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American Express Canada application and reward strategies

Old Jan 7, 2018, 10:23 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: MasterGeek
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 (2017). All the listed offers below are still valid as of January 2018.

AMEX Business Gold Rewards - $250/year, FYF, 40K MR (by referral, else only 30K) after $5000 spending
(no longer FYF as of Jun 26, 2018)

Updated as of Jan 22, 2018
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
  • Jan 22, 2018, as of Sep 14, 2017 the Amex Gold MR is no longer FYF. $150/yr applies on first statement. Only another Gold or Cobalt card can refer to Gold (and vice versa) for a 5,000 MR bonus. The Personal Gold cannot refer to Business Gold, Personal Platinum nor Business Platinum.
AMEX Air Miles Platinum - $65/year, 2000 Air Miles after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback
AMEX SPG - $120/year, 25K SPG after $1500 spending + $30 GCR cashback

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)
Print Wikipost

American Express Canada application and reward strategies

Old Oct 25, 2018, 12:42 pm
  #451  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,581
Originally Posted by tonywush
Bad news - Biz Plat referral bonus is increased to 25k, BUT MSR is $7k now, plus longer be able to refer to personal Plat...
I just noticed that the personal platinum no longer lets me refer to other cards (used to allow biz platinum or biz gold).
Low Roller is offline  
Old Oct 25, 2018, 1:52 pm
  #452  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: YYZ
Programs: Amex MR, SPG, Aeroplan
Posts: 129
Originally Posted by Low Roller
I just noticed that the personal platinum no longer lets me refer to other cards (used to allow biz platinum or biz gold).
And clicking personal plat on referral link only shows personal plat, there is no option for "Other cards". Biz gold referral link still has an option for biz plat, but no option for personal plat.

Are they starting to lock down on the personal-biz cross referral? Or is personal plat now in the world on its own?
Lazarev is offline  
Old Oct 26, 2018, 12:49 am
  #453  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Yes I've updated it in my RFD CC thread

Other AMEX changes I noticed - I wish AMEX has a "release log"
- Biz Plat can only refer to Biz Plat AND Biz Gold (no more Plat). However, my previously saved Biz Plat>Plat link still works (and takes me to Plat page), but I'm afraid to try anyway
- Plat can only refer to Plat (no Biz Plat or Biz Gold)

I'll also quote here
bengigan wrote: AMEX Biz Plat changes to referral structure:

Before - 15k referral bonus / 60k signup / 7k spend / $499 AF
After - 25k referral bonus / 75k signup / 7k spend / $499 AF
CanPost - no referral bonus / 75k signup / 5k spend / $399 AF

This change makes the case to push you from CanPost to taking a referral from spouse/family
Pay an extra $100 for the 25k more points (100k vs 75k)
jerryhung is offline  
Old Oct 26, 2018, 9:24 am
  #454  
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,163
I just got my biz gold card and it looks like this card only gets 5K points for referrals now, which is terrible.
Is it possible to product change from a new biz gold card to a biz plat card?
I just got the biz gold card in the mail the other day and haven't had a chance to activate it yet.
agjil is offline  
Old Oct 27, 2018, 6:51 pm
  #455  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,784
Originally Posted by agjil
I just got my biz gold card and it looks like this card only gets 5K points for referrals now, which is terrible.
Is it possible to product change from a new biz gold card to a biz plat card?
I just got the biz gold card in the mail the other day and haven't had a chance to activate it yet.
Yes, 5K since 8/8

Not possible to switch, but if you really don't want it and spend $5K, go for Biz Plat directly? LOL

Just apply for new Biz Plat later (75K after $7K spending, $499 fee, if using a referral link)
jerryhung is offline  
Old Oct 30, 2018, 1:06 pm
  #456  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, AMEX MR, Avios, Marriott, SPG, many more with negligible points
Posts: 167
I've taken a break from churning for a while, but now that I'm considering purchasing a new Mac (a $3k CAD purchase), I figured I'd look into what makes sense for me.

Right now, I have an AMEX Plat (non-biz) and an Alaska Airlines MasterCard. That's all.

I like collecting SPG points, but I've heard that the offer for that card is pretty bad now since the points merger with Marriott.

I saw that the CP Biz Gold an the CP Biz Plat both have $5k min. spend and to be honest, that's kind of high. Not sure if it's really worth it?

What do you guys recommend?
ibopm is offline  
Old Oct 30, 2018, 1:57 pm
  #457  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,581
Originally Posted by ibopm
I've taken a break from churning for a while, but now that I'm considering purchasing a new Mac (a $3k CAD purchase), I figured I'd look into what makes sense for me.

Right now, I have an AMEX Plat (non-biz) and an Alaska Airlines MasterCard. That's all.

I like collecting SPG points, but I've heard that the offer for that card is pretty bad now since the points merger with Marriott.

I saw that the CP Biz Gold an the CP Biz Plat both have $5k min. spend and to be honest, that's kind of high. Not sure if it's really worth it?

