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

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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.

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? – July 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

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You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

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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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 15th July 2025, the sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card is TRIPLED to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. This would convert into 25,000 Avios or into 40 other airline schemes. It would also get you at least £300 of Marriott hotel stays based on our 0.5p per point low-end valuation. Other T&C apply and remain unchanged. Click here for our full card review and click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th August 2025, the sign-up bonus on the Hilton Honors Plus debit card is TRIPLED to 30,000 Hilton Honors points. You will also receive Gold Elite status in Hilton Honors for as long as you hold the card. Click here for our full card review and click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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:

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Category

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

Comments (65)

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

  • Heran says:
    13 Jan13 January 09:28

    Does it work if using it to pay another PayPal account directly (fee applied)?

  • mark2 says:
    13 Jan13 January 10:02

    I tried it. The codes have credited to Amazon, There was a charge of £2.70 to buy £70.
    BUT payment seems to have been taken in EUR so may not count for statement credit.

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    13 Jan13 January 10:23

    Regrettably my two cards that are linked to PayPal are both AmEx cards, so I guess there was no reason for AmEx to target me with these offers!

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      13 Jan13 January 11:48

      That could be the reason why I didn’t get the offer!

    • Julian says:
      13 Jan13 January 12:49

      Good point as also only have Amex set up as an Amazon payment source here having deleted expired Visa and Mastercards some time ago.

    • mr_jetlag says:
      13 Jan13 January 13:48

      All our Amexes are linked to Paypal but we got the offer on ARCC and wife’s BAPP.

  • Andrew says:
    13 Jan13 January 10:35

    Amex offers seem a bit thin on the ground at the moment – nothing new this week really and normally Monday is a good day for them.

    • Nick says:
      13 Jan13 January 11:17

      Same here, last two weeks have been terrible. I suspect it’s to do with lockdown and market uncertainty… the companies that would typically have high marketing budgets in January aren’t spending this time round.

  • Sandgrounder says:
    13 Jan13 January 11:48

    Dundle.com also offer MasterCard gift cards. I was tempted but then I remembered I owed my wife 70 and went her that on PayPal. But then she remembered, after having withdrawn the funds, I had already paid her and sent it back again. Which was convenient.

    • Doug M says:
      13 Jan13 January 12:44

      That I wouldn’t have done. Small amounts in the scale of things but the to and fro looks suspicious.

      • Sandgrounder says:
        13 Jan13 January 13:15

        The notes were very clear 🙂 70 isn’t going to trigger a review. I don’t advise anyone to try to use PayPal for MS, they are very aggressive in tackling it. Small amounts sent and then refunded aren’t going to ever see the light of day.

  • Julian says:
    13 Jan13 January 12:45

    46 offers available on my Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card this morning but none involving Paypal.

    So shortage of spending offers from Amex not a problem in my case. Simply not one there for PayPal but only for the usual purveyors in the main of high priced tat (most of whom will of course only be purchasable from online at present and not in their shops) plus the odd expensive hotel chain.

    Anyway you are reminding me to spend the £10 I earned from Curve by buying £100 of Amazon Gift cards just before Christmas before I forget all about it and find my account possibly closed when my current Curve Blue (but coloured black) Legacy Mastercard expires at the end of April 2021….

    • Andrew says:
      13 Jan13 January 13:35

      Yes when I say I have a shortage of offers – I mean a shortage of anything remotely interesting – I’ve got c50 offers, none of them of any use.

  • Julian says:
    13 Jan13 January 12:51

    16% 1 Star reviews for Dundle at http://www.trustpilot.com/review/dundle.com?stars=1

    i know nothing whatsoever about them myself.

    • mark2 says:
      13 Jan13 January 13:26

      I just used them perfectly satisfactorily except that they charged in EUR so not £15 back, which defeated the object when that was the only reason for the purchase. But the only way to learn is to make mistakes.
      I ignore TrustPilot.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:
    13 Jan13 January 13:02

    You’re still down with the kids, Rob, buying your clothes from Shein 😉

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 14:29

      You would be shocked how much stuff you get for £30 for Shein. I am too scared to look at the labels to see where it’s made.

      • Bagoly says:
        13 Jan13 January 17:58

        As a very slight salve to your conscience, it’s not Bangladesh.
        And given the location, it is perhaps easier that a good proportion of the clothes seem to be polyester rather than cotton!

    • mr_jetlag says:
      13 Jan13 January 16:48

      That entire website looks like a party from Philip Green’s yacht 🙂

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

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