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 24, 2017, 2:49 pm
#916
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YYZ, YUL, PEK
Posts: 429
I would wager it's a change in the referral bonus rather than ending referrals completely. We've seen this kind of wording before when referral bonuses changed (for example with the Amex Gold recently).
My bet is 5K SPG referrals going forward. I always thought 10K was on the high side.
My bet is 5K SPG referrals going forward. I always thought 10K was on the high side.
Aug 24, 2017, 3:34 pm
#917
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
I would wager it's a change in the referral bonus rather than ending referrals completely. We've seen this kind of wording before when referral bonuses changed (for example with the Amex Gold recently).
My bet is 5K SPG referrals going forward. I always thought 10K was on the high side.
My bet is 5K SPG referrals going forward. I always thought 10K was on the high side.
Aug 24, 2017, 4:12 pm
#918
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Montreal, QC
Posts: 18
I would wager it's a change in the referral bonus rather than ending referrals completely. We've seen this kind of wording before when referral bonuses changed (for example with the Amex Gold recently).
My bet is 5K SPG referrals going forward. I always thought 10K was on the high side.
My bet is 5K SPG referrals going forward. I always thought 10K was on the high side.
Terms for Aeroplan Cards: To be eligible for this referral bonus, your friend must apply for the Card by September 27th, 2017. This Card will no longer be part of our referral program after this date
Terms for SPG Cards: To be eligible for this referral bonus, your friend must apply for the Card by September 27th, 2017. We can still accept applications after this date but you may or may not be eligible for this bonus.
Aug 25, 2017, 11:12 am
#919
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,847
Yes, good guess! We published an update after a modification was made by Amex to Aeroplan cards.
Terms for Aeroplan Cards: To be eligible for this referral bonus, your friend must apply for the Card by September 27th, 2017. This Card will no longer be part of our referral program after this date
Terms for SPG Cards: To be eligible for this referral bonus, your friend must apply for the Card by September 27th, 2017. We can still accept applications after this date but you may or may not be eligible for this bonus.
Terms for Aeroplan Cards: To be eligible for this referral bonus, your friend must apply for the Card by September 27th, 2017. This Card will no longer be part of our referral program after this date
Terms for SPG Cards: To be eligible for this referral bonus, your friend must apply for the Card by September 27th, 2017. We can still accept applications after this date but you may or may not be eligible for this bonus.
Aug 25, 2017, 1:42 pm
#920
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: Marriott Titanium
Posts: 154
Is there an update in English??
My understanding is that the SPG extra 5k points offer ends October 17,2017 and September 27, 2017 is the date when the referral bonus is valid until (future of SPG referral program unknown).
My understanding is that the SPG extra 5k points offer ends October 17,2017 and September 27, 2017 is the date when the referral bonus is valid until (future of SPG referral program unknown).
Aug 27, 2017, 2:50 pm
#922
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: AC
Posts: 2,167
If your points don't post in 8-10 weeks call them. There has been an IT issue. It took several calls and then a manager understood what I was hammering them about.
They manually posted the bonus points to my next statement. What a colossal waste of time.
They manually posted the bonus points to my next statement. What a colossal waste of time.
Aug 29, 2017, 1:54 pm
#923
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
Is there a way to know if I reached the annual cap on referral bonuses on my card ? I didn't keep track of the and the AMEX MR rewards site shows history for the last 90 days only. I would hate getting people to apply under my referral link but not earn anything because I reached the annual cap !
Last edited by MasterGeek; Aug 29, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Aug 29, 2017, 2:13 pm
#924
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canadia
Programs: A loyal Amerisuites customer... oh wait
Posts: 2,033
Is there a way to know if I reached the annual cap on referral bonuses on my card ? I didn't keep track of the and the AMEX MR rewards site shows history for the last 90 days only. I would getting people to apply under my referral link but not earn anything because I reached the annual cap !
