Jan 18, 2016, 10:43 am
Last edit by: JamilD
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2015)
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
New as of Jun 30, 2016
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $1000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral + earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
New as of March 23 2016
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards - $399/year, 75K MR (via referral) after $5000 spending in 3 months vs. 40K non-referral + earn 25K MR for each referral you make
(Note: as of Jun 30, the Business Platinum is still at 75K welcome and 25K referral points).
New as of May 2016
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50 cashback from GCR
(Note: as of mid-May 2016, Gold will now earn 5K points for referring and increased from $500 to $1500 required spending. FYI: from Jan 11 to mid-May, the Gold card earned 0 referral points.)
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year, FYF, 30K MR after $5000 spending (or 40K via referral)
AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, 2000 Air Miles after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 20K SPG after $500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
New as of July 2016
AMEX Aeroplan Plus Platinum - $499/year, 50K Aeroplans after $1000 spending in 3 months (or 51K via referral). The 50K/51K, extra 10K promo expired on April 01, 2016, but started up again July - Sep 30th, 2016.
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
New as of Jun 30, 2016
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $1000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral + earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
New as of March 23 2016
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards - $399/year, 75K MR (via referral) after $5000 spending in 3 months vs. 40K non-referral + earn 25K MR for each referral you make
(Note: as of Jun 30, the Business Platinum is still at 75K welcome and 25K referral points).
New as of May 2016
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50 cashback from GCR
(Note: as of mid-May 2016, Gold will now earn 5K points for referring and increased from $500 to $1500 required spending. FYI: from Jan 11 to mid-May, the Gold card earned 0 referral points.)
AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year, FYF, 30K MR after $5000 spending (or 40K via referral)
AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, 2000 Air Miles after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 20K SPG after $500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
New as of July 2016
AMEX Aeroplan Plus Platinum - $499/year, 50K Aeroplans after $1000 spending in 3 months (or 51K via referral). The 50K/51K, extra 10K promo expired on April 01, 2016, but started up again July - Sep 30th, 2016.
Churning Amex in Canada (2016)
Jul 10, 2016, 5:00 pm
#1127
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 13
Business card
I was reading on another forum that one should start with the biz plat and get a referral link from someone who currently has it. My first question is that can we still acquire it without having a business? What information needs to be provided to get this application approved?
Secondly on the other form they suggested to churn in this order:
1) referral from existing business platinum member they get their referral points but we get 60k points and we pay the AF
2) once the biz plat is acquired then self ref to pers plat. Doing so yields 25k to biz plat and 60k sign up bonus to pers plat with $699 AF
3) acquire the pers plat card and then self ref to gold biz. This yields 15k ref to pers plat and 40k sign up bonus to gold biz with FYF.
4) should a referal from pers plat to pets gold be done for another 15k ref points? Should it be done same day as ref to biz gold so as not to ding credit?
Mind you this is all excluding minimum spend discussion. But realistically how fast could one acquire all these cards?
Secondly on the other form they suggested to churn in this order:
1) referral from existing business platinum member they get their referral points but we get 60k points and we pay the AF
2) once the biz plat is acquired then self ref to pers plat. Doing so yields 25k to biz plat and 60k sign up bonus to pers plat with $699 AF
3) acquire the pers plat card and then self ref to gold biz. This yields 15k ref to pers plat and 40k sign up bonus to gold biz with FYF.
4) should a referal from pers plat to pets gold be done for another 15k ref points? Should it be done same day as ref to biz gold so as not to ding credit?
Mind you this is all excluding minimum spend discussion. But realistically how fast could one acquire all these cards?
Jul 10, 2016, 6:00 pm
#1128
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 822
I was reading on another forum that one should start with the biz plat and get a referral link from someone who currently has it. My first question is that can we still acquire it without having a business? What information needs to be provided to get this application approved?
Secondly on the other form they suggested to churn in this order:
1) referral from existing business platinum member they get their referral points but we get 60k points and we pay the AF
2) once the biz plat is acquired then self ref to pers plat. Doing so yields 25k to biz plat and 60k sign up bonus to pers plat with $699 AF
3) acquire the pers plat card and then self ref to gold biz. This yields 15k ref to pers plat and 40k sign up bonus to gold biz with FYF.
4) should a referal from pers plat to pets gold be done for another 15k ref points? Should it be done same day as ref to biz gold so as not to ding credit?
Mind you this is all excluding minimum spend discussion. But realistically how fast could one acquire all these cards?
Secondly on the other form they suggested to churn in this order:
1) referral from existing business platinum member they get their referral points but we get 60k points and we pay the AF
2) once the biz plat is acquired then self ref to pers plat. Doing so yields 25k to biz plat and 60k sign up bonus to pers plat with $699 AF
3) acquire the pers plat card and then self ref to gold biz. This yields 15k ref to pers plat and 40k sign up bonus to gold biz with FYF.
