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)
Apr 18, 2017, 7:56 pm
#496
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: LT Marriott Titanium, AC SE
Posts: 188
Anyone missing referral points from their spg cards? I'm missing 2 on a biz card (referrals made in feb) and 1 on a personal card (march though another one showed up fine).
Apr 19, 2017, 1:42 pm
#497
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: YWG
Programs: Aeroplan, MileagePlus, Marriott Rewards
Posts: 2,159
This whole SPG referral has been weird. Just getting the card took forever and multiple call backs, and now my wife's referral/spend points are missing. It's all very un-Amex like.
Apr 20, 2017, 12:48 pm
#498
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, Bonvoy, Alaska, Avios
Posts: 1,290
I need to change up my Biz Gold churn as my personal plat is up. I could get a BizPlat...however I churn 8 BizGold cards per year (4 each for me and the mrs). I assume I would have issues getting Gold's if I had the Plat? It's all about the referral vs bonus Gold miles. I could have my wife get a regular plat, simply delays things for another year.
Apr 20, 2017, 3:10 pm
#499
formerly sahiljain22
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BOS;NYC;YVR;YYZ;DEL;BOM
Programs: Amex Plat; HH Diamond; SPG Plat; Hyatt Diamond; United 1K; National EE; HSBC Premier
Posts: 532
Does anyone know any new tricks to cancel Amex Plat without getting the $200 fee clawed back? The press 7, or press 0,5 did not work. The fee just posted today and statement closed. :-(
Apr 21, 2017, 7:10 am
#500
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Many datapoints have shown this, but maybe we just don't see all the other non-stories, where the full $699 IS refunded after it's posted, even though the $200 travel credit was received?
Good luck and please update us with your results, thanks.
-------------------
For other people who are reading and wondering, you should aim to cancel your Plat card before the $699 annual fee posts if you want to keep a 2nd $200 travel credit (eg, if you received the Plat's travel credit for 2016 and then again in 2017).
We have seen the annual fee posting on about half a dozen of our Amex cards in the past few years, and it's always a year later on the SAME month as your FIRST statement. So for eg., if you opened the Plat card in March 2016 and your first statement cycled on April 15th 2016, then the annual fee will post to the account on April 15th 2017.
Plus, if you do request for a cancellation, best to do it a week in advance, in case their systems are delayed and the card is not completely cancelled by the time the statement cycles. I recall reading that someone requested to cancel by Secured Message, but because it's slower and possibly because it was a weekend, the full cancellation of the account didn't occur in time and the annual fee posted to the account and the $200 travel credit was removed from the full AF refund.
JJJ
Apr 21, 2017, 8:37 am
#501
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kan@da
Programs: Anything with sweet spots
Posts: 1,790
Link (from RFD)
https://merchantgeo.secure.force.com...language=en-us
https://merchantgeo.secure.force.com...language=en-us
Last edited by MasterGeek; Apr 21, 2017 at 8:56 am
Apr 21, 2017, 9:08 am
#502
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Anyways, I finally got the credit posted today:
- 04/16 - Shell Gas Station - $13
- 04/19 - Shoppers Drug Mart - $38
- 04/20 - Received "Congratulations" email from Amex "You may have earned a statement credit..."
- 04/21 - Saw the $10 credit posted to my account at Amex.ca and has a Description: "SHELL-KIOSK" (I tapped inside the store)
Note, it's for cumulative spending, not required to be a single transaction over $50. Also, it's interesting that they assigned the credit description to my first merchant used, Shell, and not at the Shoppers where I did the majority spending.
Apr 21, 2017, 12:21 pm
#503
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,847
Amex Business Gold 40K sign-up bonus question - I need to make a $5000 spend in 3 months in order to get my 40K bonus...anyone know when I should make they spend by in order to secure that bonus. It's gonna be tight to achieve, so I need to plan well.
Based on my timeline below, anyone know for sure if I need to make my $5000 spend by June 13/17 or June 30/17?
Approved - March 30/17
1st Statement - April 13/17
2nd Statement - May 13/17
3rd Statement - June 13/17
3 month Time Limit - June 30/17
Based on my timeline below, anyone know for sure if I need to make my $5000 spend by June 13/17 or June 30/17?
Approved - March 30/17
1st Statement - April 13/17
2nd Statement - May 13/17
3rd Statement - June 13/17
3 month Time Limit - June 30/17
Apr 21, 2017, 12:22 pm
#504
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Amex Business Gold 40K sign-up bonus question - I need to make a $5000 spend in 3 months in order to get my 40K bonus...anyone know when I should make they spend by in order to secure that bonus. It's gonna be tight to achieve, so I need to plan well.
Based on my timeline below, anyone know for sure if I need to make my $5000 spend by June 13/17 or June 30/17?
Approved - March 30/17
1st Statement - April 13/17
2nd Statement - May 13/17
3rd Statement - June 13/17
3 month Time Limit - June 30/17
Based on my timeline below, anyone know for sure if I need to make my $5000 spend by June 13/17 or June 30/17?
Approved - March 30/17
1st Statement - April 13/17
2nd Statement - May 13/17
3rd Statement - June 13/17
3 month Time Limit - June 30/17
Buy gift cards, refundable hotels/flights, pay bills
Apr 21, 2017, 1:10 pm
#506
formerly sahiljain22
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BOS;NYC;YVR;YYZ;DEL;BOM
Programs: Amex Plat; HH Diamond; SPG Plat; Hyatt Diamond; United 1K; National EE; HSBC Premier
Posts: 532
Sorry to say, but whether you call or send a Secured-Message to cancel the card, the cancellation request will likely be forward to staff that handles the refunds and they will probably review your file and refund just $499, instead of $699, if you've received the 2nd calendar year's $200 travel credit already.
