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BIG NEWS: American Express blocks multiple sign-up bonuses, starting immediately

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American Express unveiled massive changes to its UK card sign-up bonuses last night.

This will effectively end card churning for most people.

Before I go on, I want to stress one thing.  The new rules on bonuses do NOT stop you applying for any of these cards.  They simply influence whether or not you will qualify for a sign-up bonus when you do.

It is also worth remembering that, even if YOU no longer qualify for a particular bonus, your partner or other adult family members might.

What is changing?

Until today, American Express sign-up bonuses followed two basic rules:

Cards were grouped into families based on reward type (Membership Rewards points, Avios, Starwood points, Nectar points) and your eligibility for a bonus depended on whether you had recently had a card in the same ‘family’

There was a six month restriction in place between cancelling an American Express card and being able to re-apply – with a new bonus – for a card in the same ‘family’

This is what is changing for the personal American Express cards:

The concept of ‘families’ has gone for most products.  The eligibility rules now span ALL personal American Express cards in most cases.

The look-back period increases from six months to 24 months

Whilst there are two exceptions, in simple terms you cannot get a sign-up bonus on a personal American Express card if you have held ANY personal American Express card in the last 24 months.

Are there any exceptions to these new rules?

Yes.  There are a few exceptions to the above:

The British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card is only impacted by the change in the look-back period to 24 months.   The old rules on eligibility remain – you cannot have had either of the two British Airways American Express cards in the previous 24 months BUT American Express does not count any other card you may have had.

(In plain English: if you’ve had a Platinum / Gold / Starwood / Nectar / Platinum Cashback card in the last two years, but NOT either of the BA Amex cards, you are eligible for the bonus on the Premium Plus card – but not the free BA Amex)

The Platinum Card is only impacted by the change in the look-back period to 24 months.   The old rules on eligibility remain – you cannot have had a Preferred Rewards Gold, Green, Platinum or American Express Rewards card (all of which earn Membership Rewards points) in the previous 24 months BUT American Express does not count any other card you may have had.

(In plain English: if you’ve had a BA / Starwood / Nectar / Platinum Cashback card in the last two years but NOT a card offering Membership Rewards points, you are eligible for the bonus on the The Platinum Card – but not Preferred Rewards Gold)

Small Business and Corporate products are not impacted at all.  The existing rules apply for those.  Importantly, the six month rule continues to apply for these cards.

(In plain English: if you’ve not had any personal or business card offering Membership Rewards points in the past six months, you are eligible for the bonus on the American Express Gold Business and American Express Platinum Business, assuming you own a qualifying small business)

Can you summarise this by card?

Here you go:

If you currently have the free British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus credit card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways, British Airways Premium Plus, Preferred Rewards Gold, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on The Platinum Card IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green, American Express Rewards, American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business card in the previous six months and meet the qualifying criteria for having a small business

If you currently have Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card or American Express Rewards credit card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways American Express, Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on British Airways Premium Plus IF you have not held a British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus card in the previous 24 months

You would need to cancel and wait six months before you can get a bonus on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business, assuming you meet the qualifying criteria for having a small business

If you currently have a Nectar or Starwood Preferred Guest credit card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways American Express (free version), Preferred Rewards Gold, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on The Platinum Card IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on British Airways Premium Plus IF you have not held a British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green, American Express Rewards, American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business card in the previous six months and meet the qualifying criteria for having a small business

If you currently have a Platinum Cashback or Platinum Cashback Everyday card ….

You would need to cancel and wait 24 months before you can get a bonus on Platinum Cashback, Platinum Cashback Everyday, British Airways American Express, Preferred Rewards Gold, Green, Starwood Preferred Guest, Nectar, American Express Rewards

You can get a bonus NOW on The Platinum Card IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on British Airways Premium Plus IF you have not held a British Airways or British Airways Premium Plus card in the previous 24 months

You can get a bonus NOW on American Express Gold Business or American Express Platinum Business IF you have not held a Preferred Rewards Gold, The Platinum Card, Green or American Express Rewards card in the previous six months

Discussion of the American Express sign-up bonuses changes continue in a further articles here.

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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

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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Membership Rewards, American Express Platinum card, Amex Rewards Credit Card, British Airways American Express, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (1171)

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

  • TripRep says:
    22 Mar22 March 06:50

    OT; In the true spirit of TCC promos, who’s signed their goldfish up for the petition? ;-D

  • Mikmo says:
    22 Mar22 March 07:16

    Question, I have a BA and Gold card, I received my new SPG card last week (before this announcement) – will I still be able to get the SPG bonuses as it was issued before this? Or do I cut it up now!

