New earning rates on Amex Platinum Cashback start today – should you swap to the BA Amex?

Back in May, American Express announced a reduction in the cashback rate paid on its two cashback credit cards – Platinum Cashback and Platinum Cashback Everyday.

There was a three month grace period, but the new reduced rates kick in from today.

What are the new American Express cashback rates?

Here are the new cashback rates:

Platinum Cashback (apply here, £25 annual fee)

• PREVIOUS: 1% cashback on spending up to £10000 per year, 1.25% cashback beyond this

• NEW: 0.75% cashback on spending up to £10000 per year, 1.25% cashback beyond this

Platinum Cashback Everyday (apply here, no annual fee)

• PREVIOUS: 0.5% cashback on spending up to £5000 per year, 1% cashback beyond this

• NEW: 0.5% cashback on spending up to £10000 per year, 1% cashback beyond this

The ‘break-even’ point remains at £10,000. If you spend more than £10,000 per year, you should pay the £25 annual fee for Platinum Cashback. If you spend less than £10,000 per year, it isn’t worth it. Stick with the free Platinum Cashback Everyday card.

Here are three examples:

• £5,000 spend – Platinum Cashback earns £12.50 net of fee, Platinum Cashback Everyday earns £25

• £10,000 spend – Platinum Cashback earns £50 net of fee, Platinum Cashback Everday earns £50

• £20,000 spend – Platinum Cashback earns £175 net of fee, Platinum Cashback Everyday earns £150

Are these still good cards, despite the cut in the cashback rates?

Yes. Spend £10,000 on either card and you will receive exactly £50 (0.5%) back.

Spend more and you receive more. If you push your annual spending up to £20,000, your return increases to £175 (net of the £25 fee) on Platinum Cashback, which is 0.875%. On the free Platinum Cashback Everyday, £20,000 of spending gets you £150 (0.75%) cashback.

Low spenders have less to get excited about.

Spend £5,000 on the Platinum Cashback card and your return, netting off the £25 fee, is only £12.50 (0.25%). On the free Platinum Cashback Everyday card, you would have received £25 (0.5%).

Bizarrely, the free BA Amex often beats both of these as a pseudo-cashback card

You should, oddly, give serious thought to dumping both of the cards above if you want to earn cashback from an American Express card.

The free British Airways American Express is the best pseudo-cashback credit card in Britain, paying 0.8%. This assumes that you convert your Avios from the credit card to Nectar points and spend them in Sainsbury’s, Argos or eBay.

As a reminder, the conversion rate from Avios to Nectar points is 1 : 1.6 and a Nectar point is worth 0.5p in most cases.

These means:

• you spend £1 on the free British Airways American Express card, which will ….
• earn 1 Avios, which you can ….
• convert into 1.6 Nectar points via this page, worth 0.5p per Nectar point, which lets you ….
• redeem your 1.6 Nectar points for 0.8p of credit at Sainsbury’s etc

From today, you would need to spend £17,000 before the £25 Platinum Cashback card outperforms the 0.8% pseudo-cashback that the free BA Amex pays.

With the free Platinum Cashback Everyday card, you would need to spend £25,000 per year before your cashback increased beyond 0.8%, which is what the free BA Amex offers. I doubt most cardholders of this card are spending that much.

Amex Cashback Credit Card

Bonus: 5% cashback (to £125) for three months

Read our full review

Sign-up bonus and earn rate:

• Get 5% cashback on your spending for 90 days (£125 cap)
• Spend £0 to £10,000 per year and receive 0.75% cashback going forward
• Spend over £10,000 per year and receive 1.25% cashback going forward

Other information:

• Cashback paid in a lump sum after 12 months
• Annual fee: £25

Representative 36.7% APR variable based on an assumed £1,200 credit limit and £25 annual fee. Interest rate on purchases 31.0% APR variable.

Apply here

See if you qualify for the 5% cashback sign-up bonus +

You will receive 5% cashback on purchases on the Amex Cashback Credit Card within 90 days of signing up.  This is capped at £125.

To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous 24 months, have held any other personal American Express card.

You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s American Express account.

You are OK if, currently or in the previous 24 months, you have held a Business American Express card.

For clarity, you can still apply for the Amex Cashback Credit Card even if you do not qualify for the bonus.  You will receive the standard rate of cashback on your spending.

Learn more about the card benefits +

The Amex Cashback Credit Card is the most generous cashback credit card in the UK.

After the first three months, during which the special bonus rate applies:

• Spend £0 to £10,000 and receive 0.75% cashback on purchases
• Spend over £10,000 and receive 1.25% cashback on purchases

Cashback is paid in a lump sum at the end of each 12 month period.  If you close the card mid-year you will lose any accumulated cashback.

