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American Express has closed two Amex Rewards Credit Card variants

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One of the downsides of cancelling an American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card or Platinum charge card is that you are required to empty out your Membership Rewards points account.

The Preferred Rewards Gold credit card is free in year 1 and comes with a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points (read my Preferred Rewards Gold review here).  Platinum comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points (read my Platinum charge card review here).  These convert 1:1 into Avios, Virgin Flying Club or many other airline schemes or at up to 1:3 into various hotel schemes.

Having to close your Membership Rewards points account can lead to a dilemma over when to cancel.  You will be paying £11.66 per month after the free first year to keep an Amex Gold active and £50 for a Platinum.  However, this allows you to keep your Membership Rewards points where they are.  If you are forced to transfer them because you close the account, you may regret it later.

Amex Rewards Credit Card

Because Amex points can be transferred to many different airline and hotel partners, they are more valuable than airline or hotel points.  You shouldn’t convert them until you need them.

Since late 2017, there has been a solution that:

lets you keep your Membership Rewards points account open, and

allows you to stop paying an annual fee for either the Gold or Platinum cards

You could apply for the little-known American Express Rewards Credit Card.

This card has NO ANNUAL FEE and lets you collect Membership Rewards points.

Unfortunately, the American Express Rewards Credit Card has just become a little less attractive.  Two of the three variants were closed last night.

What is the American Express Rewards Credit Card?

ARCC is a standard Amex-branded credit card.  It has no annual fee and no substantial benefits, except for the ability to collect Membership Rewards points at 1 point per £1 spent.

There WERE three versions of the card available:

a low interest rate version

a ‘0% interest on purchases’ version, and

a ‘standard’ version with the usual 22.9% interest rate and without a 0% offer on purchases

You can probably guess which two versions have been closed down.  Yes …. the one with the 9.9% interest rate and the one which offered 0% interest on purchases.

The one version which remains is the ‘standard’ one with a 5,000 Membership Rewards points bonus and a representative APR of 22.9% variable (click here).   You need to spend £2,000 within three months to receive the bonus.

It is unlikely that many (any?) Head for Points readers will qualify for the bonus because you cannot have held any personal American Express card in the previous 24 months.

Don’t worry about that.  You may still want to get this card even though you won’t get a bonus.

If you currently have an Amex Gold or Platinum card and want to cancel it but do not want to cash in your Membership Rewards points, this card is your answer.

Apply for the one remaining variant of the American Express Rewards Credit Card.  Once it is active, you can cancel your Gold charge or credit card or Platinum charge card safe in the knowledge that your Membership Rewards balance is safe.

The only ‘snag’ is that you will not have reset the 24 month clock on being able to reapply for any other personal American Express card (with the exception of British Airways Premium Plus) and receive another sign-up bonus.  In order to do that you need to close down your Membership Rewards account entirely.

For a lot of people, though, being able to keep your existing Membership Rewards balance alive will be more important.

You can apply for the remaining version of the American Express Rewards credit card here.

Tomorrow I will remind you why, for many people, this card is a better choice than the free British Airways American Express card.

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

Amex Rewards Credit Card

Comments (76)

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

  • Nicky says:
    15 Oct15 October 09:50

    Just a bit confused re the Snag comment and the exception for BA Premium Plus: If I haven’t held a BAPP card for more than 6 months (but less than 2 years) will I only be able to get the bonus if I don’t hold any cards for 2 years or will I still get the bonus if I applied for another BAPP card in a month or so’s time?

    • Rob says:
      15 Oct15 October 10:34

      You still need to be 2 years without a BA Amex to get a new bonus on a BA Amex.

  • Ben says:
    15 Oct15 October 10:02

    What happens to existing cardholders on the 0% purchase card?

  • Pete says:
    15 Oct15 October 10:03

    OT but Amex related.
    I plan to apply for a business Amex but don’t have a dedicated business account as I run my business from my own account. Does it have to be dedicated account or is there leeway on this?

