If you’ve logged into your Amex account over the past few days you may have noticed an exciting new offer (or offers if you have more than one card) for Amex’s Refer a Friend program. The Amex Referral Month promotion kicked off on September 29 and runs until October 27. The referral offers see some big bonuses not only for the person being referred but the referers will get a nice spending boost as well. This appears to be an offer from American Express both here in Canada and the U.S. (if you are playing the U.S. credit card game). We’ll cover the Canadian card offers here.
Here is the list of cards that are Amex has a part of Amex Referral Month along with the referrer and referee offers:
| Card | Referrer gets | Referee gets |
| The Platinum Card from American Express |
Earn 10,000 points plus 3 bonus points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 75,000 bonus points). |
80,000 Welcome Bonus Membership Rewards® points when they charge $6,000 in purchases to their Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership.³ They can also earn 25,000 points when they make a purchase between 14 to 17 months of Cardmembership. They can earn a total of up to 105,000 bonus points. |
| Business Platinum Card® from American Express | Earn 20,000 points plus 3 bonus points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 75,000 bonus points). | New Business Platinum Card™ Cardmembers, earn 100,000 Membership Rewards® points after you charge $10,000 in purchases to your Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership1 |
| American Express® Aeroplan®* Card | Earn 5,000 Aeroplan®* points plus 3 bonus Aeroplan®* points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 30,000 bonus Aeroplan®* points). | New American Express® Aeroplan®* Cardmembers can earn up to a total of 40,000 welcome bonus Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass: Earn 10,000 Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass for an eligible round-trip flight within North America after spending $1,500 in purchases within the first three months of Cardmembership Plus, you can also earn 2,500 Aeroplan points for each monthly billing period in which you spend $500 in purchases on your Card for the first twelve months of Cardmembership. That could add up to 30,000 Aeroplan points |
| American Express® Aeroplan®* Reserve Card | Earn 10,000 Aeroplan ®*points plus 3 bonus Aeroplan®* points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 75,000 bonus Aeroplan®* points). | New American Express® Aeroplan®* Reserve Cardmembers can earn up to a total of 90,000 Welcome Bonus Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass. 1 Earn 30,000 Aeroplan points1 and a bonus Buddy Pass1 for an eligible round-trip flight within North America after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of Cardmembership. Plus, earn 5,000 Aeroplan points for each monthly billing period in which you spend $1,000 in purchases on your Card for the first twelve months of Cardmembership. That could add up to 60,000 Aeroplan points |
| American Express® Aeroplan®* Business Reserve Card | Earn 20,000 Aeroplan ®*points plus 3 bonus Aeroplan®* points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 75,000 bonus Aeroplan®* points). | New American Express® Aeroplan Business Reserve Cardmembers can earn 30,000 Welcome Bonus Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass for an eligible flight within North America after spending after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first three months of Cardmembership.1 Plus, you can also earn 5,000 Aeroplan points for each monthly billing period in which you spend $2,000 in purchases on your Card for the first twelve months of Cardmembership. That could add up to 60,000 Aeroplan points |
| American Express Gold Rewards Card |
Earn 7,500 points plus 3 bonus points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 30,000 bonus points). |
Earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points when they charge $3,000 in purchases to their Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership.³ Plus, they can also earn an additional 15,000 points when they make a purchase between 14 and 17 months of Cardmembership |
| American Express Cobalt® Card |
Earn 5,000 points plus 3 bonus points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 30,000 bonus points). |
2,500 Membership Rewards® points for each monthly billing period in which they spend $500 in purchases on their Card in their first year as a new Cobalt® Cardmember. This could add up to 30,000 points in a year.³ Plus, they can earn an additional Welcome Bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points when they spend a total of $3,000 in purchases on their Card in their first 3 months of Cardmembership |
| Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card | Earn 10,000 Marriott BonvoyTM points plus 3 bonus Marriott BonvoyTM points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 30,000 bonus Marriott BonvoyTM points). |
