Jan 7, 2017, 4:18 pm
Last edit by: mia
Referrals and self-referrals are an important part of maximizing rewards from 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).
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2016). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2017.
Jerry: Aug 2017 latest update, all-in-one summary
New as of Mar 23, 2017, minimum spend up to $3000 now
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $3000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral
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
Updated as of July 21, 2017
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50/$60 cashback from GCR. New as of Jan 15, 2017, on a referred signup: and an additional 5,000 Membership Rewards points for one approved Supplementary Card added to your account at time of online application. That’s a total of 30,000 Membership Rewards 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
July 18-Oct 18, 2017 - welcome offer increased 5K to 25K.
Sep 28, 2017 - Personal and Business SPG bonus drops from 10K to 5K per approved referral.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
- if you applied recently for the SPG card at the 20K welcome level, try contacting Amex by Secured Message to ask if they can match the current 25K offer. Several successful datapoints have surfaced with manual addition of 5K at next statement. YMMV.
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.
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
This is not an all-inclusive list, only the "good" offers, so feel free to add new offers.
AMEX Platinum Rewards
- Earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards
- Earn 25K MR for each referral you make
AMEX Gold Rewards
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
This thread is a continuation of: Churning Amex in Canada (2016). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2017.
Jerry: Aug 2017 latest update, all-in-one summary
New as of Mar 23, 2017, minimum spend up to $3000 now
AMEX Platinum Rewards - $699/year, 60K MR (via referral) after $3000 spending in 3 months vs. 50K non-referral
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
Updated as of July 21, 2017
AMEX Gold Rewards - $150/year, FYF, 25K MR after $1500 spending + $50/$60 cashback from GCR. New as of Jan 15, 2017, on a referred signup: and an additional 5,000 Membership Rewards points for one approved Supplementary Card added to your account at time of online application. That’s a total of 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
- July 11, 2017, Amex Gold MR will no longer earn referral points.
- July 21, 2017, no other Amex MR card can refer to Gold MR
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
July 18-Oct 18, 2017 - welcome offer increased 5K to 25K.
Sep 28, 2017 - Personal and Business SPG bonus drops from 10K to 5K per approved referral.
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
- if you applied recently for the SPG card at the 20K welcome level, try contacting Amex by Secured Message to ask if they can match the current 25K offer. Several successful datapoints have surfaced with manual addition of 5K at next statement. YMMV.
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.
New card as of Sep 25 2017
AMEX Cobalt CREDIT card - $10/month ($120 annually)
Apply through GCR for $50 Rebate https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/
- Earn 2,500 Membership Tiered Rewards points for each month where you spend $500 (up to 30,000/year).
- Limited Time Offer: Apply by Jan 30, 2018 and you can earn a Welcome Bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $3K in 3 months.
- See discussion thread for more details: 2017 American Express Cobalt (Canada)
This is not an all-inclusive list, only the "good" offers, so feel free to add new offers.
Referral Difference Between Cards:
Please note there is a maximum annual referral bonus you can make per card.
AMEX Platinum Rewards
- Earn 15K MR for each referral you make
(Note: from Mar 23 - Jun 29 the bonuses were 75K welcome and 25K referral points)
AMEX Business Platinum Rewards
- Earn 25K MR for each referral you make
AMEX Gold Rewards
- July 11, 2017, Amex Gold MR will no longer earn referral points.
- July 21, 2017, no other Amex MR card can refer to Gold MR
- mid-May 2016, increased from $500 to $1500 required spending.
- Jan 11 to mid-May 2016, the Gold card earned 0 referral points.
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)
Aug 23, 2017, 7:07 am
#901
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: YQB
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,139
Does anyone have recent experience with retention offers? I have an Amex Gold personnal card to either renew or cancel. Annual spend is close to $35k on that card. What can I expect?
Aug 23, 2017, 7:20 am
#902
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Just about to apply Biz SPG (already cancel my Biz Plat) and hence start reading the T&C more carefully. This will be my first Biz SPG (I had Personal SPG before)
So, I read the following (highlighted mine)
Was it always waived for the 1st year for Supp Card? And the way you read it, it seems you can get a few Supp Cards and all get 1st year waived, could this be?
Any of you out there have Biz SPG with Supp Card can provide your experience?
Thanks.
--- Added ---
Just check the Personal SPG and it actually has the exact same words. I had never apply for a Supp Card for AMEX SPG because I thought you need to pay.