  • Dan says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:27

    I wonder if Amex will notice the fall in new applications off the back of this, it’s a shame they didn’t compromise with some form of retention bonus.

    I am considering the BA Amex Plus in order to try and get the 2-4-1 voucher. This maybe a daft question but I can’t find a definitive answer.

    Is the 2-4-1 voucher good for both flights within a return trip on one booking or do you only get 2-4-1 on the Avios cost of just one sector?

    • Polly says:
      22 Mar22 March 08:35

      It’s for the return, but but most commence in the uk, and be on BA metal.

      • Dan says:
        22 Mar22 March 08:41

        Cheers…we have a wedding to pay for this year so the 10K will not be an issue!

        • Combatjohnny says:
          22 Mar22 March 08:46

          Im currently paying for my wedding in Armenia where basically no one accepts amex

    • Jonathan says:
      22 Mar22 March 08:44

      You get 241 on the Avios for a return journey on BA metal (not codeshares) originating in the UK. Full taxes & carrier surcharges (~600 in J) are charged for both passengers.

      Personally (& I don’t think I’m the only one round here) the 241 is losing its value due to ever increasing carrier surcharges & regular availability of cheap ex EU deals (booked AMS-JFK yesterday for £900 each earning 20k Avios). I’ve let my last 2 vouchers lapse & will probably end up using next one for shorthaul.

    • Doug M says:
      22 Mar22 March 16:12

      As well as noticing the falloff in new applications they’ll probably notice the increase in revenue per customer, as they don’t have to buy millions of hotel and airline points for people that don’t put anymore than the minimum £ through cards.
      I’ve churned, and cancelled cards when bonuses are met. But now I can’t, so I’ll move on to other things, it’s how the whole game works. In terms of retention bonus you get 10K MR every year for spending £15K on the Gold credit card. You get the 2-4-1 voucher on the BA card. If those don’t retain people Amex can sweeten the pot or lose customers. Time will tell how things go.

  • krys_k says:
    22 Mar22 March 09:56

    Wonder why the Business cards seem to have survived the new T&Cs?

    • RakishDriver says:
      22 Mar22 March 10:07

      Indeed – give folks time to start working those, the biz cards will follow soon

      • Rob says:
        22 Mar22 March 10:22

        There is no interchange fee cap on the Small Business cards, and in general fees are higher on Bus cards than personal ones.

        • krys_k says:
          22 Mar22 March 11:35

          Got it. But business cards are accepted in all places that personal cards are ?

        • Roy says:
          22 Mar22 March 15:37

          But the interchange fee only applies to cards with a licensee, agent, or co-branding partner, so surely doesn’t apply to the business cards anyway?

        • Roy says:
          22 Mar22 March 18:09

          Sorry, I didn’t really say there what I meant to say there, did I? 🙂

          What I meant to say is that for the Gold and Platinum cards, the personal version doesn’t have an interchange fee cap either – only the co-branded personal cards do – so that doesn’t really explain the difference between the treatment of personal and business cards.

          Could just be different departments, and change may be coming to the business cards, too….

  • Lady London says:
    22 Mar22 March 11:10

    Of course the 2 year cycle is a little longer as you have to add a little time to actually spend on the card to achieve the bonus.

    I’d regard this as only the opening shot in Amex getting its house in order in the UK market in the next 2-4 years. You can’t blame them with the damage the fees cap has caused. I just hope it won’t result in them exiting the UK market due to inability to make the numbers work.

    If I was Amex I would look at starting (or buying) a low-cost low-service fintech but given the value of their brand name only if the market perceptions can be kept separate. Could be where they get dragged anyway so far as UK is concerned. Look at what happened to the once prestigious aspirational brand Diners Club.

  • Cookies says:
    22 Mar22 March 11:47

    Believe now they will agree to get their cards added to curve again

  • bazza says:
    22 Mar22 March 11:49

    Maybe all those detailed comments about churning strategy were not such a great idea now?

    100’s of people spending the exact amount to achieve a sign up bonus – cancelling on exactly 6 months before reapplying on exactly 6 months, then calling Amex to complain they didn’t receive the bonus – when they misjudged the 6 months!

