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American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)

Old Jan 7, 2017, 4:18 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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. Thats 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.
AMEX Business Gold Rewards
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
Print Wikipost

American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)

Old Sep 28, 2017, 5:29 pm
  #1021  
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,846
Originally Posted by Hyacinthe
I'm not too worried about the FYF, it's clearly written on my cardholder agreement that came with the card.
Oh - I'll have to go back and have a look at what mine says...
pokee is offline  
Old Sep 29, 2017, 8:56 am
  #1022  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Originally Posted by Smiley90
Is the "2 cards" limit just on CC's or also on Charge Cards?
One can have max. of 2 AMEX CREDIT cards (Air Miles, Aeroplan, SimplyCash, SPG, Cobalt) plus 5+ AMEX CHARGE cards (Gold/Platinum series)
jerryhung is offline  
Old Sep 29, 2017, 2:01 pm
  #1023  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: YUL, YYZ
Programs: SPG gold, Marriott Plat, *A Gold
Posts: 19
Originally Posted by jerryhung
One can have max. of 2 AMEX CREDIT cards (Air Miles, Aeroplan, SimplyCash, SPG, Cobalt) plus 5+ AMEX CHARGE cards (Gold/Platinum series)
Does de max. of 2 CREDIT cards include both Personnal and Biz versions? Let's say I currently have Amex SPG pers and Amex SPG Biz. Can I still apply to the new Amex Cobalt which is a Credit card?
thypath is offline  
Old Sep 29, 2017, 2:02 pm
  #1024  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Originally Posted by thypath
Does de max. of 2 CREDIT cards include both Personnal and Biz versions? Let's say I currently have Amex SPG pers and Amex SPG Biz. Can I still apply to the new Amex Cobalt which is a Credit card?
Yes

SPG + Biz SPG = 2
You'd need to close one to get Cobalt
jerryhung is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2017, 1:22 am
  #1025  
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 227
Avoiding the annual fee on an American Express business membership rewards gold card — is it true that a need to cancel at least three days prior to the fee posting if I do not want to be obligated to pay the annual fee?


I was under the impression that I could cancel within thirty days of the fee getting posted and either have the fee refunded or not need to pay the fee, depending on the timing and billing cycle. I sent them a pm asking when I needed to cancel and they wrote back that it was best if I did it three business days prior. I would prefer to have extra days to call them and inquire about a retention bonus, I do have some spend on all of my cards. If it makes any difference I won’t be using the card again until after I have decided to keep the card.
Jared Ito is offline  
Old Oct 1, 2017, 6:45 am
  #1026  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Originally Posted by Jared Ito
Avoiding the annual fee on an American Express business membership rewards gold card is it true that a need to cancel at least three days prior to the fee posting if I do not want to be obligated to pay the annual fee?


I was under the impression that I could cancel within thirty days of the fee getting posted and either have the fee refunded or not need to pay the fee, depending on the timing and billing cycle. I sent them a pm asking when I needed to cancel and they wrote back that it was best if I did it three business days prior. I would prefer to have extra days to call them and inquire about a retention bonus, I do have some spend on all of my cards. If it makes any difference I wont be using the card again until after I have decided to keep the card.
That is not true. You only need to cancel three days prior to the statement date to avoid it posting, but I've always been told you have up to 60 days thereafter to cancel for full fee refund. Of course, if you plan to cancel beyond the statement due date then you should pay the statement balance first, and then get a credit on the card balance when you cancel. You can then request a cheque by mail, or have the amount shifted over to another card account.
JJonahJ is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2017, 3:49 pm
  #1027  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 246
If I have a personal Platinum and a business Platinum in the same MR account and I decide to cancel my personal card, Will I loose the points earned with that card?

Thanks
powermax is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2017, 4:12 pm
  #1028  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canadia
Programs: A loyal Amerisuites customer... oh wait
Posts: 2,033
Originally Posted by powermax
If I have a personal Platinum and a business Platinum in the same MR account and I decide to cancel my personal card, Will I loose the points earned with that card?

Thanks
Nope.
jerry305 is offline  
Old Oct 10, 2017, 8:25 am
  #1029  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: YQM
Posts: 341
Another good news from Amex. I got referred to the SPG Biz by my spouse (1st time applying) on Sep 23rd. The app went pending, and I didn't have time to call to expedite the approval. Nevertheless, card arrived by standard mail on October 3rd. Glad to see that she correctly got 10,000 Starpoints referral bonus posted on Oct 2nd.
Hyacinthe is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2017, 12:43 pm
  #1030  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,706
If my personal plat got cancelled in January 2015, what are the odds that I'll be eligible for the bonus miles if I sign up for a new one now?
YOWgary is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2017, 12:49 pm
  #1031  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YYZ, YUL, PEK
Posts: 429
Originally Posted by YOWgary
If my personal plat got cancelled in January 2015, what are the odds that I'll be eligible for the bonus miles if I sign up for a new one now?
Odds that you'll be eligible for the bonus? Not good. Odds that you'll get the bonus? Pretty good.
flyer05 is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2017, 1:04 pm
  #1032  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Originally Posted by YOWgary
If my personal plat got cancelled in January 2015, what are the odds that I'll be eligible for the bonus miles if I sign up for a new one now?
The one-welcome (anti-churning) footnotes started appearing for the Personal card products in July 2015. Given that you cancelled your card before that date, plus also with many people since that time having reported that some Amex reps have mumbled about "past 2 years" for a GO/NO-GO (which eventually turned out to be a "GO", anyways), your chances are pretty good I'd say. Don't list down an existing Amex MR card number during the application to increase chances for a new MR account to be created. Do list down another Amex card number if you have one (eg., SPG, AeroPlus, SimplyCash), as this will help increase your chances for instant approval. Don't call Amex to ask if you're eligible, they will say NO (and may or may not REALLY mean it, by pulling the proverbial plug).

Last edited by JJonahJ; Oct 12, 2017 at 1:18 pm
JJonahJ is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2017, 2:34 pm
  #1033  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Vancouver, BC
Programs: Aeroplan, Fairmont Plat, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 99
Originally Posted by YOWgary
If my personal plat got cancelled in January 2015, what are the odds that I'll be eligible for the bonus miles if I sign up for a new one now?
I cancelled my last plat early 2016 and just reapplied a couple of months ago. Bonus posted as soon as I hit 3k
SOWK is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2017, 4:40 pm
  #1034  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,706
Originally Posted by JJonahJ
Don't list down an existing Amex MR card number during the application to increase chances for a new MR account to be created. Do list down another Amex card number if you have one (eg., SPG, AeroPlus, SimplyCash), as this will help increase your chances for instant approval.
I'm not sure I'm following this correctly. Don't, but do?
YOWgary is offline  
Old Oct 12, 2017, 5:31 pm
  #1035  
mia
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend; Moderator: American Express, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Credit Card Programs, Diners Club, Signatures
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,878
Originally Posted by YOWgary
I'm not sure I'm following this correctly. Don't, but do?
I read: Do NOT list a card which participates in Membership Rewards, but DO list a card which earns another type of rewards.
mia is offline  

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