American Express has long offered generous referral bonuses and those bonuses have only gotten more interesting ever since Amex started allow you to refer from your card to many other cards (in some cases being able to refer someone to almost any Amex card and receive the bonus specific to the card you refer from – see this post for more details).
However, Milenomics reported how it has gotten significantly better this month with the ability for some cardmembers to also earn 3 extra points per dollar on all spend for three months after a successful referral by 10/28/20 (we posted about this deal here). This stacks on top of the usual referral bonus and it makes for a great deal. This means that most Membership Rewards cards earn a base of 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent for three months after you refer someone — and when you add 3 more points on top of a bonus category, it only gets better. Milenomics has a good deal of early info in terms of how quickly bonus points post as well as some smart strategy in terms of which card(s) it might make sense to use to generate a referral for this promo. See their post for full details.
Here is a link to log in and check your Amex referral offers.
Interestingly, this extra-three-point bonus isn’t limited to Membership Rewards-earning cards: you can also get three extra miles or hotel points per dollar spend on co-branded cards. That could make for a great deal for those spending toward Delta elite status or toward a free night certificate on a Hilton Surpass card. In fact, given that Hilton free weekend night certificates earned by the end of this year are good for any night of the week and valid for two years, it makes sense for anyone with a Surpass to be looking at completing that $15K spend. Earning an extra 3 points per dollar spent while doing it might make sense. Three extra Hilton points per dollar is clearly worth less than three extra Membership Rewards points overall, but considering the value of the free night certificate, that might be a strategy to pursue.
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Is there a way to see if one of your referrals is approved? I have referred some of my different cards but I’m not sure if the recipient applied.
So, I have a referral offer for 25k for referring the gold card and it gives the 3x as well. If the person who gets the referral opens a different card do I still get the 25k referral bonus or do I get the referral bonus associated with the card applied for?
Amex referral bonuses depend on the card you refer *from*. So you’d get 25k and +3x for 3 months so long as the person you referred is approved.
Amex doesn’t give MR for Simon purchases. I’d be very careful about MSing groceries as well.
If you have $15k organic spend you’d need to really maximize that free night because sometimes Amex offers 50% transfer bonus of MR to Hilton points. Their normal transfer is 2-1 but we recently saw 3-1. That means that in the worst case scenario, you’d be getting 45k Hilton points at the cost of a free night but you could get 90k Hilton points for a free night. Are there redemptions worth more than 95k? Sure, but if you have a Hilton cert, you’re stuck with a very specific use and it expires. MRs could be transferred for flights, hotels, 1.25cpp with Schwab, etc.
Haha it’s like you guys never learn. Best of luck to those who will MS the hell out of this. I’m sitting this one out.
I’ve noticed too that 3X points are posting quickly, but not on everything. Paid a hospital bill on the Gold, and it didn’t track as 3x, not sure if it’s just a glitch. As long as the grocery store tracks though, I’m good : ). Surprised they didn’t put cap limits on this offer, so tempting to take it to Simon and test, given that Amex doesn’t offer other type of bonuses for purchases at this mall. Curious if we’re going to be reading posts about clawbacks in a few months or so.
So, where exactly are you seeing the bonus points show up? I have yet to see anything of a bonus appear. I am looking at my “Points Activity” and all I see are pending 4x. etc
“Points Activity” is where I see it (in “Explore Rewards” -> point balance as a hyperlink). If you don’t see it posted there then I’m not sure what’s going on. Did you ever get a confirmation e-mail from AMEX that you’re starting to earn 3x points?