So, I read the following (highlighted mine)
Was it always waived for the 1st year for Supp Card? And the way you read it, it seems you can get a few Supp Cards and all get 1st year waived, could this be?
Any of you out there have Biz SPG with Supp Card can provide your experience?
Thanks.
--- Added ---
Just check the Personal SPG and it actually has the exact same words. I had never apply for a Supp Card for AMEX SPG because I thought you need to pay.
. So, about a year ago, maybe less(?), the SPG supplementary cards became 'free' too.Remember at one time they had a promo for 1 or 2 free supplementary cards for the Aeroplan Plus Gold card, for 1000 bonus points, and for the AeroPlat it was I think 5000 points but the authorized users had to pay a fee. It was around this time that we were looking over the 'offers' for free supplementary cards, for all of the churn-worthy Amex cards at that time.
Last edited by JJonahJ; Aug 23, 2017 at 8:30 am
Aug 23, 2017, 8:05 am
#903
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Let us know what happens when you cancel
Aug 23, 2017, 10:04 am
#904
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 5
We've heard this "fear-mongering" from Amex before and in those instances people have still received their sign-up bonuses. While this time the data points appear more explicit, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone still received the bonuses.
In any case, there should be no issue getting the repeated signup bonus on the Business card, since the once-per-lifetime language only appears on the personal card terms & conditions.
In any case, there should be no issue getting the repeated signup bonus on the Business card, since the once-per-lifetime language only appears on the personal card terms & conditions.
Called back in today because I verified that the "once-per lifetime" language was not on the business card online, however the agent told me that I still wouldn't qualify for the sign up bonus as I did carry the business card a while ago. Not sure if this is AMEX wide or if it's just bringing the SPG card in line with Marriott's rules for sign up bonuses.
Sucks though.
Last edited by currycue; Aug 23, 2017 at 10:06 am Reason: Adding message
Aug 23, 2017, 7:30 pm
#905
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 58
Reapplying for Personal SPG after one year
Hi guys ! I've been trying to find some data points on success rate when reapplying for a second Personal SPG card and still getting the bonus, but I didn't find much info.
Basically, I had the card from Nov 2015 to Sep 2016 (and I currently have the Business SPG since Nov 2016)... what would you say are the chances of getting the bonus again with a new Personal SPG application ?
Thank you guys in advance
Basically, I had the card from Nov 2015 to Sep 2016 (and I currently have the Business SPG since Nov 2016)... what would you say are the chances of getting the bonus again with a new Personal SPG application ?
Thank you guys in advance
Aug 23, 2017, 8:12 pm
#906
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Hi guys ! I've been trying to find some data points on success rate when reapplying for a second Personal SPG card and still getting the bonus, but I didn't find much info.
Basically, I had the card from Nov 2015 to Sep 2016 (and I currently have the Business SPG since Nov 2016)... what would you say are the chances of getting the bonus again with a new Personal SPG application ?
Thank you guys in advance
Basically, I had the card from Nov 2015 to Sep 2016 (and I currently have the Business SPG since Nov 2016)... what would you say are the chances of getting the bonus again with a new Personal SPG application ?
Thank you guys in advance
Do a self-referral too (Biz to Personal SPG)
Look at my CC history. I've gotten every AMEX bonus
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/jerry...293/#p21754391
Aug 23, 2017, 8:27 pm
#907
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 58
You should be fine
Do a self-referral too (Biz to Personal SPG)
Look at my CC history. I've gotten every AMEX bonus
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/jerry...293/#p21754391
Do a self-referral too (Biz to Personal SPG)
Look at my CC history. I've gotten every AMEX bonus
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/jerry...293/#p21754391
Aug 24, 2017, 9:33 am
#908
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Hi guys ! I've been trying to find some data points on success rate when reapplying for a second Personal SPG card and still getting the bonus, but I didn't find much info.
Basically, I had the card from Nov 2015 to Sep 2016 (and I currently have the Business SPG since Nov 2016)... what would you say are the chances of getting the bonus again with a new Personal SPG application ?
Thank you guys in advance
Basically, I had the card from Nov 2015 to Sep 2016 (and I currently have the Business SPG since Nov 2016)... what would you say are the chances of getting the bonus again with a new Personal SPG application ?
Thank you guys in advance
Earlier this year, Preacher7 notified us that Amex had told him and his churn team to cool it for 6 months before reapplying for more Amex cards.
