LAST DAY: Get 50,000 or 100,000 points with American Express Business Gold or Platinum

UPDATE – DECEMBER 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

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Last year, American Express launched the biggest sign-up bonus ever seen in the UK for a payment card. It is currently back for a limited period but it ends tonight (Thursday).

When this offer came out last year, it didn’t just set a new record, it smashed it. The highest ‘open to all’ bonus I had ever seen in the last 20 years was a 60,000 points offer on American Express Platinum.

The current deal, on the Business Cards, is almost twice as generous. If you only sign up for one mileage promotion all year, this should be it.

The number of points involved is huge. If you’re not a business owner so don’t qualify to apply yourself, you should think seriously about any family members who have their own business and could sign up – or do your business-owning friends a favour and tell them about it.

The bonuses are on the two American Express Business Cards:

• American Express Business Platinum Card (apply here)
• American Express Business Gold Card (apply here)

American Express Business Platinum now has a sign-up bonus of 100,000 Membership Rewards points.

American Express Business Gold – which is free for a year – now has a sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points.

These are, clearly, huge sums.

The offer is valid for applications received by TONIGHT, 31st March 2022.

What do I need to know?

It is important to know that American Express has raised the qualifying spend at the same time as raising the bonus.

• You need to spend £10,000 in three months to receive the 100,000 points on Business Platinum

• You need to spend £5,000 in three months to receive the 50,000 points on Business Gold

The offer is only available until tonight. At that point, the usual offers with lower spend thresholds – 20,000 points on Business Gold for spending £3,000 in three months, and 40,000 points on Business Platinum for spending £6,000 in three months – will presumably return.

What can I do with the bonus points?

I ran this article on how you can use 100,000 Membership Rewards points and we recently published this article specifically on how Membership Rewards can be used on business travel.

For HfP readers, the key thing to note is that they convert at 1:1 into Avios and Virgin Points.

You can pick up 100,000 Avios if you convert the sign-up bonus on Business Platinum.

100,000 Membership Rewards points would also get you:

• 300,000 Radisson Rewards points
• 200,000 Hilton Honors points
• 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
• 100,000 airline miles in various other schemes including Emirates, Etihad and Air France KLM

What are the annual fees?

American Express Business Platinum has an annual fee of £595.

Business Gold has an annual fee of £175, but the first year is free.

How are the cards structured?

Both Business Platinum and Business Gold are charge cards, not credit cards.

You MUST pay your entire balance at the end of each month. There is no option to pay interest and roll over the amount you owe.

Who qualifies for the bonus?

You qualify for the bonus as long as you have not had an American Express card earning Membership Rewards points in the last thirteen months.

Note that the rule on the business cards is 13 months and NOT the 24 months that applies to the personal Cards.

For clarity …. the ‘no Membership Rewards cards’ rule applies across personal and business cards. If you have had a personal Gold, Platinum etc card in the past 13 months then you will NOT receive the bonus on Business Gold or Business Platinum.

On the upside, getting Business Gold or Business Platinum has no impact on your ability to get a future bonus on a personal Amex card. Confusingly, the bonus rules on the personal cards ignore any Business cards you may hold. The Business cards, on the other hand, look across your Business and personal card portfolio.

For absolute clarity ….. the following cards have no impact on your ability to get the bonus on Business Gold or Business Platinum:

• British Airways American Express
• British Airways Accelerating Business
• Nectar American Express
• Marriott Bonvoy American Express
• Harrods American Express
• Platinum Cashback

…. because none of these cards are ‘Membership Rewards’ cards. They offer something different (Avios, Nectar points, Marriott Bonvoy points etc) as a reward.

If the only American Express card you have had in the past 13 months is one on the list above, you definitely qualify for the 100k bonus on Business Platinum and the 50k bonus on Business Gold.

What are the rules for being accepted for Business Gold or Business Platinum?

You can be a sole trader, partnership or Limited Company. You must meet the following criteria, which are cut and pasted from the Amex website:

• The business has a current UK Bank or Building Society account
• You/The business have/has no County Court Judgements for non-payment of debt
• You are aged 18 or over
• You have a permanent UK home address

If you apply as a sole trader, you do not seem to need a business bank account.

Conclusion

This is obviously a very exciting offer if you meet the qualification criteria.

Even if you use your Membership Rewards points in one of the less lucrative ways – converting them to Avios and then on to Nectar points – you would get 0.8p per Amex point in form of Sainsbury’s, Argos or eBay credit.

This means that the Business Platinum bonus is worth a guaranteed minimum of £800 and the Business Gold bonus is worth a guaranteed minimum of £400.

How do I apply?

You can apply for American Express Business Platinum, with the 100,000 points bonus, here.

You can apply for American Express Business Gold, with the 50,000 points bonus and no fee for the first year, here.

Remembert that both offers end TONIGHT, 31st March.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 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:

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 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 30,000 Avios. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 14th January 2025, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card from American Express is increased to 80,000 Membership Rewards points. This converts into 80,000 Avios! The spend requirement is changed to £10,000 in six months for this offer. Click here to apply.

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:

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 when you spend at least £2,000 per month.