Many datapoints have shown this, but maybe we just don't see all the other non-stories, where the full $699 IS refunded after it's posted, even though the $200 travel credit was received?
Good luck and please update us with your results, thanks.
-------------------
For other people who are reading and wondering, you should aim to cancel your Plat card before the $699 annual fee posts if you want to keep a 2nd $200 travel credit (eg, if you received the Plat's travel credit for 2016 and then again in 2017).
We have seen the annual fee posting on about half a dozen of our Amex cards in the past few years, and it's always a year later on the SAME month as your FIRST statement. So for eg., if you opened the Plat card in March 2016 and your first statement cycled on April 15th 2016, then the annual fee will post to the account on April 15th 2017.
Plus, if you do request for a cancellation, best to do it a week in advance, in case their systems are delayed and the card is not completely cancelled by the time the statement cycles. I recall reading that someone requested to cancel by Secured Message, but because it's slower and possibly because it was a weekend, the full cancellation of the account didn't occur in time and the annual fee posted to the account and the $200 travel credit was removed from the full AF refund.
JJJ
Many datapoints have shown this, but maybe we just don't see all the other non-stories, where the full $699 IS refunded after it's posted, even though the $200 travel credit was received?
Good luck and please update us with your results, thanks.
-------------------
For other people who are reading and wondering, you should aim to cancel your Plat card before the $699 annual fee posts if you want to keep a 2nd $200 travel credit (eg, if you received the Plat's travel credit for 2016 and then again in 2017).
We have seen the annual fee posting on about half a dozen of our Amex cards in the past few years, and it's always a year later on the SAME month as your FIRST statement. So for eg., if you opened the Plat card in March 2016 and your first statement cycled on April 15th 2016, then the annual fee will post to the account on April 15th 2017.
Plus, if you do request for a cancellation, best to do it a week in advance, in case their systems are delayed and the card is not completely cancelled by the time the statement cycles. I recall reading that someone requested to cancel by Secured Message, but because it's slower and possibly because it was a weekend, the full cancellation of the account didn't occur in time and the annual fee posted to the account and the $200 travel credit was removed from the full AF refund.
JJJ
Apr 21, 2017, 7:15 pm
#507
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 39
Just tried to self refer from Amex Bus Plat to Bus Gold and got the message that they cannot approve immediately and to wait for 10 business days, does anyone know if this means I'm out of luck for the 40K bonus after the spend? Or is this always the case when you try to get 2 business cards?
Wondering if I should call them to try to expedite the approval, do you guys think this is a good idea or to let them get back to me?
Thank you,
Wondering if I should call them to try to expedite the approval, do you guys think this is a good idea or to let them get back to me?
Thank you,
Apr 21, 2017, 7:23 pm
#508
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,166
Does anyone have experience with adding supplementary cards for the business plat card?
I currently have the business plat card, and I need to add 2 supplementary cards to my account.
I saw a link in my AmEx online account about an offer where one can apply for supplementary cards for the personal plat card and receive 5K points for each approved supplementary card.
However, the link is only for the personal plat card, which I also have, and I can't seem to find any landing page regarding supplementary card offers for the business plat card.
Does anyone know how I should apply for business plat supplementary cards if I want to get some bonus points?
Or does such an offer simply not exist for the business plat card?
I currently have the business plat card, and I need to add 2 supplementary cards to my account.
I saw a link in my AmEx online account about an offer where one can apply for supplementary cards for the personal plat card and receive 5K points for each approved supplementary card.
However, the link is only for the personal plat card, which I also have, and I can't seem to find any landing page regarding supplementary card offers for the business plat card.
Does anyone know how I should apply for business plat supplementary cards if I want to get some bonus points?
Or does such an offer simply not exist for the business plat card?
Apr 21, 2017, 7:38 pm
#509
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: United 1K, AC 50K, Hyatt Globalist, Marriot Platinum
Posts: 684
Just tried to self refer from Amex Bus Plat to Bus Gold and got the message that they cannot approve immediately and to wait for 10 business days, does anyone know if this means I'm out of luck for the 40K bonus after the spend? Or is this always the case when you try to get 2 business cards?
Wondering if I should call them to try to expedite the approval, do you guys think this is a good idea or to let them get back to me?
Thank you,
Wondering if I should call them to try to expedite the approval, do you guys think this is a good idea or to let them get back to me?
Thank you,
Apr 21, 2017, 7:39 pm
#510
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: YYZ
Programs: Aeroplan, Alaska, Marriott
Posts: 435
Just tried to self refer from Amex Bus Plat to Bus Gold and got the message that they cannot approve immediately and to wait for 10 business days, does anyone know if this means I'm out of luck for the 40K bonus after the spend? Or is this always the case when you try to get 2 business cards?
Wondering if I should call them to try to expedite the approval, do you guys think this is a good idea or to let them get back to me?
Thank you,
Wondering if I should call them to try to expedite the approval, do you guys think this is a good idea or to let them get back to me?
Thank you,
We got the same message on my recent application (going from 0 biz cards to 1). The following day the referral points showed up in the referring account and I got the card a few days later.