Need to spend big – How to maximise points?

[candyfloss166]

Morning,

I am very new to the concept point collecting, Hubby and I are starting to travel much more now kids are grown and we are travelling much further afield, I have recently booked BC to Maldives with Emirates at an extortionate cost which has lead me to finding this amazing site!

We dont have much credit or debt in general (apart from a huge mortgage) and all of our spending is paid for via debit card. However, we are in the process of renovating and have a lot of costs budgeted for along with the holiday to the maldives which is due to be paid in feb.

Could anyone advise on the best way for me and hubby to maximise points on a spend of over £25k?

I note the new amex offer which may be of relevance to us but would only want to pay one lot of annual fees, we also own our own business so not sure if there are any business offers which we could benefit from.

[executiveclubber]

First you may want to consider which points scheme you want to earn for; if me and a partner were new to this and wanted points, I’d get the plat Amex and then refer my partner in the app to gain fee-free points for myself plus 98,000 combined for my partner and the referral (if you can spend £10k before the Feb cutoff for pro rata fee refunds, you may end up not needing to spend any fees at all).

If you want to rack up Avios (arguably the most flexible and useful due to being able to use on BA and Qatar), start here >> https://www.headforpoints.com/the-beginners-guide-to-collecting-avios-points/

You’re then STILL eligible to both get sign up bonuses for the BA Premium card, and then each earn a 2-4-1 voucher which in most people’s view is worth paying two sets of card fees for. But only do this if you need Avios — this advice is useless if you’re only looking to rack up Emirates Skywards.

For every card you take out, add one supplementary card in the app to get a fee-free points bonus.

Of course, my general advice on top of this would be to use the airline shopping portal for your regular shopping — it’s surprising how many points I missed when I didn’t bother. Thousands for cheap hotel stays, hundreds for Sainsbury’s shopping.

I hope that’s a useful starting point!

PS — Regarding your renovations etc, make sure you’re aware which merchants don’t accept Amex (there’s an Avios Barclaycard you can take out) — and always pay your card balance off in full every month

[candyfloss166]

Thanks for the reply,

Do I get additional points for taking out the supplementary card? Can I get a referal points bonus on this also? Is there anywhere ican get a referal code from?

[executiveclubber]

candyfloss166 wrote:

Thanks for the reply,

Do I get additional points for taking out the supplementary card? Can I get a referal points bonus on this also? Is there anywhere ican get a referal code from?

Yes, you get a few thousand points for the supplementary card which is just done by clicking “add someone to my account” on the Amex website once you have a card. You can do this for each card you have – so if you and your partner get the Platinum each, then the BA Premium each, you’d get one supplementary card per main card, meaning 4 x supplementary bonuses. It’s only a few thousand though, I think 4k. But that’s an easy 16k.

Referrals are worth more, at the moment on Platinum there’s a special offer with 18k points for you and 80k for your referred friend / partner if they spend £10k in six months, and 9k points for you and 26k for your referred friend / partner. and they happen within the Amex app after you’ve got your card when you tap “Profile > Invite a friend” and share your custom link, which will show how many points you & your partner will earn.

If you can spend £10k before the Platinum card has the pro-rata cutoff in Feb, you’ll just pay for the time you had the card open.

If you want to start with a referral code for the Platinum to get 80k points you can ask here.

[Bill_B]

The Gold is free in the first year, so that’s another option for one of you, if you plan on keeping the Platinum and paying the full fee.

[candyfloss166]

Ok, let me get this right, someone refers me to Platinum and I Get 80k points for being referred? Is this instead of the 75k welcome offer that is running atm?
I then get a supplementary card for my hubby. I get a bonus for the supplementary.

I then refer him and to the ba card, I get a referral bonus and he gets me a supplementary card.

So we are both holding 1 card in our name and one supplementary?

Thanks in advance

[Royback]

candyfloss166 wrote:

Ok, let me get this right, someone refers me to Platinum and I Get 80k points for being referred? Is this instead of the 75k welcome offer that is running atm?
I then get a supplementary card for my hubby. I get a bonus for the supplementary.

I then refer him and to the ba card, I get a referral bonus and he gets me a supplementary card.

So we are both holding 1 card in our name and one supplementary?

Thanks in advance

Yes!

The 105,000 points you get is spread. 80,000 depending on spend over the first 6 months. Etc.

[duke]

rude

You get a free supplementary. No bonus. Limited offers. THe fee payer gets the main benefits. Travel insurance, priority pass etc go with both cards.

Have a look at matts video.

https://youtu.be/6_E6yGbx15M?si=wVY5NAECAcNalSHI

Its a few days old and the bonus changedctoday.

[Royback]

duke wrote:

rude

You get a free supplementary. No bonus. Limited offers. THe fee payer gets the main benefits. Travel insurance, priority pass etc go with both cards.

Have a look at matts video.

https://youtu.be/6_E6yGbx15M?si=wVY5NAECAcNalSHI

Its a few days old and the bonus changedctoday.

how so?

[Reney]

candyfloss166 wrote:

Ok, let me get this right, someone refers me to Platinum and I Get 80k points for being referred? Is this instead of the 75k welcome offer that is running atm?
I then get a supplementary card for my hubby. I get a bonus for the supplementary.

I then refer him and to the ba card, I get a referral bonus and he gets me a supplementary card.

So we are both holding 1 card in our name and one supplementary?

Thanks in advance

you get 80k for being referred AND spending 10k to be specific. I did a massive renovation last year and many builders and building materials won’t accept amex. B&Q does of course and amazon. Just make sure as someone said earlier the merchants will accept amex. There is an article on this site about couples maximising referrals. If you can do the spend by end Feb can cancel and pro rata fees.

[Reney]

Royback wrote:

duke wrote:

rude

You get a free supplementary. No bonus. Limited offers. THe fee payer gets the main benefits. Travel insurance, priority pass etc go with both cards.

Have a look at matts video.

Its a few days old and the bonus changedctoday.

how so?

because the rules of this site is that referrals should first go to the owner Rob to help support the site so people shouldn’t really post their own links. And this videos included a referral link. Looks like the original message was deleted only for 2 of you to quote it and keep it alive 😅.