Old Apr 16, 2014, 6:59 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Hyacinthe
This thread is a continuation of discussion which began HERE in 2011.

Referrals and self-referrals are an important part of churning Canadian-issued American Express cards. It is appropriate to discuss how the referral process works in this thread. However, please do not offer or request referrals here.

Use only this thread, and do read the Wikipost carefully before posting:

Referral Offers (post only in this thread, no referral links, read Wiki post first).

JerryHung: I figure I'll include all CURRENT AMEX Canada offers here (no referral links) for anyone curious about what the bonus and fees are
This is not an all-inclusive list, only the "good" offers, so feel free to add new offers

AMEX Platinum - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $1000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral

AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $500 spending + $50 cashback from GCR

AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, FYF, 2000 Air Miles after $500 spending + $30 GCR cashback

New as of 2014/10/09
AMEX Business Gold - $250/year, FYF, 30K MR after $5000 spending (or 40K via referral)

AMEX Business Platinum - $399/year, 40K MR after $5000 spending (or 50K via referral)
Print Wikipost

Churning Amex in Canada (2014)

Old Apr 15, 2014, 6:46 pm
  #556  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: YYZ, but my heart is in Asia
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I wonder when FT will enforce their new rule to make the members remove the credit card referral links from their signatures. Almost all posters in this thread has a similar signature.
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 6:39 am
  #557  
mia
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
 
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Moderator action

I rebuilt the thread to correct a pagination problem. If you subscribe to this thread I believe you will need to re-subscribe. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Originally Posted by jarusoba
I wonder when FT will enforce
I expect a high rate of compliance in early May because members will not be able to post in this thread until their Signature is clean:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...new-rules.html

There is a Signature Review Team which will begin to contact stragglers in mid May.

Last edited by mia; Apr 16, 2014 at 7:47 am
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 9:04 am
  #558  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Aeroplan Diamond, SPG Plat, Hilton Gold, Marriott
Posts: 1,839
Originally Posted by choupeo
Can you apply both the Amex Plat and AP Gold on the same day and get approved ? or will the second application be automatically declined ? thanks
It worked once for me for applying two Amex cards in the same day, one regular gold and one SPG.

Last edited by Cana2013; Apr 16, 2014 at 10:40 am
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 9:21 am
  #559  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YVR to SEA
Posts: 2,527
Originally Posted by mia
I expect a high rate of compliance in early May because members will not be able to post in this thread until their Signature is clean:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...new-rules.html

There is a Signature Review Team which will begin to contact stragglers in mid May.
The whole point of having referral links in signature is to avoid having to post in the Amex thread. I didn't know about that thread until very recently as I rarely venture out of the Aeroplan Alaska and Marriott forums
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 9:33 am
  #560  
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Programs: AC - E50, CX - G, Accor Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 903
I will be complying. I understand that there is 30 day grace save for the referral thread which reasonably requires immediate compliance.

Received mail promo on my Plat card to use MRs for tripflex at 1.25c for limited time period. This would raise the minimum value for sign up to $750 if it were being offered consistently but it was on a targeted basis.
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 10:55 am
  #561  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: YVR
Programs: Marriott Gold
Posts: 952
So I just recently passed my Amex Plat minimum spend, but I haven't seen the 60K bonus MR post yet... it's only been a few days, should I wait a week or so and then call or call now and ask where my MR points have gone?
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 2:50 pm
  #562  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
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If I remember correctly, took 6 weeks for me to get the 60K last year.
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 2:54 pm
  #563  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,384
Originally Posted by Ancien Maestro
No sense in a faster churn.

Inherent value in FYF is worth a good chunk of benefit. I would say max it out on the FYF as long as you can. CC spend does count for points, not just sign up bonuses.:-:
true, but that's only if you have $$$ to put through on the card.
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 6:30 pm
  #564  
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Originally Posted by jarusoba
I wonder when FT will enforce their new rule to make the members remove the credit card referral links from their signatures. Almost all posters in this thread has a similar signature.
Pretty sure they all got the memo. They are all just trying to push their luck to see when's the latest they can take it off
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Old Apr 16, 2014, 11:13 pm
  #565  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 198
Originally Posted by migali
If I remember correctly, took 6 weeks for me to get the 60K last year.
I finally got the last of my Aeroplan points after about 4 months and 20 calls.

Data point: I got the required spend out of the way immediately and was making purchases as usual. Then, when I didn't get all of my points after a couple of months and had loads of headaches I told them, "I fulfilled my end, and you guys have not fulfilled your end. I won't use this card until you cough up the points as agreed..."

They said..."It's just a problem on our end, we're so sorry, be patient, blah, blah, blah".

So the last time I called for my points the rep said, "Oh, you didn't get your points...because we see that you are not using your card..."

The conversation turned very interesting after that...but I got my points about a week after, so whatever.
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Old Apr 17, 2014, 7:50 am
  #566  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
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Originally Posted by CanucksHKG
Pretty sure they all got the memo. They are all just trying to push their luck to see when's the latest they can take it off
Yup. I'm for one glad all this nonsense is over. Well almost over eh guys?

There is the report button btw.
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Old Apr 17, 2014, 9:43 am
  #567  
mia
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
 
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Moderator observation

There will be a 30 day grace period for compliance with Flyertalk's new rules. The changes encompass more than just Signatures. These are not typical corporate boilerplate disclaimers, they are the rules which moderators will actively apply. Everyone should read them. It won't take long, only about 3,000 words:

http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php

There is no need to Alert moderators to non-compliant Signatures until mid-May. At that point you may contact the Signature Review Team (link in the rules) or use the Alert button in the lower left corner of any post.
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Old Apr 20, 2014, 7:53 pm
  #568  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 2
Applying and reapplying Amex Cards ...best options for two charge cards at one time

I've seen alot of postings on the Amex Cards in Canada for signup bonuses, and I wanted to ask what the best route would be for applying and reapplying for charge cards, without doing damage (at least significant) to your card, and of course being approved by Amex Canada.

