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American Express has been on an points bonanza for a few years now. We’re seeing Amex Platinum new member offers up to 175k, Gold up to 100k, and another round of bonuses given to those who add authorized users just hit. I received the following offer on both my Amex Platinum and my Amex Gold – the biggest thing to pay attention to is the fees associated with AUs ( this has changed in the past couple of years ). Also… even if you add 5 AUs, you’ll only receive the bonus on the first AU that meets the spend.
Fees for AUs
- Platinum charges $195 per AU
- Gold has 5 free, then $35
Add an authorized user to your Platinum card and receive 20k Membership Rewards after they spend $2k in 6 months.
Add an authorized user to your Gold card and earn 10k Membership Rewards after they spend $2k in 6 months:
That’s an easy 30k points for just $4k spend over the next 6 months by adding my wife! Again note…you only earn the 20k bonus on the first authorized user.
Overall:
In the past you could add the no-fee Authorized User cards and trigger these offers. However, that is no longer the case on the Amex Platinum. Is earning 20k points worth paying the $195 Authorized User fee? That’s about a penny a point plus authorized users get a bunch of benefits. You can see those broken down here
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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