4) should a referal from pers plat to pets gold be done for another 15k ref points? Should it be done same day as ref to biz gold so as not to ding credit?
Mind you this is all excluding minimum spend discussion. But realistically how fast could one acquire all these cards?
Biz Platinum,with referral,has 75,000 enrollment points for the applicant.
For my biz Amex I just used my name as the business name(sole proprietor).
As to how long it takes....depends on you.
Jul 10, 2016, 7:42 pm
#1129
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YVR to SEA
Posts: 2,536
Use the business platinum as the referring card for all other cards. 25k each.
Jul 10, 2016, 7:59 pm
#1130
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 13
Are you American or Canadian based? Because I swear I read the referal for plat biz here in Canada was decreased to 60k
Jul 10, 2016, 8:30 pm
#1131
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,519
If you are plan to get a bunch of AMEX MR with self referral or spouse/friend referral, starting at Biz Plat is better because it is still 25K bonus per referral.
So, it will be something:
- Make someone here happy and get the referral link for Biz Plat for 75K Sign-Up Bonus
- Then self-refer to:
1. Personal Gold for 25K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus, 1st fee free
2. Personal Plat for 60K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus
3. Biz Gold for 40K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus, 1st fee free
Jul 10, 2016, 11:34 pm
#1132
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
it is the personal plat that went back to 60K sign-up bonus, Biz Plat is still 75K sign-up bonus.
If you are plan to get a bunch of AMEX MR with self referral or spouse/friend referral, starting at Biz Plat is better because it is still 25K bonus per referral.
So, it will be something:
- Make someone here happy and get the referral link for Biz Plat for 75K Sign-Up Bonus
- Then self-refer to:
1. Personal Gold for 25K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus, 1st fee free
2. Personal Plat for 60K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus
3. Biz Gold for 40K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus, 1st fee free
If you are plan to get a bunch of AMEX MR with self referral or spouse/friend referral, starting at Biz Plat is better because it is still 25K bonus per referral.
So, it will be something:
- Make someone here happy and get the referral link for Biz Plat for 75K Sign-Up Bonus
- Then self-refer to:
1. Personal Gold for 25K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus, 1st fee free
2. Personal Plat for 60K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus
3. Biz Gold for 40K Sign-Up Bonus and 25K referral Bonus, 1st fee free
Jul 11, 2016, 3:13 pm
#1134
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 13
I know I can hit the min spend relatively quickly on all the MR cards. My next question is why do most people also have the SPG? Doesn't the personal plat give spg benefits (I am sure not the highest level), is it just because of the 20k spg points?
Jul 11, 2016, 3:29 pm
#1135
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: YWG
Programs: Aeroplan, MileagePlus, Marriott Rewards
Posts: 2,159
Signup bonus and referral bonus is nice and SPG points are generally worth more... commonly estimated at 2.3 c/point, which is roughly double the typical FF point. SPG Amex is my daily driver card for the most part.
Jul 11, 2016, 5:42 pm
#1136
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 13
If I got the personal platinum first and referred myself later to the business platinum what is the referral reward I would get? I want to make it clear I'm not asking about the sign up bonus but rather what points are awarded for successful completion of a card.
Essentially what does each card refer at? Is business platinum referal reward higher than personal?
I ask because I am considering going personal plat FIRST due to lower min spend followed quickly by self refer to personal gold.
Meaning personal plat would later refer to business plat. I know business play refer to everything at 25k. But what does personal plat refer at?
Lastly if business plat refers to personal gold and personal gold doesn't achieve anything higher than the current sign up bonus, does the business play still get rewarded the 25k?
Jul 11, 2016, 6:01 pm
#1137
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: yyz
Posts: 1,611
I want to say thank you to all of you for being so helpful. I had one final question.
If I got the personal platinum first and referred myself later to the business platinum what is the referral reward I would get? I want to make it clear I'm not asking about the sign up bonus but rather what points are awarded for successful completion of a card.
Essentially what does each card refer at? Is business platinum referal reward higher than personal?
I ask because I am considering going personal plat FIRST due to lower min spend followed quickly by self refer to personal gold.
Meaning personal plat would later refer to business plat. I know business play refer to everything at 25k. But what does personal plat refer at?
Lastly if business plat refers to personal gold and personal gold doesn't achieve anything higher than the current sign up bonus, does the business play still get rewarded the 25k?
If I got the personal platinum first and referred myself later to the business platinum what is the referral reward I would get? I want to make it clear I'm not asking about the sign up bonus but rather what points are awarded for successful completion of a card.
Essentially what does each card refer at? Is business platinum referal reward higher than personal?
I ask because I am considering going personal plat FIRST due to lower min spend followed quickly by self refer to personal gold.
Meaning personal plat would later refer to business plat. I know business play refer to everything at 25k. But what does personal plat refer at?
Lastly if business plat refers to personal gold and personal gold doesn't achieve anything higher than the current sign up bonus, does the business play still get rewarded the 25k?