earn 70,000 Marriott Bonvoy™ points after you charge $1,500 in purchases to your Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership.3 Plus, earn a total of 5 points for every $1 on eligible travel & gas purchases for your first 3 months of Cardmembership (up to 15,000 points) |
| Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express® Card | Earn 15,000 points plus 3 bonus Marriott BonvoyTM points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 30,000 bonus Marriott BonvoyTM points). |
Earn a Welcome Bonus of 75,000 Marriott Bonvoy™ points after you charge $5,000 in purchases to your Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership.3 Plus, earn a total of 5 Marriott points for every $1 in Card purchases on eligible Gas, Dining & Travel for the first three months of Cardmembership, up to a maximum of 15,000 points |
| American Express® Green Card |
Earn 2,500 points plus 3 bonus points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 15,000 bonus points). |
As a new American Express® Green Cardmember, you can earn a Welcome Bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards® points when you charge $1,000 in purchases to your Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership |
| American Express Business Edge™ Card | Earn 5,000 points plus 3 bonus points on ALL existing earn rates (up to 30,000 bonus points). | New American Express Business Edge™ Cardmembers can earn 55,000 Membership Rewards® points when you charge $5,000 in purchases to your Card in the first 3 months of Cardmembership1, plus you can earn an additional 1,000 Membership Rewards points for each monthly billing period in which you spend $3,000 in purchases on your Card2. Offer subject to change at any time. |
| SimplyCash™ Card from American Express | Earn $50 cashback plus 3% bonus cash back on ALL existing earn rates (up to $150 bonus cashback). | New SimplyCash™ Card from American Express Cardmembers can earn 4% cash back on purchases (up to $200 cash back) for the first 6 months of Cardmembership |
| SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express | Earn $100 cashback plus 3% bonus cash back on ALL existing earn rates (up to $300 bonus cashback). | New SimplyCash™ Preferred Card from American Express Cardmembers can earn 10% cash back on all eligible purchases (up to $400 cash back) for the first 4 months of Cardmembership |
It’s the offers for the referees that get all the limelight here. Typically Amex’s Refer a Friend program has seen cardmembers receive a set amount of bonus points for successfully referring a person. Those set bonuses are still in play but now the referrer will also get bonus points or cash back on their spending as an additional bonus for referring someone to an Amex card.
To get the additional bonus your friend or referral needs to apply for a card by October 27 and be approved for said card. Once that happens you’ll get the bonus points or cash back on any eligible spending you make on your card from November 25, 2021 to February 28, 2022. Great news is that if you don’t have an Amex card right now you could still get in on some referral bonuses. You would want to apply for one of the Amex cards within the next week(I’d say by October 7 to be safe) as you should then you get card before October 27. Set your card up right away when you receive it and start referring. This is easiest for couples and families who are keen to play in two player mode but you could start recruiting others right now and get them to jump on board as soon as you do get your card.
If you are in the spot where you don’t have an Amex card yet, most of the cards we list above you can apply through the public link (all of which are linked to in the card names above) except for the following cards. These cards are referral offers that have slightly better welcome bonuses than the public offerings:
- The Platinum Card referral offer is up to 105,000 points (5,000 more than the public offer)
- The Gold Rewards Card referral offer is up to 65,000 points (5,000 more than the public offer)
- The Business Platinum Card referral offer is 100,000 points (25,000 more than the public offer) (Click on explore other cards to see this offer)
- The Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express referral offer is 90,000 points (5,000 more than the public offer) (Click on explore other cards to see this offer)
It doesn’t seem like a week goes by without some new amazing incentive from American Express, whether it’s increased welcome bonuses to statement credits and now to these great referral offers. All you need to do is refer one person and those extra points on future spending are yours and as we mentioned you can even get yourself a card right now if you don’t have one and start referring as soon as you get it in your hands.