American Express periodically sends out targeted bonus offers of 10,000-30,000 points for enrolling in “Pay Over Time”. This is a feature that allows a cardholder to use a pay over time card (ie Platinum, Gold etc) more like a normal credit card by paying balances off over an extended period (with interest; note that we never recommend carrying a balance that incurs interest fees since the rewards earned will not be worth more than the cost of paying an interest fee). In order to earn the bonus, you just have to enroll in the program, not actually apply it to any charges or balances.
Often, those targeted receive an e-mail or find the offer listed in their account, but the most recent offer of 20,000 points has a link that allows anyone to check and see if they’re targeted. It’s worth checking your AMEX charge cards, as these are some of the easiest Membership Rewards you can earn. (h/t: Miles Earn and Burn)
If you are targeted and activate Pay Over Time, remember to unenroll those cards after ~four months.
The Deal
- Earn 20,000 Membership Rewards by enrolling a targeted Pay Over Time card in the Pay Over Time feature.
Direct Link to check if you’re targeted (must log-in)
If you see a screen with no offer or a screen with the banner below, it means that you’re not targeted on that card:
Keep in mind, the card that you’re checking is the one that’s selected as the default card on your Amex account. You can check other cards by manually selecting them.
Key Terms
- The activation bonus included with this offer may not be available if you activate Pay Over Time through a different channel or previously accepted a Pay Over Time activation offer.
- To be eligible to earn Membership Rewards® points, you must be enrolled in the Membership Rewards® program at the time you activate Pay Over Time.
- Only one offer per Card account is permitted; maximum 20,000 points per account. Points will be credited to your program account within 8-12 weeks after you activate Pay Over Time, as long as your Card account is not canceled or past due at the time of fulfillment of this offer.
- The receipt of Membership Rewards® points through this offer may be considered taxable income to you and may be reported to the IRS on Form 1099.
- Eligible charges can be included in a Pay Over Time balance, up to the Pay Over Time Limit.
- All charges not added to a Pay Over Time balance or monthly payment plan or Cash Advance balance must be paid in full each month by the payment due date.
- Pay Over Time only applies to eligible charges meeting minimum transaction amounts.
Quick Thoughts
If you’re targeted for this offer, it will be the easiest 20,000 points you’ve ever earned, especially since you don’t actually have to use the feature. When you reach the landing page, you will be prompted to log-in. The card that you will be checking is your default/starred card only. If that card isn’t showing an offer, you can select different Membership Rewards-earning cards to see if any of those display an offer. It is possible to have some cards targeted and not others.
Good luck and may the rewards be ever in your favor!
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What’s the purpose in “unenrolling”? – NEVERMIND. lol Just saw the link with details. 🙂
Not targeted this time. BOOOO
Offer seems to be back
I’m not seeing it. Can you e-mail us the link that you’re seeing it at?
I enrolled, how many days does it take to see the points posted?
Thanks frequent miler- I disenrolled in pay over time last year and got a 20,000 point offer on my consumer platinum. I will need to remove that feature from my new business gold and my wife’s consumer business gold. Makes me feel a little better about fees after no retention offers on the platinum or the delta platinum this year.
Got on P1 and P2 Gold; nowhere else. How long do you let it ride before cancelling?
can I get this for each of my cads?
Success! Thanks for the heads up, Tim. You guys are an invaluable resource in this space.
Getting “Page Not Found”.
Never even gotten this once.
If I’m already enrolled in autopay and then now enroll in this, will I have to manually make my payments now before interest accrues?
Once we turn ON Pay Over Time and get MRs for doing so, is there a minimum amount of time we should wait before turning it back OFF?
I’d like an answer about this also. This page says to unenroll after ~4 months but the unenroll page (linked) says to unenroll after getting the points. Is there a reason to stay enrolled after getting the points?
Amex newbie here! When I went to use the link, mine and my husband’s cards said we were already enrolled. I asked in “chat” when I enrolled and was told I was enrolled since the card’s opening. I don’t recall doing this, but I asked them to disenroll me (and did this separately with my husband’s card as well).
Should I assume that I won’t be eligible this time around since I just now disenrolled?
Thank You!
Interested in an answer because the same for me, says I am already enrolled but never intentionally/knowingly did so unless its a default when I opened Gold Card last year
Yes, this sometimes happens when you setup the card. I had a bunch like that (primarily business cards). There’s a link in the post that gives instructions for unenrolling.
I received a mailer with the 20k MR offer. I attempted to enroll online but appeared as though I wasn’t targeted. I called the number on the mailer and asked them to confirm eligibility for 20k and they enrolled for me.
Had you received the bonus before? I did last spring and unenrolled after getting the bonus.
Now in the past few weeks I’ve received 2 email offers for this again, an offer on the website when logged in and an offer by paper mail. When I try to use it, I’m not eligible.
My family received both mailer and email, but when we log in, it says not eligible within the offer period (probably because we enrolled before). Amex can certainly enroll for you, but would they give you the 20k points afterwards?
In that case, I would call the number on the mailer. I wouldn’t sign up on a link that’s not showing the bonus.
@Tim Steinke,, Ok, question. Had (and removed) POT from my Plat card a while back. Got the mailer yesterday for 20k for POT if I add it. Great! Went to the link shown in the (snail mail) mailer and entered the instructed code.
Got the instant blat at the top of the page after I did that that said I already had used this promotion/had POT added.
Should I call in? Chat? try again? I do not like to rock the boat with AMEX as they are my main target in this game. But I sure would like me them easy 20k points.
Can you advise? Yea or nay?
@Carl, I would try calling in during midweek business hours. We’ve heard of a few people having issues with the code on their mailer, but then the CSR was able to set them up with the bonus with no issue. I wouldn’t worry too much about eyes where you don’t want them to be with an issue like this.
Ok, I was thinking if I called for daytime during the week. Weekends and nights it can be…. shall we say, difficult to accomplish much on the phone.
Appreciate the reassurance about eyes. I’ll see how this plays out.
Same here! Got the same error on my gold and plat cards. Called in and they said the offer wasn’t available on my account. Will try calling during the week, not on weekend
I did call and got a nice (seemingly) North American accented person who was VERY patient and took their time to determine that the marketing people do not talk with the people that administer these things and it had been WAY too recent since I had received this very bonus before and that the current offer I got was actually the same offer I had used so tough cookies. But he was very nice about it!
I’ll just wait a few months and see what happens when/if I get another offer. Plus I have saved the letter with the code on it and check to see if a different code before attempting again. Good luck to you though!