The best referral offers, welcome deals and extra savings.
There are loads of ways you can get more from an American Express credit card other than the ongoing cashback rewards. And they start when you first apply.
First is either a referral bonus or cashback site bonus. These generally are worth between £10 and £25, depending on the card and where you get the link.
Next is the welcome bonus for those who haven’t had an Amex in 24 months. These come with cashback, reward and points based cards. These can easily be worth £100 or more, depending on the card.
Finally there are extra offers available every month on the card, with the Shop Small promotion among my favourites.
Here are some of the special deals running right now.
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Standard welcome offers
If you’ve not had an American Express card in your name in 24 months you’ll be eligible for a welcome bonus when you sign up and meet specific spending thresholds.
You might be eligible for a bonus from the Platinum card and British Airways cards as an existing cardholder – it depends on which card or cards you have. I’ve explained more in this article.
The highest paying standard welcome promotions are:
| Card | Bonus | Value | Fee |
| American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card | 20,000 Amex Membership points + 3,000 points for spending | £115 | £0 (£195 in year two) |
| American Express Platinum Cashback credit card | 5% on first £2,500 spent | Up to £125 | £25 |
| Nectar American Express credit card | 20,000 Nectar points + 2,000 points for spending | £110 in Nectar points | £0 (£30 in year two) |
Boosted welcome offers
These offers are sometimes boosted and it’s often worth waiting for these deals to come along. Once to look out for include:
- Up to 25,000 rather than 20,000 for the Amex Preferred Reward Gold (usually spring and winter each year. Last ran Oct 2023 to Jan 2024)
- 75,000 rather than 30,000 for the Amex Platinum (usually spring and winter each year. Last ran Oct 2023 to Jan 2024)
- 50,000 rather than 25,000 for the BA Amex Premium Plus (usually late winter and early autumn each year. Running January 2024)
When these and other deals are running we’ll share the basics below, with links to more detailed articles explaining the offer in full.
Current boosted offers
None right now.
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Extra welcome offers
Whether you’re eligible for a welcome bonus or not you should always apply for an Amex via a refer-a-friend link or cashback site. These can be worth anything from a fiver to more than £100, depending on the card.
It’s impossible to say which is best as the rates change per card and can sometimes be increased. So I’d check both options and go for the one that pays the most.
Cashback site welcome bonuses
An alternative to referral bonuses which can sometimes pay better is to go via Quidco or TopCashback. It’s worth checking both sites to see which one pays more, and then comparing the rate to the referral bonuses.
If you’re not with either cashback site then you can also nab an extra welcome bonus on those too!
Refer-a-friend offers
Most Amex cards will give an extra bonus for signing up via a referral link. From time to time these are boosted,
Obviously you can ask your friends and family if they have a link they can share with you, which you can use for any Amex you like – not just the one they have. They’ll also get a kickback for sharing their link.
To see all the different referral options click the “see all cards with a referral offer” button at the top of the page when it opens. You’ll get the rate shown for the card you select.
Upgrade offers
Very rarely there are promotions to get you to upgrade your card. The bonus won’t be as good as the welcome deals for newbies, but it’s worth taking a look.
Upgrade Gold credit to Platinum: boosted 40,000 points
If you have the Preferred Rewards Golf card then you won’t qualify for the welcome bonus on the Platinum card, so this upgrade offer is worth a look.
You can get normally get 20,000 Amex Reward Points if you upgrade from the Preferred Rewards Gold credit card to the Platinum credit card. You’ll need to spend £4,000 in three months, so this is only for big spenders.
You’ll earn 1 point per £1 spent, so in total you’ll get 24,000 points if you achieve this. That’s worth £192 if converted to Avios, and then to Nectar points.
But right now you’ll be able to get double. So thats 40,000 points but you spend £6,000 in three months.
You’ll also get the £150 annual UK dining credit and twice yearly £50 Harvey Nicks credit.
Bear in mind you’ll need to pay £650 as an annual fee.
Upgrade Gold charge to Platinum: 20,000 points
If you have the older Preferred Rewards Gold charge card (this is slightly different from the credit card) you can get 20,000 Amex Reward Points if you upgrade to the Platinum credit card. You’ll need to spend £4,000 in three months, so this is only for big spenders.
You’ll earn 1 point per £1 spent, so in total you’ll get 24,000 points if you achieve this. That’s worth £192 if converted to Avios, and then to Nectar points.
You’ll also get the £150 annual UK dining credit and twice yearly £50 Harvey Nicks credit. So sign up now and use both offers before and after Jan 1, and that’s an extra £400.
Don’t forget that £650 annual fee that comes with the Platinum
More credit card deals
Check out all the latest offers for new credit cards
Extra offers
Stay & Save: £75 back on hotels
From 18 April to 1 June 2024 you can earn £75 back on £300 transactions at 19 different hotel chains.
You need to activate the offer on your card first, and spend £300 in a single transaction to trigger the credit. Once you’ve used it at a hotel you can’t use it again at the same place – but you can take advantage at a different brand.
Check this list of exact locations before booking to ensure the hotel you want is participating, but chains include:
- Hotel Du Vin
- Mal Maison
- Thistle
And individual hotels include:
- Sea Containers
- The Mayfair
- Ham Yard
You need to book and pay before the 1 June 2024 deadline to be eligible.