That said...your best option is to go personal first. BECAUSE, the 75k business plat bonus is via a referral only. If you start "fresh" with that one you would only get a 40k bonus.
So if you apply for personal plat you'll get 50k bonus for signing up, 15k for referring to business plat then 75k bonus for the business plat (and then another 25k referral from biz plat to personal gold and 25k personal gold bonus).
Or...you can check your inbox on FT and I'm sure you'll get a few referral offer inquiries. That's not a bad idea to take someone up on that. You would then start with the biz plat for 75k bonus, then 25k for referring yourself to personal plat then a 60k bonus to personal plat and then 25k referral to personal gold and 25k for personal gold bonus. Total is 210k points (doing it yourself as I described in the previous paragraph nets you "only" 190k).
BTW, there is a referral offer thread somewhere if you want to see who's making offers. I digress.
Jul 12, 2016, 7:00 am
#1138
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
I want to say thank you to all of you for being so helpful. I had one final question.
If I got the personal platinum first and referred myself later to the business platinum what is the referral reward I would get? I want to make it clear I'm not asking about the sign up bonus but rather what points are awarded for successful completion of a card.
Essentially what does each card refer at? Is business platinum referal reward higher than personal?
I ask because I am considering going personal plat FIRST due to lower min spend followed quickly by self refer to personal gold.
Meaning personal plat would later refer to business plat. I know business play refer to everything at 25k. But what does personal plat refer at?
Lastly if business plat refers to personal gold and personal gold doesn't achieve anything higher than the current sign up bonus, does the business play still get rewarded the 25k?
If I got the personal platinum first and referred myself later to the business platinum what is the referral reward I would get? I want to make it clear I'm not asking about the sign up bonus but rather what points are awarded for successful completion of a card.
Essentially what does each card refer at? Is business platinum referal reward higher than personal?
I ask because I am considering going personal plat FIRST due to lower min spend followed quickly by self refer to personal gold.
Meaning personal plat would later refer to business plat. I know business play refer to everything at 25k. But what does personal plat refer at?
Lastly if business plat refers to personal gold and personal gold doesn't achieve anything higher than the current sign up bonus, does the business play still get rewarded the 25k?
- Business Plat cards will earn 25K for referring to any other MR card (Personal Plat, Personal Gold, Biz Gold other Biz Plat)
- Personal Plat USED to (from late March till Jun 29) earn 25K for referring during the past few months, but then dropped back down to its normal 15K referring level.
- Biz Gold earns 10K for referring.
- Personal Gold earns 5K for referring (used to be 10K, then dropped to 0, then up to current 5K).
YES, regardless of whether the newly referred-to card is able to meet the threshold minimum spending requirement or not (eg $1500 for Personal Gold, $5K for the Biz Gold/Plat, $1K for Personal Plat) the referring MR account will still earn the referring points. Basically, the new card doesn't even need to be ACTIVATED, because the referring points are already awarded to the referring card the day after the new card is APPROVED.
Caution: if you are a cardholder of more than one type of MR cards above, make sure you refer from the BEST earning referring MR card (currently, that's the Biz Plat's 25K), by selecting it explicitly at your Amex.ca Refer A Friend page. I wrote about this a few months ago, predicting that Amex would be robbing people of deserved referring points, by not making it clear for people who hold 2 or more MR cards, and opening the door for 'mistakenly lowered' referring points from say the Personal Gold card, which would earn only 5K for referring others to the Gold card, when they could be earning say 25K by starting with an active Biz Plat card referral.
Welcome to the show!
JJJ
Last edited by JJonahJ; Jul 12, 2016 at 8:19 am
Jul 12, 2016, 7:38 am
#1139
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, Bonvoy, Alaska, Avios
Posts: 1,290
Side note, I got my BizGold card and my wife got her replacement SPG card yesterday both via FedEx.
She is still due her Gold.
Looks like I have a 3rd MR account, the BizGold has a new one.
She is still due her Gold.
Looks like I have a 3rd MR account, the BizGold has a new one.
Jul 12, 2016, 8:41 am
#1140
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Funny, how in the recent past we would want/prefer the multitude of different, newly-opened MR cards to automatically merge together, as successive new cards were opened, so that we wouldn't need to request for it by phone/Secured-Message - recall, Amex used to raise a stink about it before complying to the merge requests, and then eventually it became almost automatic without asking.
Now, the Amex-churning planet has rotated and we DO prefer to see different MR accounts, just in case this helps enusre that the repeat welcome bonuses on the Personal cards will continue to be awarded.
These are the chronicles, of the Days of Our Amex-Churning Lives.
Now, the Amex-churning planet has rotated and we DO prefer to see different MR accounts, just in case this helps enusre that the repeat welcome bonuses on the Personal cards will continue to be awarded.
These are the chronicles, of the Days of Our Amex-Churning Lives.