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Can you get an American Express sign-up bonus if you have the same card as a supplementary?

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This is the second part of our two articles on how American Express supplementary cards work.

In Part One earlier in the week we looked at why you might want to add a supplementary card to your account and how to earn a few thousand bonus Avios or Membership Rewards points for doing so.

Today I want to pick up on a question which features regularly in my inbox.  Is it possible to get a sign-up bonus on an American Express card if you already hold the same card as a supplementary on your partner’s account?

Can you apply for an American Express card if you already have the same card as a supplementary?

The answer is yes, you can.

Here is the reason.  If someone issues you with a supplementary card on their American Express account, it is NOT your card.  It is their card.  The main cardholder is the person who is legally responsible for your spending.

As far as American Express is concerned, you are NOT the cardholder.

This means that you are able to apply for the same card yourself if you choose.

Here is an example:

If your partner has a British Airways American Express Premium Plus card as a supplementary card on your account, they are still able to apply for their own BAPP card and receive the 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

You can also pick up 9,000 Avios for referring them via the American Express ‘refer a friend’ scheme.

Obviously they need to meet the usual rules for receiving the bonus, which on this card are that they must not have had either of the BA Amex cards in the past 24 months in their own right.

Here are some points to think about first

Whilst this is good news in terms of maximising bonus points across your household, there are some key things to remember:

When your partner gets their own card, there is another annual fee to pay.  On the other hand, if they simply remain as a free supplementary cardholder on your account, there is no extra fee.

You may struggle to hit the spending bonus on your own card for, say, the British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher, without the help of spend from your partner.  Partner spend could also help you hit the annual 10,000 points bonus for spending £15,000 on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold.

On the positive side, high spenders can trigger a second set of annual spend bonuses across the household.  My wife has her own BAPP card, for example, and as we can easily spend £10,000 each on the cards we can earn 2 x 2-4-1 vouchers each year between us.  With two kids, that’s very handy.  On the other hand, she does not have her own Platinum card, because she gets all of the benefits for free as a supplementary cardholder on my account and I don’t want to be paying 2 x £450 annual fees each year.

Conclusion

The key thing to take away from this article is the knowledge, if you didn’t know it already, that if you or your partner have a supplementary American Express card in your purse or wallet, you can still apply for the same card in your own name and earn a sign-up bonus, subject to the standard bonus rules.

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 Membership Rewards, American Express Platinum card, British Airways and Avios

Comments (39)

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

  • Yuff says:
    4 May4 May 06:50

    “You can also pick up 9,000 Avios for referring them via the American Express ‘refer a friend’ scheme.”
    Hasn’t this been reduced to 6k avios recently 😩

  • Genghis says:
    4 May4 May 07:30

    Got an email yesterday from Virgin confirming the 1k Tesco autoconvert bonus in next qtr so turn on after you get your vouchers (v shortly I believe).

    • Shoestring says:
      4 May4 May 07:32

      Vouchers finalised tomorrow so safe to switch on auto convert after that

      • tom1 says:
        4 May4 May 21:36

        I’ve never done a Tesco > Virgin transfer – do the names have to match?
        i.e. my child’s Tesco to my Virgin?

        • Shoestring says:
          4 May4 May 21:51

          Not sure but you’ve just prompted me to take out a new Tesco Clubcard a/c for my son, since he has a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club a/c – he might as well earn 1000 V-miles for free with auto convert

          • Shoestring says:
            4 May4 May 21:56

            Just remembered he’s got one already! – must have been the old £60 off £80 🙂

            Just need to get him a Clubcard organised and Bob’s his uncle

  • The Original Nick says:
    4 May4 May 07:34

    O:T as no Bits today. I used my Curve card last week and had my Virgin CC linked to it. Got charged for the first time a NON-STERLING TRANS FEE.

    • Doug M says:
      4 May4 May 09:40

      Can you explain more? Did you by any chance have the card set in the Curve app to other than GBP?

      • The Original Nick says:
        4 May4 May 11:43

        Hi Doug M. It was set to Euro’s and I was in France. It’s never happened before.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          4 May4 May 11:52

          It should be set to GBP as that’s the currency of your underlying card.

          Set to EUR it charged your underlying card in EUR and your card gets charged in EUR. As the Virgin cc have FX fees then you’ve been charged a fee

  • The Original Nick says:
    4 May4 May 07:34

    Thanks Harry.

  • Janet says:
    4 May4 May 09:05

    My husband has just received a supplementary BA AMex card. We have not been offered a bonus on spending nor do I get any points for referring him. How do I apply for these?

    • Shoestring says:
      4 May4 May 09:13

      Janet – you haven’t referred him. Referring is when you give him your unique referral link (from your online BA a/c) and he clicks on it to apply for his own BA card (or any Amex card) as the main cardholder in his own right.

      You wouldn’t get bonus points on spending just for getting a supplementary card.

      Did you apply for his supplementary card some time after you got your own BA Amex card – or at the same time you applied?

  • Shoestring says:
    4 May4 May 09:39

    AMEX25OFF working again (reportedly)

    • Anne says:
      4 May4 May 10:06

      Worked perfectly for me last night!

      • Shoestring says:
        4 May4 May 10:41

        Also was working for brand new a/cs if you want to set up a new one for your kids

        • Anne says:
          4 May4 May 13:25

          I think the cat might fancy his own Amazon account…

          Better than just the £25 off code working, it worked alongside a gift card balance as well – bought in Morrisons for an extra 10% off thanks to the current Amex statement credit offer. Result all round.

    • Nog says:
      4 May4 May 12:02

      Not working on new account

  • Munch says:
    4 May4 May 09:41

    Sorry just want to check due to the confusing new rules. I held a Gold card and cancelled Dec 2018, I’ve just cancelled a SPG card. I assume the only card I can now apply for is the BA Premium Plus Amex card and still receive the bonus avios?

  • James says:
    4 May4 May 10:00

    I had been pondering this question for the last few days.

    I have a Gold card with supplementary card for my partner. I was thinking to refer her for the BAPP and in turn after we have had the bonus and 241 ticket after a year she would cancel and refer me.

    However, would it be more beneficial for me to refer her for a gold card and then her refer me to BAPP and then me to her for another BAPP? Given that there is no bonus for BAPP – > Gold but there is for the opposite way?

    My major concern is that terms could change in that year, but I have a feeling I’m overlooking something, I’m certainly not as versed as most of you that frequent this site.

    • Rob says:
      4 May4 May 10:38

      If she has never had an Amex, the best route is Starwood first then Plat and BAPP later (order immaterial).

      • James says:
        4 May4 May 15:35

        Ahh, hadn’t thought about SPG instead.

        My partner doesn’t travel as much as I do – would I get the same perks in terms of status that an actual cardholder would? Or does the supplementary holder notice receive this on the SPG card?

        Have tried to Google this but to no avail and AMEXs offshore call centre weren’t confident in answering the question.

        • Rob says:
          4 May4 May 21:04

          No real benefits to the Starwood card anyway apart from the points you earn.

          On Plat, the first supp gets everything that the main cardholder gets.

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