Increased Referrer Offers On American Express Cards

Update 10/14/24: I’m seeing 30,000 now

Update 6/11/24: Reader Neil reports seeing 45,000 referrer bonus now (up to 100,000 for the year). That matches the highest we’ve ever seen. This is targeted to select Amex cardholders.

Original Post:

The referral bonus on the American Express Gold card has increased for some people to 20,000 points for the referrer. This is YMMV as some people are still seeing 10,000 or 15,000, hopefully it’ll change over for everyone. The maximum per year is still 55,000 points. Some cards can now get up to 100,000 points.

The American Express referral program allows referring from any Amex card to any Amex card. When referring, the key is to refer FROM the card that gives the highest bonus, irrespective of which new card the friend is going to sign up for.

A lot of cards offer the referrer 10,000 points or $100 per referral; some cards offer even less. The Business Gold Rewards card has offered 20,000 points (not sure if that’s still current), and some were getting 20k on the Business Platinum as well at one point.

Tip: Save the referral link now, when you see it high, and you can use it later – even after the referrer rate decreased – and still get the high bonus amount.

Related Posts:

• How To Get Higher Referrer Bonuses With American Express
• New Universal American Express Referrals Program, Now Crosses Over to ANY Card
• American Express Universal Referrals – Self Referrals Working & How To Maximize (E.g 30,000 Points On BBP)
• American Express Business Card Referrals Now Have Increased Signup Bonus Offers Incognito
• American Express Business Gold: 50,000 Points After $5,000 In Spend Via Referral
• American Express Lowers Referrer Bonus on Green, Everyday, BCE + Why That Matters
• Refer-a-Friend From American Express Blue Business Plus Card And Get 15,000 Bonus Points

Post history:

• Update 10/30/23: Increased offers of 30,000 being reported again (ht skyye99). There’ve also been multiple reports over the past couple weeks of people who lost their ability to refer with Amex getting it back.
• Update 1/24/23: Reader Cole S reached out with an interested bump in the cashback referral offer, from the regular $75, up now to $175.
• Update 12/6/22: Reports of people seeing 30,000 now (ht 01d-monk)
• Update 10/21/22: some people are seeing 25,000 or 30,000 now
• Update 5/21/22: Increased referrals showing again.
• Update 1/8/22: Reports of 20,000 or 30,000 referral offers are surfacing now.
• Update 12/2/21: The old 4x referral offer is gone, and we’re back to the flat points offers. Many are seeing increased referral offers of up to 30,000 points on select cards.
• Update 7/1/21: There’s now a 45,000 referral offer on Platinum.
• Update 6/28/21: More people seeing increased referral bonuses now, e.g. 30,000 points.
• Update 5/26/21: More people seeing the 30,000 points referrer offer now.
• Update 3/11/21: More reports of people seeing increases. (There’s also a separate 4x/4% furniture bonus showing as well.) Hat tip to 1autumn1
• Update 2/22/21: More reports of people seeing increases.
• Update 1/27/21: More people targeted for these increased offers.
• Update 11/24/20: Some people seeing increased offers today. Interestingly, there’s a report of someone seeing 35,000 points on the Gold card. We’ve never seen higher than 30,000 before, it keeps edging up. (Of course there’s still the 55,000 annual cap.)
• Update 11/15/20: Lots of people reporting their personal Gold card showing the 30,000 referral offer now. Not sure if everyone or targeted. (ht reader JJ). Remember, there is a 55,000 annual limit per card. There’s also $125 showing again on Blue Cash Preferred for some.
• Update 9/9/20: More people targeted for the higher bonuses.
• Update 9/1/20: Some of the cash referral links are now up to $125 (typically $75 or $100). basefifty noticed this on their Blue Cash Everyday and I’m seeing the same. Not nearly as good as some of the points offers, but good to know.
• Update 8/13/20: Some referral links are now showing a 30,000 points referral for referring a friend (friend gets the regular signup bonus being offered and you get 30,000). This is a new high as previously 25k was highest. Remember, there is a 55,000 annual limit per card. Hat tip to reader GL and to ThomGault
• Update 8/6/20: Some are seeing now increased offers. Not sure if anyone is getting 25,000 now, but some who were previously only seeing 10,000 points for referrer are now seeing 15,000 or 20,000 on various cards. Hat tip to Milestalk
• Update 5/7/20: Some people seeing up to 25,000 points per referral on select cards.
• Update 5/1/20: More people seeing 20,000 points per referral on select cards. Also, some are seeing 15,000 on cards that were previously 10,000. Hat tip to manageroftheyear
• Update 4/14/20: More people seeing 20,000 points per referral on select cards.
• Update 3/1/20: agilehumor reports an increase on select cards that the referrer gets 20,000 points per referral. It’s marked as Special Offer For You with a white star. (Now that Amex keeps pushing the referral bonus up and down, I guess the referral amount will be based on the time that the new member signs up.)
• Update#2 on 2/20/20: It seems that they changed the referral bonuses for the referrer so that different people are getting different offers on each card. For the future, keep that in mind by checking your various cards AND different people (e.g. yourself and your spouse) to find the best offer before referring. Some cards people are seeing more than prior, other cards people are seeing less than before; there’s some good and some bad here.
• Update 2/20/20: In addition to the increased Gold card referral which some are seeing (below), there’s also a report of an increased offer for the referrer on the Green card from 5,000 to 10,000 points. Personally, I still see 5,000.