It won't tell you if you reached your cap, but you should see your referral bonuses.
Aug 29, 2017, 3:06 pm
#925
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,521
I cancelled my SPG Personal Amex in Apr 2017 after doing a self-referral to the SPG biz Amex. (I would have cancelled much sooner if Amex hadn't taken so long to send me the biz card!) I would like to self-refer from the biz Amex back to the personal Amex before Sept 27. Is there any point, or will I be denied the welcome bonus because it hasn't been 6 months since the cancellation?
Aug 30, 2017, 1:57 pm
#926
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: yyz
Posts: 1,611
I cancelled my SPG Personal Amex in Apr 2017 after doing a self-referral to the SPG biz Amex. (I would have cancelled much sooner if Amex hadn't taken so long to send me the biz card!) I would like to self-refer from the biz Amex back to the personal Amex before Sept 27. Is there any point, or will I be denied the welcome bonus because it hasn't been 6 months since the cancellation?
Not that it's a huge difference but the 25k sign-up bonus goes until Oct. 18th.
Aug 31, 2017, 11:55 am
#927
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 85
How else do you guys use your AMEX points other than converting to Aeroplan? Any other good redemptions I should be aware of?
Aug 31, 2017, 12:02 pm
#928
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Vancouver, BC
Programs: Aeroplan, Fairmont Plat, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 99
-Transfer to BA Executive Club for flights from West Coast to Hawaii on Alaska
-Transfer to SPG (2:1 ratio) for hotel stays (needs to be a really good value)
-Transfer to SPG to transfer to Marriott for Flight+Hotel Package
-Transfer to SPG to transfer to other participating airlines
-Buy gift cards and toasters (just kidding)
Aug 31, 2017, 12:58 pm
#929
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
-Transfer to BA Executive Club for short flights on oneworld or Alaska Airlines
-Transfer to BA Executive Club for flights from West Coast to Hawaii on Alaska
-Transfer to SPG (2:1 ratio) for hotel stays (needs to be a really good value)
-Transfer to SPG to transfer to Marriott for Flight+Hotel Package
-Transfer to SPG to transfer to other participating airlines
-Buy gift cards and toasters (just kidding)
-Transfer to BA Executive Club for flights from West Coast to Hawaii on Alaska
-Transfer to SPG (2:1 ratio) for hotel stays (needs to be a really good value)
-Transfer to SPG to transfer to Marriott for Flight+Hotel Package
-Transfer to SPG to transfer to other participating airlines
-Buy gift cards and toasters (just kidding)
Aug 31, 2017, 1:45 pm
#930
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
I cancelled my SPG Personal Amex in Apr 2017 after doing a self-referral to the SPG biz Amex. (I would have cancelled much sooner if Amex hadn't taken so long to send me the biz card!) I would like to self-refer from the biz Amex back to the personal Amex before Sept 27. Is there any point, or will I be denied the welcome bonus because it hasn't been 6 months since the cancellation?
On a short turnaround time there's always the possibility that Amex could reactivate a recently closed card (1-3 months), but as I've mention in the past I've cancelled and waited just 7 days to reapply for instant approval, and then got the welcome bonus right after meeting minimum spending. In your case, I think 4-5 months is sufficient and safe from being a reactivation.
Note: I absolutely do NOT encourage anyone to reapply on such a short turnaround time. I had a brain cramp that forced me into such an aggressive churn at that time. The next year, similar circumstances, I waited 30 days after cancelling before reapplying. Same successful results but bear in mind, though I've opened more than a dozen NEW Amex cards in the past 4 years, I also have a good history with Amex, close to 20 years strong.
With a personal card product, repeat churning is always going to be a YMMV, but the good news is that as long as you're approved you'll get the 10K for referring, so worth it (?).
Don't call Amex to discuss your plans nor the eligibility of things.
Last edited by JJonahJ; Aug 31, 2017 at 2:26 pm Reason: Add responsible churning notes.