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.
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. 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.
- Earn 10k MR for each referal you make.
American Express Canada application and reward strategies (2017)
#1023
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: YUL, YYZ
Programs: SPG gold, Marriott Plat, *A Gold
Posts: 19
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?
#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.
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.
#1026
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
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.
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.
#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
Thanks
#1028
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canadia
Programs: A loyal Amerisuites customer... oh wait
Posts: 2,033
#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.
#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?
#1032
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
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
#1033
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Vancouver, BC
Programs: Aeroplan, Fairmont Plat, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 99
#1034
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,706
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.
#1035
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