Shop Small: £5 credit with £15 spend
This is my favourite Amex offer, though it’s not as good as it used to be. In 2023 it ran from 1 to 3 December, so I’d expect a similar offer in winter 2024.
You get £5 back with each £15 spent at participating retailers, up to three times per card. More details of how to maximise your returns are in my full Shop Small guide here.
Deliveroo: 2 x £5 credit each month with Amex Gold
If you hold the Preferred Rewards Gold Amex then every month you can get £5 back on up to two Deliveroo orders. Make sure you save the offer to your card. There’s also a £5 minimum spend per order.
Use our best buy tables to get the best rate on your savings.
Find out if you can get free cash for switching bank.
Harvey Nichols: £100 free credit a year with Amex Platinum card
If you have the Platinum American Express card (which comes with a huge £575 annual fee) you can now get £50 back twice a year from spending at Harvey Nichols.
The spend can be cumulative and there’s no minimum spend. So buy something for a tenner and you’ll get £10 back to your card. The offer resets on 1 July each year and you can earn up to £50 again for the second part of the year.
It’s only for primary card holders and you need to activate the offer in your account before spending. It’s due to run until December 2024.
Dining: Up to £300 free credit a year with Amex Platinum card
This offer is for people with the full Platinum Amex, not the cashback versions. Each year until 31 December 2024 you’ll get £150 dining credit to use at some top restaurants. Most do seem to be in London but there are a few around the country (mainly the Ivy chain) so you should be able to redeem the offer.
There’s also the same amount available overseas, though the locations are very limited. So I’d treat this as an extra rather than a certainty.
As with most Amex offers, you’ll need to add it to your card. It’s limited to the main cardholder only so can’t be added to supplementary cards.
The card comes with a massive £575 annual fee so I wouldn’t apply just for this offer (indeed there’s no guarantee it’ll be available to newbies) – but if you do go for it, the fee will be prorated if you cancel.
Dining: Up to 20% Restaurant cashback
There’s a offer to activate that’ll give you 20% back when you dine out at participating restaurants if you have the Preferred Rewards Gold Amex, or 10% with the following cards:
- Platinum Cashback
- Platinum Everyday Cashback
- Platinum
- Preferred Rewards Gold
- Centurion
It’s worth checking other cards though as I spotted it on my Amex Rewards card, but not my BA Amex or Vitality card.
The 20% off for Gold customers runs until 19 May 2024, though the standard 10% offer runs from time to time so keep checking to see if it returns.
It’ll work each time you eat out. There’s a full list of restaurants here. It includes chains like Honest Burger, Yo!, Hawksmoor and Gaucho, as well as independents.
If it operates like previous offers that list could change, so do check before you dine.
Hi Andy
Sadly, I signed up for a Premium Plus Card, which I have been accepted for, but not through the promotion link and therefore I’ve missed out on the extra Avios. I’ve been now told, since my application has been approved, no promotion can be applied at this stage but i could reapply after 90 days. Do you have any advice on whether to close the account before paying for the card and wait for another promotion to come up, get a different amex card instead or just go with it?
Hi Andy, i am just coming to the end of my first Amex gold reward year. I am not eligible for the Barclaycard avios card and my husband just jumped to the BA card for the extra points offer. Got any advice on what i should do? Thanks 🙂
Hi Andy, Let’s say I have cancelled my American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card after owing it for a year. May I know how long I need to wait so that I can reapply for the same card without being charged an annual fee?
Many thanks!
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the great article.
I was looking at applying for the BA Premium Plus Card (with the annual fee). However, when I look on the Amex website I can only see the sign up bonus boosted to 35,000 not 70,000.
Am I missing something?
Yep, it’s got to be via the British Airways Executive Club (it’s free and quick to join). All is explained above
Hi there, I’m a bit confused by this bit
The Premium Plus card comes with a £250 annual fee, so you’ll need to factor this in. Unless you want to keep spending on it to trigger the BA Companion Voucher (effectively 2-4-1 on flights), I’d suggest you downgrade to the free BA Amex after you’ve got the bonus. This will issue you with a pro-rata refund. So if that’s after three months, you’ll get around £187 back. That’s an overall profit of £463.
How is it £463 profit please?
Many thanks
As explained, you’d convert the 70,000 bonus Avios, and the 4,500 points earned via spending into Nectar points. That’s worth just under £500. Three months of the charge will cost you £63 (give or take, depending when you cancel), so you’d end up with a profit of £430
Hi Andy, with this 70k avios points offer do utility payments through energy providers such as octupus energy count towards the £3k spending in order to trigger the bonus? Or is there stricter criteria on what purchases and spending is counted towards the £3k?
Thank you.
There shouldn’t be
Plus card : So can i just buy a car, get the point, cash them out and then cancel the card ?\
433 pound profit on the plus card.
Hi Andy, thanks for all the tips across the website
I have a question though – do you not need to be FCA regulated to operate as an introducer to credit offers in the way you do in this article? It was always my understanding that linking to regulated products in this way wasn’t allowed without authorisation?
Only if you have an affiliate (I.e paid advertising) agreement with them
Hi Andy,
Firstly, top quality content mate keep it up!
Is there a way to obtain the £20 PayPal credit without actually spending (losing) the £100? A bit like how we can get £5 from the Halifax Rewards Account by just “spending” £500 on Revolut.
Sadly I don’t think so – it needs to be an actual transaction