How to maximise the ‘£50 American Express cashback with PayPal’ offer

As we covered last week, American Express has launched a cashback deal with PayPal. It is effectively free money if you are targeted for the offer.

There seem to be two versions, one for personal cards and one for business cards.

On my Marriott Bonvoy American Express, I am offered £15 cashback on a £70 PayPal payment.

On my Business Platinum card I am offered £50 cashback on a £250 PayPal payment.

Both offers expire on 4th March. Registrations are limited so register now via your online Amex statement or the app if you are targetted.

Here are two things about the offer you may not know.

Cumulative spend counts

Despite the wording on the offer, it IS valid on cumulative spend.

I proved it myself. Here is a screenshot from my Marriott Bonvoy American Express showing £70 of spend across two transactions:

….. and here is the email Amex sent me after the 2nd one had gone through:

It works when you buy gift cards from PayPal’s gift card service

You may not know that PayPal has a dedicated website selling gift cards – you can find it here.

Look at my 2nd transaction above. You will see that it is from the gift card site.

I bought a £31 Netflix gift card, to tip me over £70. Netflix, if you pay for it, is a good choice here. You can add the credit very quickly via netflix.com, and it will automatically stop your direct debit or credit card payment whilst it works through the balance.

PayPal also sells Uber gift cards which is an easy option if you use that a lot. Apple App Store and Google Play cards are also available.

Netflix gift cards are emailed to you as codes so you don’t need to worry about anything going missing in the mail.

Hopefully these two tips will make it easier for you to trigger the cashback. You have until 4th March to do the £70 or £250 target spend.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our April 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the other top current deals:

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:

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points and do not consider interest rates, service levels or any impact on your credit history.  By recommending credit cards on this site, I am – technically – acting as a credit broker.  Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a credit broker.