Let's start with two cards - AeroPlat and Amex Personal Gold. Both have fees waived for the first year. In order to maximize your return without taking a beating on your credit limit, and of course to be approved by Amex Canada (which by many postings here indicate that Amex Canada suggests 6 months to apply for the same card again):

b.) Cancel both cards in 6 months from the date of issue, then reapply to get the bonuses in another 6 months (getting the bonuses twice in a calendar year - one at the start, and one at the end of the year).

c.)6 months down the road cancel both cards and reapply for two other charge cards right away (such as AeroGold, Green, etc..). Thereby having signup bonuses 3 times in the calendar year, at the beginning, middle (cancel and reapply to another card), and end (reapply to original card).

d.) Same as c.) but cancel and reapply for the same two cards again (begginning (issue aeroplat, gold), middle (cancel aeroplat,gold - then renew aeroplat, gold), and end (cancel aeroplat, gold then renew aeroplat, gold).

e.) Don't cancel at all but in 6 months change to another charge card (i.e. gold to plat). So beginning of the year issued gold, middle (switch to another card, dont cancel, to get that cards bonuses), then end of the year cancel the card and renew the original card (gold).

I'd like to see what peoples thoughts are on churning and how they do applying/reapplying.
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Old Apr 20, 2014, 8:53 pm
  #569  
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Originally Posted by Recoilx
I've seen alot of postings on the Amex Cards in Canada for signup bonuses, and I wanted to ask what the best route would be for applying and reapplying for charge cards, without doing damage (at least significant) to your card, and of course being approved by Amex Canada.

Let's start with two cards - AeroPlat and Amex Personal Gold. Both have fees waived for the first year. In order to maximize your return without taking a beating on your credit limit, and of course to be approved by Amex Canada (which by many postings here indicate that Amex Canada suggests 6 months to apply for the same card again):

b.) Cancel both cards in 6 months from the date of issue, then reapply to get the bonuses in another 6 months (getting the bonuses twice in a calendar year - one at the start, and one at the end of the year).

c.)6 months down the road cancel both cards and reapply for two other charge cards right away (such as AeroGold, Green, etc..). Thereby having signup bonuses 3 times in the calendar year, at the beginning, middle (cancel and reapply to another card), and end (reapply to original card).

d.) Same as c.) but cancel and reapply for the same two cards again (begginning (issue aeroplat, gold), middle (cancel aeroplat,gold - then renew aeroplat, gold), and end (cancel aeroplat, gold then renew aeroplat, gold).

e.) Don't cancel at all but in 6 months change to another charge card (i.e. gold to plat). So beginning of the year issued gold, middle (switch to another card, dont cancel, to get that cards bonuses), then end of the year cancel the card and renew the original card (gold).

I'd like to see what peoples thoughts are on churning and how they do applying/reapplying.
Your post overlooks the best part of the Amex Canada programme for mile building, which is the referral part of the game.

As you will see, a number of people in the forum have links at the bottoms of their postings (such as this one), offering card referrals. All of those links will soon be disappearing as Flyertalk rules are in transition and will ban these moving forwards; however, you can see how they work for now - any cardholder can make these links for their friends and family to sign up.

By signing up for cards via referral, the referring person gets a generous bonus and in most cases the referred person also gets more points than a "street" sign up, so there is double incentive. This works especially well if you are in a couple (and can both obtain credit) or if you have a buddy to swap referrals with routinely. However, although I have never needed, there is apparently a possibility to self refer between cards and score for yourself the referring bonus and the referred bonus.

This works along the lines of sign up for Aeroplatinum through a referral and score 51k points, then before you cancel refer your spouse or self to Aerogold - a free crd - pick up 15k for referring and 30k for being referred. Spouses can constantly bounce the bonuses between themselves.

In general, I would recommend MR Platinum card and Aerogold as starting points if you wanted one ultra-premium and one less-premium card. I think there is much more value in that combination.

Note also I typically would draw attention to how great opportunities there are to build miles using the SPG card, however I would just keep that in the back of your mind for the moment since the card recently had the sign-up bonus slashed ad is not looking too attractive next to other offerings at the moment, especially in terms of the upfront sign up incentive.

Make sure you understand the referral programme on the different cards, it works well in my experience for paying out your bonus points and lets you earn a lot of points if you find a handful of interested traveling friends and family without causing any injury to your credit score.

Send me a message if any Qs!
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Old Apr 21, 2014, 4:50 am
  #570  
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Originally Posted by Recoilx
I've seen alot of postings on the Amex Cards in Canada for signup bonuses, and I wanted to ask what the best route would be for applying and reapplying for charge cards, without doing damage (at least significant) to your card, and of course being approved by Amex Canada.

Let's start with two cards - AeroPlat and Amex Personal Gold. Both have fees waived for the first year. In order to maximize your return without taking a beating on your credit limit, and of course to be approved by Amex Canada (which by many postings here indicate that Amex Canada suggests 6 months to apply for the same card again):

[...]
Quick note: The AeroPlat does NOT waive the first year free. Only Personal MR Gold or Aeroplan Gold.

Personal Gold:
Referral: 25,000 signup bonus
Self: 25,000 signup bonus + $50 from GCR

Aeroplan Gold:
Referral: 30,000 signup bonus
Self: 25,000 signup bonus + $40 from GCR
CanucksHKG is offline  

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