American Express is currently offering a very generous increased sign-up bonus on the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card in the UK, offering 30,000 Membership Rewards points instead of the usual 20,000 for a limited time for the next two weeks only.
The bonus criteria is Amex’s usual bonus criteria for these offers – you must NOT have held an Amex card in the last 24 months and you must spend £3,000 within 3 months of your card application.
The first year of card membership is free with an Annual Fee currently at £140 in Year (although this will increase to £160 after 12/10/22).
This is a very generous deal for a card which is free for the first year and is one that’s worth signing up for if you’re with a Star Alliance rewards program as those 30,000 Membership Rewards points will convert into some Star Alliance airlines reward programs.
What is the Amex Gold sign-up bonus?
The sign-up bonus on the Amex Gold credit card is currently increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points. You can convert American Express Membership Rewards points into some Star Alliance airlines rewards programs (Finnair, SAS, and Singapore’s Kirsflyer). 30,000 American Express Membership Rewards points also converts into 45,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
You need to spend £3,000 to earn the sign-up bonus on Preferred Rewards Gold. This has to be done within three months of your application being accepted – not three months of the card being delivered to you.
What are the exact rules for getting the sign-on bonus?
If you have never held a personal American Express credit card before then you will definitely get the bonus and you can skip the rest of this section. For everyone else, here is the official wording from Amex themselves:
“This new Cardmember offer is only available if you have not held a personal American Express Card within the previous 24 months. If you have held a personal American Express Card within the previous 24 months, you will be entitled to all other Card benefits, excluding the welcome offer.”
So you will receive the 30,000 bonus points if you have not held a personal American Express card in the previous 24 months, but have held an Amex business or corporate credit card from your job. Cards issued by MBNA or Lloyds Bank do not count so don’t worry if you hold an MBNA or Lloyds Bank Amex as you will still qualify for this sign-up bonus.
You will also receive the bonus points if you are only a supplementary cardholder on someone else’s American Express card. As far as Amex is concerned, the card belongs to the primarily cardholder and being a supplementary cardholder does not make you an ‘existing cardholder’ in their eyes.
Right, now let’s look at why we love the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card.
The Amex Gold card is free for the first year and can be cancelled at any time
Amex Gold has an annual fee of £140 (although as mentioned further up, this will be increasing to £160 by the end of the year). There is no fee for the first year so you can have some time to see if you like the card or not and you can cancel it at any point. If you do decide to continue using the card after the first year, you can still cancel at any time and get a pro-rata refund on your fee.
The Amex Membership Rewards scheme can be converted into Star Alliance rewards
Amex Membership Rewards points can be transferred into some Star Alliance rewards programmes, so . They also convert into many other airline rewards schemes and hotel schemes too (including Marriott Bonvoy at 2 Membership Rewards points to 3 Marriott points).
Compatible Star Alliance Programs:
- Finnair (1 Membership Rewards point = 1 Finnair Plus point)
- Scandinavian Airlines/SAS (1 Membership Rewards point = 1 EuroBonus point)
- Singapore Airlines Krisflyer (3 Membership Rewards point = 2 KrisFlyer miles)
Other Perks of the Amex Gold Credit Card
Two free airport lounge visits per year
As an American Express Gold cardholder you will receive free membership of Priority Pass which is a global network of airport lounges. Each year you get two free airport lounge visits – either two visits for yourself or one visit for yourself and a guest.
£120 of Deliveroo credit per year
Since May 2021, Amex Gold comes with £120 of annual Deliveroo credit. You receive 2 x £5 cashback credits each month so when a Deliveroo order is charged to your Amex card, you then receive £5 back. It’s important to note that you must use your Amex gold card when ordering to get the cashback.
10,000 bonus points for spending £15,000 per year
The earning rate on the Amex Gold credit card is 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent which is okay but not brilliant. However if you can spend £15,000 per year on your Amex Gold, the card becomes very attractive.
You would receive 10,000 bonus points at the end of your card year on top of the 30,000 points you would earn from the sign-on offer. If you spent exactly £15,000, this means you would have earned 25,000 points – a rate of 1.6 points per £1, plus the 30,000 sign-up points, making a total of 55,000 points in one year of holding the card. This is very, very good.
Other smaller benefits of the Amex Gold Card
- 10% discount and free additional driver on Hertz bookings
- $75 in-hotel credit and an upgrade (based on availability at check-in) when booking 350 4-5 star hotels worldwide
- Double points for foreign spending (there is a 3% fee for FX charges however, which is very high)
- Double points on flight bookings when booked directly with airlines – this could be a very valuable benefit if you spend a lot on flight tickets
The Amex Gold card benefits package improves in October 2022
As mentioned earlier in this article the fee will increase from £140 to £160 from October 2022, although if you apply now you won’t be impacted until your first renewal in July 2023.
You will receive extra benefits in return, however. Two additional airport lounge passes (you will receive four per year, instead of two), and there is also an increase in the annual spend bonus to 12,500 points up from 10,000.
Amex Gold Card is a low cost high reward credit card
The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card is a low cost (zero cost in the first year) and high reward way to earn a decent number of points to transfer in to three of the key Star Alliance rewards programmes.
If you were thinking about applying or are considering applying for a new credit card, it makes sense to do so now whilst the sign-up bonus is increased to 30,000 Membership Rewards points.
You can apply for American Express Preferred Rewards Gold here and you have until 19th July to apply.