    • Polly says:
      16 Oct16 October 11:27

      I too am interested in this situation..

      • Rob says:
        16 Oct16 October 11:50

        The impression I got (and indeed the wording on the Amex site) is that it needs to be a business account. If it isn’t, I don’t see how Amex has any proof that you do actually run a business if you don’t have a limited company.

        On the other hand, if you DO have a limited company then perhaps that is enough?

  • The Urbanite says:
    15 Oct15 October 10:23

    The 0% variant had its uses – I slow stoozed out most of the credit limit in a day or so yet continued to use it by making extra payments then purchases. Didn’t even have to worry about organising the minimum payment as this was naturally covered through that use of the card.

    It was generous of them to allow 0% on purchases made during the full 18 month term – some providers will offer 0% for 18 months, but only on purchases made in the first 1 – 3 months.

    • Russ says:
      15 Oct15 October 13:11

      Yes it is a shame. Really don’t like Amex pulling stuff out of the blue. Hardly promotes good feeling towards the company.

  • Nick says:
    15 Oct15 October 10:47

    I signed up for the low rate variant a few weeks back so I could keep my Gold membership points, so glad I did it then, just got to make sure AMEX keeps their side of the deal and the interest rate remains at 9.9% and not slyly charge the normal rate

  • RussellH says:
    15 Oct15 October 11:12

    I have always been of the school that believed that a credit card is a credit card, and what it loos like is utterly unimportant. I never understood those who commented that this card or that card was ‘cool’.

    So totally amazed recently when paying at the local garage with my ARCC, only to have the very young woman ask me if the card was really transparent (yes).and might she be able to have a look at it (yes) and then be told “wow, that’s really cool”!!

    • xcalx says:
      15 Oct15 October 12:45

      How outdated is ” cool ” 🙂
      The 2 reviews of the BA Business card and the £18000 made of gold card referred to them as “Funky ” please keep up lol

      • Sussex Bantam says:
        15 Oct15 October 13:27

        I use the word cool all the time – that is all the proof you need of how outdated it is..

      • RussellH says:
        15 Oct15 October 15:43

        I really have no idea how cool it is to say ‘cool’, as I never say it.

        The boss of the company that bought my business 6 years ago used it all the time, but he is much younger than me (and it seemed very ‘uncool’ to me).
        But clearly the you woman in question thought it was perfectly coo to call my Amex ‘cool’.
        Is that cool enough for you??
        🙂

      • maccymac says:
        15 Oct15 October 16:47

        I believe the new version of “cool” is “fire”.

        On hearing a couple of friends use “that’s fire” in conversation, I wanted to immediately perforate my own eardrums.

  • CalumG says:
    15 Oct15 October 12:43

    I’m thinking of switching from the Gold card to the ARCC. Has anyone managed to call Amex and ask them to move you from one to the other? Or do you have to apply for the ARCC and then cancel the Gold card?

  • Marco Meldrew says:
    15 Oct15 October 13:07

    I appreciate the article is about transferring to a credit card, but do you not still have the option to downgrade from The Platinum Card to The American Express Card and still retain your Membership Rewards balance, with an annual card fee of £60.

    I’m sure others have done such.

    Is this not possible now?

    • Rob says:
      15 Oct15 October 13:12

      Yes. But that is £60 more than this option costs!

      • Marco Meldrew says:
        15 Oct15 October 13:15

        Correct, thanks Rob.

        • Jonathan says:
          15 Oct15 October 22:42

          I think the iconic green charge card that Amex offers has a cool design to it, as one of the most instantly recognisable bank cards in the world, like the Boeing 747, with its hump on the top at the front, makes it easily the recognisable plane in the sky when seen from a distance.

          But of course like Rob said, I don’t really much going for it that justifies the £60 annual fee, it’s definitely not like the gold to centurion cards, where the higher fees, the better it gets (whether or not these cards are value for money is a personal opinion, like Rob also mentioned when writing an article about whether or not the Platinum charge card is worth its annual £575 fee

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