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Four big Amex sign-up bonuses launched today!

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The good news is that American Express has launched FOUR big sign up bonuses today, with one worth 120,000 Membership Rewards points (=120,000 Avios).

The bad news is that four sign up bonuses in one day is too many for us to cover in our usual ‘compare and contrast’ way.

This article is therefore a very short summary of the four bonuses. Separate articles today and tomorrow will look at the four deals in more detail.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold special bonus

The four special bonuses launched today

Remember that 1 Membership Rewards point = 1 Avios amongst other things. This article looks at the best ways of spending Membership Rewards points.

As usual, annual fees and T&C apply, 18+, subject to status.

All offers will run to 14th October 2025.

Personal cards:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card

40,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £5,000 within six months of being approved

The card is free for the first year.

Do you qualify for the bonus? You must have had NO personal American Express cards in the last 24 months. This will be tricky for many HfP readers, but you may have a family member who qualifies.

Click here for our full HfP review.

Click here to apply.

The representative APR is 86.8% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 29.7% variable.

American Express Platinum special sign up bonus

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £10,000 within six months of being approved

The annual fee is £650, refundable pro-rata if you cancel.

Do you qualify for the bonus? You must have had NO personal American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points in the last 24 months. You DO qualify if you have only held British Airways, Marriott, Nectar or cashback American Express cards in the last 24 months.

Click here for our full HfP review.

Click here to apply.

The representative APR is 691.7% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 29.7% variable.

American Express Business Gold special bonus

Small business cards:

Remember that there is no defined rule for what American Express treats as a ‘small business’. You do NOT need to be a Limited Company. You do NOT need to be VAT registered. There are no turnover requirements. You do NOT need a business bank account. Operating a buy to let property may qualify. if the card is used to pay maintenance bills etc.

The American Express Business Gold Card

60,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £6,000 within three months of being approved

The card is free for the first year.

Do you qualify for the bonus? Yes. There are NO restrictions, at all, on receiving the sign-up bonus. If you are accepted and reach the spend target, you receive the points.

Click here for our full HfP review.

Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum special bonus

The American Express Business Platinum Card

120,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £12,000 within three months of being approved

The annual fee is £650, refundable pro-rata if you cancel. The fee should be tax deductible as a business expense. You will also receive £200 to spend at American Express Travel, which is an annual benefit for all cardholders.

Do you qualify for the bonus? Yes. There are NO restrictions, at all, on receiving the sign-up bonus. If you are accepted and reach the spend target, you receive the points.

Click here for our full HfP review.

Click here to apply.

Further in-depth coverage of these cards will appear across today and tomorrow.

Comments (48)

  • Susan says:

    Generous bonuses indeed. Wish they’d do a few of these encouragement-to-general-spend deals for continuing card holders. The recent discount deals have all been underwhelming.

  • Swiss Jim says:

    Of course, spend on the business cards should (technically) be business spend. Those who have a side hustle and are tempted to dive in for the bonus may struggle to find £12,000 of spend in 3 months. Be warned…

    • Thomas says:

      Do they actually check? As very tempted to apply since rob is emphasising you do not have to be registered in anyway as a ‘business’ and I have maxed out with my personal cards.

      • Rob says:

        Yes, they do check, within reason. But at the same time they will offer you Victoria’s Secret cashback offers on the card ….

      • Rob says:

        If spend could clearly not be business and it is repeated multiple times then you will be in trouble. The reason is that shops pay FAR higher fees to accept small business cards and so there is an element of fraud, as you are causing financial loss to the retailer, if the card is used for non-business purposes.

        • Angus says:

          It depends on the deal the shop businesses have with the card provider or payment gateway. We pay the same flat % fee on all cards, the gateway (square) negotiates there own deal with Amex.

          • Rob says:

            Yes, a lot of places do – especially anyone taking Square, DoJo etc – but others don’t. However all that happens is that the problem is pushed up the line because Square, DoJo etc will be paying more to Amex on commercial cards.

            SME cards remain a goldmine (Capital on Tap is now valued at over £1bn, Currensea was valued at £28m at its last fundraising, both have similar numbers of cardholders) and Amex won’t do anything to put that money flow at risk.

          • JDB says:

            @Angus – you pay a high flat fee via those providers and it’s sufficiently high to allow for a typical blend of payment cards – from high cost foreign cards or business cards to UK debit cards. It works for both parties – you get simplicity and the broadest card acceptance and the provider has greater negotiating power than an individual retailer so gets a great deal.

            A retailer that operates a standard merchant account + a separate Amex account will pay far higher prices for any non standard cards.

          • Angus says:

            @JDB, we pay a flat 0.92% on all inperson transactions.

            This is slightly less than I value an avios point.

  • Gordon says:

    This has come just in time, I have a large 5 figure sum to pay soon, so the Amex plat or Business plat look perfect for me! Thanks for the article Rob.

  • Novice says:

    If the amex gold business doesn’t have restrictions then can I potentially cancel mine today and apply in a few weeks?

    Or are same gaps needed to get the bonus?

    • memesweeper says:

      Cancel and reapply should work for the bonus on a business card, but in practice I believe Amex systems don’t allow for an immediate reapplication for any of their products. Allow a gap of a few months at least.

  • Bill Barton says:

    Will there be an improved upgrade offer for the Platinum?

    • D says:

      I believe it’s been around 50k or the cash equivalent for a while, so I’d expect an improvement.

    • Peter says:

      Historically they have been increasing upgrade bonus during boosted SUB periods so hopefully they will do it again

  • Chris W says:

    Anything higher for PRG gold through personal referrals?

  • Mark says:

    Glad I waited until after the summer to get my Amex plat! Will apply today

  • The Hunter says:

    Am finding the complete lack of any Amex event offers (for a while now) quite frustrating, as they were a good reason to be holding the platinum card personally.

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