    Then Curve came and Amex took another massive hit of dishing out bonus points and mass card cancellation.

    You did it to yourself!

    Got just a little bit greedy, didn’t we? So got what you deserved!

    I know these lovely ideas just like the 3V increases readership massively but maybe a few more comments should have been deleted?

    So many times people tried to advise to keep these things a bit quiet but no, you would not listen. “Amex knows about it already” you cried!

    Back to Luton for you lot, with your Michael Kors hand bags and your NEXT Boxing Day sale!

    • Dominic says:
      22 Mar22 March 11:53

      And breath.

      • bazza says:
        22 Mar22 March 12:05

        Haha! ;o)

        • Andy says:
          22 Mar22 March 13:00

          Those women who queue up at 1am just so they can be through the doors at Next at 6am on Boxing Day for some half price tat 😂

    • Keith says:
      22 Mar22 March 12:13

      What an ugly thing to write.

    • Anna says:
      22 Mar22 March 12:37

      I’m pretty sure Amex didn’t rely on HFP comments to find out what their customers did.

      I’ve never been to Luton in my life though, so can’t technically “go back”. Is it some sort of reference to the classic 1977 Lorraine Chase song?

      • bazza says:
        22 Mar22 March 14:52

        I doubt Amex read every comment but I am sure they are aware of the churning process instructed on here.
        Comments alone on the site do not matter – when a 100s of people follow the instructions to frankly abuse an offer it matters!

        • Sussex Guy says:
          23 Mar23 March 11:09

          I have a friend who works for Amex. I can assure you they have been reading the comments on this article, and have identified further abuse that they need to tighten up on as a result.

      • Doug M says:
        22 Mar22 March 16:15

        Home of easyjet, horrible airport.

    • Evan says:
      22 Mar22 March 13:54

      You seem to have taken this whole points business very personally?

    • Mr Dee says:
      22 Mar22 March 14:38

      Hardly comments on here are going to be the deciding factor

      • greedy says:
        22 Mar22 March 14:54

        Your wrong, comments giving instructions on how to abuse this offer to the max have lead us here

        • Doug M says:
          22 Mar22 March 16:22

          I feel this is nonsense, but perhaps you have some data to support this?
          The churning really wasn’t rocket science, I don’t feel it needed a lot of explaining. Amex knew about if for some time. They stopped/reduced in the USA, and then followed here. I don’t think comments here really caused it. For all we know it would have stopped months ago if systems allowed. In my experience significant change is often timed when IT capability is available to enforce the changes.

    • Craig says:
      22 Mar22 March 15:42

      this is a brilliant rant hahahaahahah

      Amex are not our friends. they are a massive global business.

      i saw this comment yesterday – “the card churn is dead. long live the referral churn”

      • Jane says:
        22 Mar22 March 18:34

        Funny how Rob makes a living out these offers then?
        What are you doing here anyway, no it all?

        • Craig says:
          22 Mar22 March 18:51

          Sorry? How have I implied I know anything? Bazza’s rant just made me laugh because of how self righteous it is

          *know – given I am apparently a “know it all” I should probably pick you up on this.

        • Jane says:
          22 Mar22 March 23:24

          “The churning really wasn’t rocket science, I don’t feel it needed a lot of explaining.”

        • Doug M says:
          23 Mar23 March 08:48

          @Jane – I wrote that, not Craig. As you seem to care what I’m doing here, it’s getting information. I certainly don’t know it all. I don’t believe Rob ever wrote pieces on churning, that was offered up in comments. Of course he knew people did it, but he didn’t promote it. It really didn’t need a lot of savvy or thought to work out what to do.

    • Tilly says:
      22 Mar22 March 21:42

      Before I found HFP it was an Amex CS agent who told me about the ability to churn and the way to get more points through referrals. Amex were well aware of churning and at the time I felt I was being encouraged to do it.

      I’ve never been to Luton nor queued up for any sales. Don’t own any Michael Kors either.

  • ShouldntCare says:
    22 Mar22 March 13:07

    If anything, this whole AMEX debacle proves one thing quite well…….

    THIS SITE NEEDS A BETTER MECHANISM FOR COMMENTS / POSTS. This weird blog article, response-to-response over 9 pages and counting, with nuggets of useful information getting lost in the ether, helps no one.

    Why not use a forum? Or just anything else?