In our circle we have experienced more non-instant approvals with significantly more wait-and-see responses after contacting Amex to push our applications through for approval, whereas in the past it was almost automatic to just call and ask them to pull out a new application for manual review and then approved within minutes. Now we are seeing Amex take a few days to scrutinize our files before giving a decision, all good for our team so far, but I know of several others who haven't been so fortunate.
Churning for a second (or third) personal Amex card product (these are the cards which have the one-welcome bonus rules published in their footnotes) will always be YMMV for success, based on your credit strength and Amex history. If you do get instant approval then great. Do not interact any further with Amex if you can avoid it so that you don't force them to open your files for review. You might just get THAT rep that wants to follow the rules, like a rookie beat cop.
rodriarano, even if you don't get the bonus a second time, at least you'll get the 10K for self-referring from your Biz SPG card, so it's probably still a good idea to try for a second churn bonus on the Personal SPG card. Same logic for those who have say the Biz Platinum MR card, you'll get 25K referring bonus points regardless if the newly opened card receives a bonus or not. Of course, the decision is up to you. Keep us abreast of your results if you don't mind to share, thanks.
Last edited by JJonahJ; Aug 24, 2017 at 9:59 am
Aug 24, 2017, 9:58 am
#909
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Been churning for some time now and never been denied an AMEX card before.
This time around, trying to apply for the SPG Personal and was declined, so I applied for the Business.
Got approved for the business card, however when they called to get more personal info and activate the card, I was told that I no longer qualify for the bonus as I had the SPG card last year and the bonus is a "once per lifetime" bonus.
I withdrew my application. Yikes!
This time around, trying to apply for the SPG Personal and was declined, so I applied for the Business.
Got approved for the business card, however when they called to get more personal info and activate the card, I was told that I no longer qualify for the bonus as I had the SPG card last year and the bonus is a "once per lifetime" bonus.
I withdrew my application. Yikes!
Called back in today because I verified that the "once-per lifetime" language was not on the business card online, however the agent told me that I still wouldn't qualify for the sign up bonus as I did carry the business card a while ago. Not sure if this is AMEX wide or if it's just bringing the SPG card in line with Marriott's rules for sign up bonuses.
Sucks though.
Sucks though.
Aug 24, 2017, 11:10 am
#910
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 58
rodriarano, even if you don't get the bonus a second time, at least you'll get the 10K for self-referring from your Biz SPG card, so it's probably still a good idea to try for a second churn bonus on the Personal SPG card. Same logic for those who have say the Biz Platinum MR card, you'll get 25K referring bonus points regardless if the newly opened card receives a bonus or not. Of course, the decision is up to you. Keep us abreast of your results if you don't mind to share, thanks.
Exactly, I just got my second Personal Gold (had the first one from Nov 2015 to Aug 2016) referred from my wife's Biz Plat. I was instantly approved and the 25K referral bonus was posted two days later. Gonna have to wait and see if the 30K post after reaching the min spend (actually do you guys know if the 5K for the supplementary card posts first and earlier?). But yeah, those big referral bonuses with Biz Plat are a blessing
I'll sure share you the results! Thank you guys.
Aug 24, 2017, 11:13 am
#911
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,399
Yes, there's always those 10K for the referral.
Exactly, I just got my second Personal Gold (had the first one from Nov 2015 to Aug 2016) referred from my wife's Biz Plat. I was instantly approved and the 25K referral bonus was posted two days later. Gonna have to wait and see if the 30K post after reaching the min spend (actually do you guys know if the 5K for the supplementary card posts first and earlier?). But yeah, those big referral bonuses with Biz Plat are a blessing
I'll sure share you the results! Thank you guys.
Exactly, I just got my second Personal Gold (had the first one from Nov 2015 to Aug 2016) referred from my wife's Biz Plat. I was instantly approved and the 25K referral bonus was posted two days later. Gonna have to wait and see if the 30K post after reaching the min spend (actually do you guys know if the 5K for the supplementary card posts first and earlier?). But yeah, those big referral bonuses with Biz Plat are a blessing
I'll sure share you the results! Thank you guys.
Aug 24, 2017, 11:43 am
#912
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 58
No, literally 11 days ago! Using the URL modification method (choosing first Personal Plat at the bottom of the referral page and then changing "/platinum_charge" for "/gold_charge" on the URL). It worked like a charm but YMMV I guess !
Aug 24, 2017, 1:03 pm
#913
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 3
Does anyone know to get the Business Amex SPG, do you have to have a registered business number or personal name is ok? In the application form where it asks about business details?