As our review shows, this card is better value if you will spend over £10,000 per year.  If you will spend under £10,000 per year, you should apply for the free Amex Cashback Everyday Credit Card instead.  The cashback rate is lower but this is offset by the lack of any annual fee.

You need a minimum personal income of £20,000 to apply for the card.

Amex Cashback Everyday Credit Card

Bonus: 5% cashback (to £125) for five months

Read our full review

Sign-up bonus and earn rate:

• Get 5% cashback on your spending for five months (£125 cap)
• Spend £0 to £10,000 per year and receive 0.5% cashback going forward
• Spend over £10,000 per year and receive 1% cashback going forward

Other information:

• Cashback paid in a lump sum after 12 months
• Minimum spend of £3,000 per year required to receive cashback
• Annual fee: Free

Representative 31.0% APR variable

Apply here

See if you qualify for the 5% cashback sign-up bonus +

You will receive 5% cashback on purchases on the Amex Cashback Everyday Credit Card within five months of signing up.  This is capped at £125.

To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous 24 months, have held any other personal American Express card.

You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s American Express account.

You are OK if, currently or in the previous 24 months, you have held a Business American Express card.

For clarity, you can still apply for the Amex Cashback Everyday Credit Card even if you do not qualify for the bonus.  You will receive the standard rate of cashback on your spending.

Learn more about the card benefits +

The Amex Cashback Everyday Credit Card is the most generous free cashback credit card in the UK.

After the first three months, during which the special bonus rate applies:

• Spend £0 to £10,000 and receive 0.5% cashback on purchases
• Spend over £10,000 and receive 1% cashback on purchases

You must spend at least £3,000 per year to receive cashback.

Cashback is paid in a lump sum at the end of each 12 month period.  If you close the card mid-year you will lose any accumulated cashback.

As our review shows, this card is better value if you will spend less than £10,000 per year.  If you will spend over £10,000 per year, you should apply for the £25 Amex Cashback Credit Card instead.  The cashback rate is higher and you are better off even after paying the annual fee.

You need a minimum personal income of £20,000 to apply for the card.

British Airways American Express

Bonus: 5,000 Avios

Read our full review

Sign-up bonus and earn rate:

• Get 5,000 Avios when you spend £2,000 within 90 days
• Earn 1 Avios per £1 spent

Other information:

• Receive a companion voucher, letting you book two flights for the Avios of one, when you spend £15,000 in a card year
• This sum is reduced to £12,000 until 1st November 2024
• The companion voucher is only valid on Economy flights
• It can be used on British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus
• Annual fee: Free

Representative 31.0% APR variable

Apply here

See if you qualify for the 5,000 Avios sign-up bonus +

You will receive 5,000 Avios as a sign-up bonus on the free British Airways American Express card if you spend £2,000 within 90 days of signing up.

To qualify for the bonus, you must NOT, currently or in the previous 24 months, have held any other personal American Express card.

You are OK if you had a supplementary card on someone else’s British Airways American Express account.

You are OK if, currently or in the previous 24 months, you have held a Business American Express card.

For clarity, you can still apply for the British Airways American Express card even if you do not qualify for the bonus.  You would still benefit from the companion voucher and the other card benefits.

Learn more about the card benefits +

When you spend £15,000 on the British Airways American Express card, you receive a companion voucher entitling you to book two Avios redemption flights for the miles of one.  This voucher is valid for one year.  (Full taxes and charges need to be paid on both tickets.)

This sum is reduced to £12,000 if you can achieve it by 1st November 2024.

The voucher on the free British Airways American Express card can only be used on Economy flights.

The voucher can be used for Avios bookings on British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus.

You receive your voucher within a few days of reaching the spending target.  You need to fly the outbound leg of your 2-4-1 flight before the expiry date of the voucher.

If you want more flexibility, the voucher issued with the British Airways Premium Plus American Express card is valid for two years, requires the same £15,000 of annual card spend and is valid in ALL cabins including Business and First.  The Premium Plus card also has a higher earning rate of 1.5 Avios per £1 on general spend and 3 Avios per £1 on spend with British Airways and BA Holidays.

You need a minimum personal income of £20,000 to apply for the card.

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. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – September 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 26th September 2024, sign up for FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard and you will receive a sign-up bonus of 10,000 Avios. This is double the usual bonus! You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days. Our full review is here. Click here to apply.

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

10,000 Avios (to 26th September) 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.

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 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:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios 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