American Express Cards Remaining with Referral Bonuses

American Express in the United States has for the most part discontinued its referral bonuses. This is one instance where it is a good thing that Canada is still lagging behind. It is fairly well documented that American Express Canada only has a handful of credit cards or charged cards left that give a referral bonus.

Today’s post will list out the remaining cards that still provide a referral bonus. With the way things are going, it may only be a matter of time before all of the bonuses are completely shut down. So I suggest to take advantage of whatever is left while you still can.

Keep in mind that even though it may seem like the referral bonuses are still alive, there are many conditions attached to it, so be mindful of them. I have ranked the credit cards / charged cards in the order of their annual fees.

The Platinum Card

• $699 annual fee
• Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards points for each approved referral (maximum of 15 referrals or 225,000 Membership Rewards points per calendar year)

Note that this offer is only available to new Platinum Card Cardmembers. For current or former cardmembers, American Express may approve the application, but you will not be eligible for the welcome bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points.

In the past, it used to be 60,000 Membership Rewards sign up bonus points when referred, but there is no indication that this is still the case on the website, though I suspect the 60,000 is still alive.

The American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum Card

• $499 annual fee
• Earn 15,000 Aeroplan miles for each approved referral (maximum of 15 referrals or 225,000 Aeroplan miles per calendar year)

Note that this offer is only available to new American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum Cardmembers. For current or former cardmembers, American Express may approve the application, but you will not be eligible for the welcome bonus of 50,000 Aeroplan miles.

In the past, it used to be 51,000 Aeroplan sign up bonus miles when referred, but there is no indication that this is still the case on the website, though I suspect the 51,000 is still alive.

Also note that this offer appears to only be valid for applications before March 31, 2016.

The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

• $120 annual fee
• Earn 10,000 Starpoints for each approved referral (maximum of 15 referrals or 150,000 Starpoints per calendar year)

Note that this offer is only available to new Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express cardmembers. For current or former cardmembers, American Express may approve the application, but you will not be eligible for the welcome rate of 5%.

The American Express AIR MILES Platinum Credit Card

• $65 annual fee
• Earn 500 Air Miles reward miles for each approved referral (maximum of 15 referrals or 7,500 Air Miles reward miles per calendar year)

Note that this offer is only available to new American Express Air Miles Platinum Cardmembers. For current or former cardmembers, American Express may approve the application, but you will not be eligible for the welcome bonus of 2,000 bonus Air Miles reward miles.

The SimplyCash Card from American Express

• No annual fee
• Earn $100 cash back for each approved referral (maximum of 15 referrals or $1,500 cash back per calendar year)

Note that this offer is only available to new SimplyCash Card from American Express cardmembers. For current or former cardmembers, American Express may approve the application, but you will not be eligible for the welcome rate of 5%. This credit card offers 5% cash back on all eligible purchases at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants in Canada (up to $250 cash back) for the first 6 months of cardmembership.

What I would like to see going forward

It is no secret that referral bonuses were an amazing deal, mostly because it helped justify the annual fees. Furthermore, churning as also been effectively been nullified by American Express. Instead, I do hope to see the introduction of rewarding annual spending. For example, let’s use the Platinum Card, for $15,000 in spending, we would receive 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points.