£400 + 40,000 POINTS: If you cancel Platinum, the Amex Rewards Card keeps your points alive

American Express is currently running an excellent sign-up bonus of £400 of Amex Travel credit and 40,000 Membership Rewards points when you take out The Platinum Card.

The points would convert into 40,000 Avios or lots of other great travel rewards. Even better, you qualify for the bonus even if you have a British Airways American Express card as long as you meet the other criteria.

Our introductory article on the ‘£400 + 40,000 bonus Membership Rewards points’ offer is here. Remember that you can still get a pro-rata refund on the annual fee as long as you cancel by ‘late 2024’ – Amex isn’t being more specific than that.

The Platinum Card application page is here. The offer runs to 27th August.

The representative APR is 704.6% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 31.0% variable.

In the last three weeks we looked at:

• ‘Are the four free American Express Platinum hotel status cards worth having?‘

• ‘Why American Express Platinum gets you into more lounges than you think‘

• ‘Why Fine Hotels & Resorts is one of the best Amex Platinum benefits‘

Today I want to look at how you can keep your 40,000 Membership Rewards points bonus intact even if you choose to cancel The Platinum Card.

The Platinum Card comes with a lot of impressive benefits, as well as (for a limited period):

• 40,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £6,000 within three months

• £400 to spend at Amex Travel when you spend £6,000 within three months

You also need to meet other criteria relating to other American Express cards you may have had in the past two years. Our main article on the deal explains this in more detail.

The card benefits include:

• travel insurance for you and your family, plus your supplementary cardholder and their family

• car hire insurance

• 2 x Priority Pass airport lounge access cards, each of which allows a free guest on each visit (so a family of four is covered) to 1,400 participating lounges

• mid-tier status in Hilton Honors (Gold), Marriott Bonvoy (Gold), Radisson Rewards (Premium) and MeliaRewards (Gold)

• £100 per year of Harvey Nichols credit, valid instore or online

• £150 per year to spend in 150+ UK restaurants

• £150 per year to spend in 1,400+ international restaurants

• Eurostar lounge access

…… and lots of other bits and bobs.

But there’s a snag …..

Paying almost £55 per month for these benefits works out well for many readers.  However, after your first year with the huge bonus, you may find that you cannot justify the fee and decide to cancel at some point.

Amex is ending pro-rata fee refunds, but not yet

It is important to note that American Express has said that it will end part-year fee refunds at some point in ‘late 2024’.

It also announced that it would do this in ‘late 2023’ but backtracked. You should assume that it is serious about the new ‘late 2024’ date.

What does ‘late 2024’ mean? We don’t know. We have been told that we will be given advance notice of any changes to tell our readers, although cardholders will not be contacted directly because the ability to get a pro-rata refund is no longer part of the T&C of the cards.

If you do not plan to keep The Platinum Card for the full year, you need to take a view on what Amex means by ‘no fee refunds after late 2024’ and ensure that you trigger the sign-up bonus and £400 travel credit before then.

The only risk is losing your Membership Rewards points

The only short-term downside of cancelling your American Express Platinum card is that you are required to empty out your Membership Rewards points account.

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. The flexibility is worth having.

If you are forced to transfer them because you close your card down, you may regret it later.  American Express isn’t going bankrupt or devaluing its points any time soon.  The safest place for your points, and the place that gives you the most flexibility in the future, is with American Express.

There is 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 card (at least until mid-year fee refunds come to an end later this year)

We rarely write about it on HfP so I thought I would run through it again today.  This card is the answer:

You can apply for the little-known American Express Rewards Credit Card.  Full details are here.

This card has NO ANNUAL FEE and lets you collect Membership Rewards points. If you apply for this card before you cancel The Platinum Card, it will allow you to keep your 40,000+ Membership Rewards points with no pressure to transfer them.

For simplicity, I will occasionally refer to this card as ARCC as ‘American Express Rewards Credit Card’ is a bit of a mouthful.

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.

The representative APR is 31.0% variable.

ARCC has a 10,000 Membership Rewards points bonus.  You need to spend £2,000 within three months to qualify.

However, 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.  That’s not why you’re applying though.

Once your American Express Rewards Credit Card is active, you can cancel your Platinum card in the knowledge that your Membership Rewards points balance is safe.

You will be saving roughly £55 per month on your Platinum card.  If you change your mind later, you can re-apply for The Platinum Card and start getting all the insurance, lounge, dining, Harvey Nichols and status benefits again.

You can apply for the free American Express Rewards Credit Card here.

If you want to learn more about the £400 and 40,000 points bonus on The Platinum Card, our core article on the deal is here. You can apply for The Platinum Card here.

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.