Amex Platinum: Up to 85,000 points welcome offer + £150 Selfridges gift card

Extra cashback and insurance on top could be worth more than £1,000

For a short time, the welcome bonus has an extra bonus on the American Express Platinum credit card. But watch out for the massive annual fee.

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What is the American Express Platinum card?

The Amex Platinum card is a point earning card that comes with extras like free travel insurance and credit to spend each year on eating out (£200 in the UK). However it comes with a hefty £650 annual fee.

You’ll earn one Amex Membership Reward point for every £1 you spend with the card. That’s either the equivalent of 0.5% back if you swap your points for gift card (a rate that can be easily beaten.)

You can read more about the card and it’s benefits in our full Amex Platinum review.

Who can get the welcome offer?

Unlike with other Amex cards, you might be able to get this bonus if you’ve already got an Amex or had one in the last two years.

The only cards that will rule you out are the Platinum card, Preferred Rewards Gold card and the Rewards card. Here’s more on which cards will still make you eligible for this offer.

Boosted Amex Platinum welcome offer

This latest new user offer could add up to £750 of freebies after the fee – and that’s before normal card benefits are factored in.

Boosted: earn 80,000 bonus points & £150 Selfridges gift card

If you go direct from the American Express website, this offer, running from 4 November 2026 and 12 January 2027, adds an extra 30,000 points to the usual amount available, so you’ll get a total of 80,000 points as a welcome bonus.

On top of this there’s a £150 gift card to use at Selfridges.

To trigger the bonus you will need to spend a massive £6,000, but you have three months to do this. This starts from approval, not when you receive the card. This spending will earn you another 6,000 points and a combined total of 86,000 points, worth £430.

Sadly you’re no longer able to get a bonus via cashback sites.

85,000 points via referral & £150 Selfridges gift card

If you get referred by a friend you’ll get a total of 85,000 points as a bonus, so an extra 5,000 points on top of this boosted promo.

As with going direct, you need to spend the full £6,000 in three months. Those extra 5,000 points are worth another £25. Your friend will also get a kickback.

Added on to the bonus and spending points, you’ll get a total of 91,000 points, worth £455. Plus that £150 travel credit and other perks.

Standard Amex Platinum welcome offer

Standard: earn 50,000 points

New cardholders can get 50,000 Amex Reward points if they spend £6,000 in the first three months of having the card. That’s worth £280 in gift vouchers or as Nectar points. Or you can swap them for different airline points. I’ve rounded up all Amex Reward redemption options here)

As with other American Express cards, my tip is to wait for heavily increased welcome offers before applying.

Card	Reward type	Normal bonus
American Express Platinum credit card	Membership Rewards Points	50,000 points

The fee and extra offers

If you keep the card for a year you’ll be able to claim some decent offers on top

• 3 x £100 UK restaurant credit (£100 every six months)
• Annual travel insurance

The restaurant credit is easy to use and adds up to £300, though you’ll have more options in London. The insurance could be worth £150 to £200,

So overall, the £430 from the welcome deal, £25 from the referral, £150 gift card, £300 from restaurant credit offers and £150 saving on travel insurance would total £1,055.

So even when you factor in the full £650 annual fee, you’ll still make a decent profit of more than £400.

Then there are other perks to factor in on top which either you might not need or be able to use. The main ones are:

• Airport lounge access
• Free digital Time subscription
• Free Calm subscription
• 3 x £100 overseas restaurant credit (£100 every six months)
• 3 x £75 credit on lululemon when you spend £150 (every six months)

The lounge access would cost £200 to £400 (FYI, it’s set to change in 2028). There’s also another £100 every three months for overseas dining, though the options are generally quite limited. The new lululemon credit requires you to spend to save, so it’s only worth it if you were going to shop there anyway.

If you choose to cancel the card before the year is up, you can get a pro-rata refund of the annual fee. You’d likely give up the January 2028 restaurant credit reset if you did that, but you’d save yourself more on the fee. Make sure you don’t lose your points though!