Amex Gold Card Sign-Up Bonus Increased To 25000 Membership Reward Points

Until the 8th of August, American Express has increased the sign-up bonus on the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card from 20000 to 25000 membership reward points. In addition to this, you will get an entry to a prize draw to win one of 3,200 Amazon vouchers worth up to £200. So is this Amex Gold Card Sign-Up Bonus worth signing up for? Read on to find out…

As the card is FREE for the first year (£160 annually afterward) the card is a great way for a newbie to points collecting to quickly earn points without worrying about annual fees (as long as you cancel before a year!) You need to spend £3,000 within 90 days to get the 25000 points sign-up bonus + prize draw entry. This equates to roughly £1,000 a month worth of spend on the card.

If you have held or hold a personal card from American Express in the past 24 months you aren’t eligible for a sign-up bonus from an American Express card. There are two major exceptions to this:

1) British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card

You cannot of held or currently hold an Avios earning card in the last 24 months to be eligible for a sign-up bonus. You can hold another personal American Express card and still be eligible for the sign-up bonus.

2) The Platinum Card

You cannot of held or currently hold a personal Membership Reward points-earning card in the last 24 months to be eligible for a sign-up bonus. You can hold another personal American Express card and still be eligible for the sign-up bonus.

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards that can earn you travel points including Avios Barclaycards, Tesco Credit Cards (by exchanging Clubcard points for Virgin points, hotel stays and more) & Virgin Atlantic credit card. If you use one of my referral links to an American Express card upon you being accepted I will receive points, this varies between 9,000 – 18,000 depending on the card I refer you from.

What is the 25000 Amex Gold Card Sign-Up Bonus worth?

They can be redeemed for 25,000 Avios (flights) this will give you enough points for two economy tickets (£35 ‘taxes & fees’ or a Business Class return (£50 ‘taxes & fees’) to Zone 1 locations including Milan, Berlin & Copenhagen. To view all the locations and options you have see here – https://pointsuncovered.com/avios/how-many-avios-does-a-flight-cost-in-2021/

You can also use them for a varied selection of hotels
Hilton usefully provides a points explorer which will handily tell you where you can go within your budget per night in points – http://pointsexplorer.hiltonhonors.com – converting your membership reward points into Hilton would get you 50,000 points

With Marriott you can use their Points Redemption list to find out where you could travel for 37,500 Marriott Bonvoy Points (25,000 membership reward points converted into Marriott points) – https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change – you can filter via location & sort via the number of points required.

Thirdly you can use them for a variety of experiences
Marriott (would give you 37500 points to spend on experiences) – https://moments.marriottbonvoy.com/
For example, this would normally be around the amount you would require to get a gourmet food/wine based experience.

Hilton (would give you 50000 points to spend on experiences) – https://experiences.hiltonhonors.com/
For example, this would get you a spa experience, afternoon tea, culinary experiences & cocktails amongst many other things!

Alternatively, they can be converted into Nectar points (Avios first for a better conversion rate) you’d get 33,333 Nectar points worth around £166 (Sainsbury’s, eBay, Argos etc.) You could also redeem for a £125 voucher (Amazon, M&S & many more) or £112.5 off anything on your credit card bill amongst many other things. Explore all the other possibilities here – https://global.americanexpress.com/myca/intl/rewards/emea/action?request_type=un_Rewards&Face=en_GB

How do I get the 25000 Amex Gold Card Sign-Up Bonus?

You need to spend £3,000 in 90 days. That means you need to be able to put £1000 a month or £250 a week on your card to meet the sign-up bonus.

What about the Amex Gold Card Sign-Up Bonus Prize Draw?

If you meet the eligibility requirements and hit the welcome bonus you will also be entered into a prize draw to win Amazon vouchers. There are a total of 3,200 vouchers up for grabs so we’d say you have a pretty good chance of winning. The vouchers are broken down as follows…

• 1,000 people will win a £50 Amazon voucher
• 400 people will win a £100 Amazon voucher
• 1,800 people will win a £200 Amazon voucher

What other benefits does the card have?

The main benefits are…

You will get 4 free Priority Pass lounge passes each year. These are valid at any airport lounge in the Priority Pass network. Each pass is valid for one visit and one person, so these free passes would be enough for a couple to have two visits or an individual to have 4 visits. You can view what airport lounges accept Priority Pass here – https://www.prioritypass.com/

You will receive £5 back up to twice a month on Deliveroo purchases.

Each £1 spent on the card will give you one membership reward point unless on airlines/foreign currency transactions where you will get 2 points per £1. Travel bookings made through the American Express Travel website will give you 3 membership reward points per £1.

Get up to 12,500 bonus points per year based on your spending. Broken down as follows…

• 2,500 points when you hit £5,000 of annual spend
• 2,500 points when you hit £10,000 of annual spend
• 2,500 points when you hit £15,000 of annual spend
• 2,500 points when you hit £20,000 of annual spend
• 2,500 points when you hit £25,000 of annual spend

You can read more about the benefits here – https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/gold-credit-card/ – the card has no annual for the first year, £160 afterward. The representative APR is 73.8% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 29.7% variable.

What about the annual fee?

The first year is FREE, after this, you will be charged an annual fee of £160. To avoid this you can just cancel before your first free year is up but you may find the benefits worthwhile for you to continue holding the card.

If you are eligible for the sign-up bonus look at the numbers… 25000 points convert into 25,000 Avios which we value at 1p each, which equals £250, £250 profit in the first year. Or if you convert into Nectar (Avios first for a better conversion rate) you’d get 33,333 Nectar points worth around £166, which means you’d be £166 in profit… This doesn’t include whatever value you place on the card benefits either!

If you were referred you’d receive an additional 5000 membership reward points which would give you about 40,000 Nectar points worth around £200 not bad eh?

Will I be eligible to get the card?

There is no minimum income requirement for the card. As long as you are a UK resident that is 18+ with no history of bad credit you have a good chance of being accepted!

Can my partner, family member or friend get one too?

Of course! There are NO limits to how many people in your household can have a card. If you got one card you could then refer your family member/friend etc for extra points (6,000 from the Gold card.) This way the points soon stack up! If you (referred) and one other person you referred got the Gold card and met the spending target (make sure you are both eligible) you’d have 56,000 membership reward points when pooled together!

How to apply?

To get a referral (you will receive 2000 extra bonus points for meeting your spend target on the Gold Card) go here – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/

If you don’t want to be referred or just want to read more about the Gold card go here – https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/credit-cards/gold-credit-card – the card has no annual for the first year, £160 afterward. The representative APR is 73.8% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases, and in the first year which has no fee, is 29.7% variable.

Are you tempted by the Amex Gold Card Sign-Up Bonus?