 UD for sure. Sadly my last three bookings in that cabin all got switched to the rubbish 777, but it’s worth trying for them if you can!

    • Nick_C says:
      8 Jan8 January 10:13

      Fly out on BA1 from London City. Its an amazing experience. Max 32 pax and three cabin crew. Typical load about 20 pax.

      If using a 747, make sure its a “super hi J”. These are the ones with 86 J class seats, and they have been refurbished to A380 standards.

      Although everyone wants the upper deck (and you are unlikely to get it unless you have status), I like the forward mini cabin on the lower deck. Only 18 seats. Two rows of 2-4-2 plus an odd pair.

      14A is a good seat with no one climbing over you.

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