What do you guys recommend?
Well, if you like SPG/Marriott points, the Canadian SPG amex is only $120 which gets you a 50k sign-up bonus plus 6k points on your 3k Mac purchase. Not great, but if you can't meet a 5k spend, it may be your best bet.
Low Roller is offline  
Old Oct 30, 2018, 6:06 pm
  #458  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Toronto
Posts: 152
Has anyone had a recent experience with applying for a new Plat card and getting the bonus miles after 3k spend even with recently having an AmEx card?
I cancelled my Gold about 3 months ago and haven't had the Plat for at least 2 years.
Don't want to do the spend and then be told I don't qualify for Bonus
Any other strategies would be welcome
Thx !
WhisperjetYYZ is offline  
Old Oct 30, 2018, 11:00 pm
  #459  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada
Programs: *void
Posts: 2,408
Originally Posted by WhisperjetYYZ
Has anyone had a recent experience with applying for a new Plat card and getting the bonus miles after 3k spend even with recently having an AmEx card?
I cancelled my Gold about 3 months ago and haven't had the Plat for at least 2 years.
Don't want to do the spend and then be told I don't qualify for Bonus
Any other strategies would be welcome
Thx !
The issue isn't whether or not you've had another Amex card recently, either opened or closed. The concerning factor is whether or not you've closed the exact same card recently (Personal Gold is NOT the same as Personal Plat), and now want to reapply for it again, in which case you'd want to be at least 60 days beyond the exact same prior card's closure, or for more safety 90 days - 180 days.

Since you have not had a Personal Plat card for at least 2 years, you should be good on this front, which brings us to the next potential issue. Ever since July 2015, Amex added notes to the footnotes/T&C, stating only one welcome bonus per card, and it's at their discretion on whether they will give it to you again or not. However, since that time almost everyone has been able to re-open a second time (churned) and still got the full welcome bonus after meeting the minimum spending requirement (MSR). There have been some growing frequencies of reported datapoints where someone was advised by Amex that they would not get the bonus again, and in some of those cases (particularly in 2015-2017) the cardholder still did get the welcome bonus anyways.

You should also be aware that the Personal Platinum card no longer has the quirky benefit of claiming a $200 annual travel credit over 2 years (eg, once for 2018 and once for 2019), within a cardholder's membership year. Now Amex has revised the policy and beginning Jan 1, 2019 it will be only ONE $200 travel per cardholder membership year. So if that was a factor in your choice to open the Personal Platinum, then the lowest you can bring the $699/yr AF down to is $499/yr.
JJonahJ is offline  
Old Oct 31, 2018, 1:44 pm
  #460  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: yvr
Posts: 38
Wondering if anyone here has experienced this.
I've had a Business Platinum card for 2 years and am wanting to apply for another business platinum for my second business.
Two questions:
can I have two business plats at the same time (one for each business)?
If i cancel my first business plat than get another business plat (for my other business) would I get the bonus signup points?
thanks in advance
gadheri is offline  
Old Oct 31, 2018, 3:37 pm
  #461  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: YXT
Programs: AC*E50, SPG Plat,
Posts: 575
Originally Posted by WhisperjetYYZ
Has anyone had a recent experience with applying for a new Plat card and getting the bonus miles after 3k spend even with recently having an AmEx card?
I cancelled my Gold about 3 months ago and haven't had the Plat for at least 2 years.
Don't want to do the spend and then be told I don't qualify for Bonus
Any other strategies would be welcome
Thx !
I had a personal platinum card and closed it in October 2017. I reapplied for the same card in May 2018 and I did NOT get the bonus despite hitting the minimum spend within days of getting the card.
somedude3210 is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2018, 6:40 pm
  #462  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Da Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,472
Originally Posted by prmetime
I read the free night certificate will post approximately 8-10 weeks after the anniversary date. This was somewhere on the SPG or Marriott site.
Has anyone received their free night cert for the SPG Amex yet? There have already been 2 sweeps for the US SPG Amex card, one on Oct 2 and one today, Nov 2. I'd be interested in any data points anyone has. My annual fee just posted on Oct 24, so I'm guessing it might be a while yet.
margarita girl is offline  
Old Nov 2, 2018, 7:43 pm
  #463  
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 7
Correct me if Im wrong, but you could possibly have 2 different biz plat for 2 biz

Originally Posted by gadheri
Wondering if anyone here has experienced this.
I've had a Business Platinum card for 2 years and am wanting to apply for another business platinum for my second business.
Two questions:
can I have two business plats at the same time (one for each business)?
If i cancel my first business plat than get another business plat (for my other business) would I get the bonus signup points?
thanks in advance
mulla57 is offline  
Old Nov 3, 2018, 8:17 am
  #464  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YVR
Posts: 625
Originally Posted by margarita girl
Has anyone received their free night cert for the SPG Amex yet? There have already been 2 sweeps for the US SPG Amex card, one on Oct 2 and one today, Nov 2. I'd be interested in any data points anyone has. My annual fee just posted on Oct 24, so I'm guessing it might be a while yet.
Some posters on RFD have posted they have received theirs. No DP on how long after AF posted.
margarita girl likes this.
prmetime is offline  
Old Nov 8, 2018, 2:59 pm
  #465  
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 203
Has anyone being successful to to self refer to Amex SPG and use the same Marriott account number for both cards?
mitelsp is offline  

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