Get A MASSIVE 60000 Points & £200 Travel Credit With The Amex Platinum Card

American Express has brought back it’s biggest ever sign-up bonus for the Amex Platinum card. Until the 13th of June the sign-up bonus on the Amex Platinum Card has been doubled from 30000 to a HUGE 60000 membership reward points. These 60000 points can be redeemed for 60000 Avios, 120000 Hilton points or 90000 Marriott points to name a few examples. If that wasn’t enough to tempt you Amex have also added a £200 travel credit!

This matches the generous open to all sign-up bonus that we saw in August last year! The length of time to meet the spending target has also DOUBLED! You get a HUGE 6 months to meet the spending target, which means you would need to spend £1,000 per month.

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 IHG credit card, 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 are the 60000 points worth?

They can be redeemed for 60,000 Avios (flights) this will give you enough points for a Business Class return (taxes + fees) will be due to Zone 5 locations including Dubai, New York & Montreal. 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 provide 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 120,000 points

With Marriott you can use their Points Redemption list to find out where you could travel for 90,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points (60,000 membership reward points converted into Marriott) – https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change – you can filter via location & sort via the amount of points required.

Thirdly you can use them for a variety of experiences
Marriott (would give you 90000 points to spend on experiences) – https://moments.marriottbonvoy.com/
For example, this would get a package for 2 to See Elton John perform from the Marriott Bonvoy™ Luxury Suite at The O2 currently for 50000 points.

Hilton (would give you 120000 points to spend on experiences) – https://experiences.hiltonhonors.com/
For example, this would get you 2 tickets to Lancashire Cricket Double Header General Admission Access for 20,000 points, a Mixology Master Class at Hilton Amsterdam for 25,000 points and Arctic Monkeys at Emirates Old Trafford – VIP Hospitality (package for 2) currently at 32,500 points.

Alternatively, they can be converted into Nectar points (Avios first for a better conversion rate) you’d get 80,000 Nectar points worth £400 (Sainsbury’s, eBay, Argos etc.) You could also redeem for a £300 voucher (Amazon, M&S & many more) or £270 off anything on your credit card bill amongst many others things. Explore all the other possibilities here – https://global.americanexpress.com/myca/intl/rewards/emea/action?request_type=un_Rewards&Face=en_GB

What about the £200 travel credit? How do I use that?

To use your £200 travel credit you book flights or pre-paid hotels via the Amex Travel website or call centre and the first £200 of your spending will be refunded in the form of a statement credit. If you spend under £200 you will get nothing back so your spend needs to be a minimum of £200. The credit needs to be used within 12 months of earning it.

How do I get the 60000 points / £200 travel credit on my Amex Platinum Card?

You need to spend £6,000 in 6 months. 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 other benefits does the Amex Platinum Card have?

The main benefits we use are…

£300 annual dining credit split into £150 for UK based restaurants and £150 for ones outside the UK. This benefits resets on January 1st every year which means you could easily get two credits in your first card membership year. You can read more about the dining credit and where you can use it here.

You will get 2 free Priority Pass memberships, one with the main Platinum card and one with your first FREE Platinum supplementary cardholder. These are valid at any airport lounge in the Priority Pass network. Each card can bring in one FREE guest, each additional guest will cost you £20. You can view what airport lounges accept Priority Pass here – https://www.prioritypass.com/

For as long as you hold the card you will also receive elevated status in various hotel programs. Gold in Hilton Honors, Gold in Marriott Bonvoy, Gold in Radisson Rewards & Gold in MeliaRewards. We talk about what benefit these statuses have here – https://pointsuncovered.com/hotels/free-hotel-elite-status-from-uk-credit-cards/

Full travel insurance: You receive travel insurance for yourself and your family as long as you are under 70. You can insure five other people and their families by giving them supplementary cards on your account. Some benefits require you to pay for your trip on a UK-issued personal American Express.

Each £1 spent on the card will give you one membership reward point. Travel bookings made through the American Express Travel website will give you two membership reward points per £1.

Alongside this, the Platinum card also offers £50 biannual Harvey Nichols credit & Car hire insurance among other things. You can read more about the benefits here – https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/charge-cards/platinum-card

What about the annual fee?

It does have a CHUNKY £575 annual fee BUT you may find the benefits worthwhile for you, particularly in the first year if you are eligible for the sign-up bonus. You can cancel at any time for a pro-rata refund of the annual fee. You won’t lose your points either, just transfer them to whichever scheme you want before you cancel. If you kept your card for 6 months you’d receive a £287.50 refund on the annual fee.

If you are eligible for the sign-up bonus you could look at it this way. 60000 points convert into 60,000 Avios what we value at 1p each, which equals £600, £300 dining credit, £100 Harvey Nichols credit & £200 travel credit means realistically £625 profit in the first year. Even if you undervalued the ‘credits’ by 50% you are still looking at £325 profit for the first year. Alternatively you could convert into Nectar (Avios first for a better conversion rate) you’d get 80,000 Nectar points worth £400, bringing the overall profit down to around £425 or £225 if you undervalue the credits by 50%. Don’t forget as mentioned earlier if you cancel before a year is up you get a pro-rata refund on the annual fee adding further to your first year ‘profit’.

Will I be eligible to get the Amex Platinum 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 (12,000 from the Platinum card.) This way the points soon stack up! If you (referred) and one other person you referred got the Platinum card and met the spending target (make sure you are both eligible) you’d have 142,000 membership reward points when pooled together! Not to mention TWO dining credits AND TWO travel credits!

To get a referral (you will receive 5000 extra bonus points for meeting your spend target on the Platinum 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 Platinum card go here – https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/charge-cards/platinum-card/

The card has a representative APR of 462.4% including the annual fee. The representative APR when you make purchases on the card is 29.4%. The card is no longer a charge card and changed to a credit card late last year.

Are you tempted by the increased sign-up bonus AND increased time to hit your spend target?