    • Hardik says:
      22 Mar22 March 13:18

      With Amex pulling the plug, the subscribers on this site are gonna fall dramatically. Eventually, the credit card market in the UK is gonna come to £25 signup bonuses! Bravo! So the worry about the format of the site should be the least concern imho

    • illuminatus says:
      22 Mar22 March 13:20

      I am personally divided on that. In most cases I find the existing system the best – the number of comments is manageable and I find a lot of useful info there, on the topic or off-topic, and I do not want a separate thing (ie forum) to monitor.

      On the other hand, in cases like this or Curve, it is indeed impossible to find anything usefulll… imo an ‘upvotes’ system would be best then

      • marcw says:
        22 Mar22 March 13:49

        I agree completely. I have a look in the morning – and in the evenings I read the comments. Then I am completely up to date, don’t need to search through useless forum topics (going thread by thread) or anything else.

        I like it this way; although a like option should be great. The thing is, on an article like the Amex, the majority 80% of comments are exactly the same.

    • Dominic says:
      22 Mar22 March 13:44

      Because it’s a business, and comments on articles is a very tangible way of showing potential ad space buyers how many people will engage and see their content.

      • Rob says:
        22 Mar22 March 14:14

        Bingo.

        But we are going to launch an upvote / downvote Q&A forum in the next week or so (exclusive news here!). It has been tested on a clone site and works. I just need to make sure I am in London with a clear diary on the day it launches, which is not easy at the moment. Next week I am off to Barra, the week after I am in Hamburg for 3 days for an event and then we’re on holiday.

        • Dominic says:
          22 Mar22 March 15:45

          Interesting to hear – although the mention of upvote/downvote made me go to upvote your comment…. damn it.

        • Craig says:
          22 Mar22 March 15:46

          sounds good!

        • Genghis says:
          22 Mar22 March 16:58

          Enjoy Barra. Hopefully the weather holds and you experience a good landing and take off. Head to the toffee / fudge shop.

          Intrigued by the vote up and down idea and the eventual follow ons from it. Look forward to next week.

        • Alex says:
          22 Mar22 March 17:26

          Please let us know your flight details so we could discuss some pet insurance, again ?

      • Mr Dee says:
        22 Mar22 March 14:43

        Yes of course. What people are saying is that the basic comments system is no good for referencing past the first day. I can’t find something I saw the other day on the comments so have to give up

    • Mr Dee says:
      22 Mar22 March 14:40

      Yes it’s like we are responding and never being able to see the reply without having to go through tons of pages, anything would be better

    • Alan says:
      22 Mar22 March 18:48

      How would a forum have coped any better? Have you seen the multi-multi-page threads on FlyerTalk?!

      • Mr Dee says:
        22 Mar22 March 19:19

        No problem with the site in general but the comments are not easily searchable and ability to access old comments is almost impossible. A forum would cope better by not being a list of comments.

        I am not going to suggest any software as this is Wordpress so here is what I think would make it better:
        -Member Accounts
        -Access previous posts
        -Threading of some sort

      • Crafty says:
        23 Mar23 March 03:51

        Because you use the “view new posts” feature, and turn on reply notifications.

        • Alan says:
          24 Mar24 March 17:04

          Yes but if they’re all just one set of comments for one article then you’d have the same issue. Different if multiple threads started sprouting for each article but that would be a nightmare to keep track of.

    • Mike Wilson says:
      22 Mar22 March 19:05

      The most dreadful feature of this whole site is that OT comments are allowed. There’s nothing more annoying than reading an article, for example about Amex Platinum, and then have a whole host of comments completely unrelated, like what’s the catering on Emirate first class at the moment.

      • Mr Dee says:
        22 Mar22 March 19:19

        Yes this is because of no where to communicate outside the todays post.

      • riku2 says:
        22 Mar22 March 19:55

        i hate those “OT: no bits today” posts also. It’s like having a discussion with an elderly relative in the room who comes out with totally irrelevant and side tracking comments.
        As for “nowhere to communicate outside today’s post” – why shouldn’t the comments on today’s post refer to TODAY’S POST.

        • Shoestring says:
          22 Mar22 March 20:03

          most ‘I hate O/T posts in the wrong place’ people are a bit OCD 🙂

        • Ruddey says:
          22 Mar22 March 21:21

          Because there isn’t always somewhere for people to post their questions and if you don’t post on the today article you won’t have an answer

        • Shoestring says:
          22 Mar22 March 21:46

          these OCD people don’t enjoy the spice of life: ambiguity! 🙂

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