March, 2023: Welcome Bonus Changes for 3 Amex Cards!

Amex Business Platinum Card Canada Increased Welcome Bonus!

The Amex Business Platinum Card Canada saw an increase to the welcome bonus today:

Earn a welcome bonus of 90,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $10,000 in the first three months of Cardmembership.

That’s up from the previous offer of 80,000 points. However, the big catch is the minimum spend requirement has jumped from $6,000 to $10,000 in the first 3 months. That’s a significant increase that may not fit your budget. However, if you do have some big expenses coming up, this Card might be right for you.

This welcome bonus is about average for this Card. The best welcome bonus we’ve seen lately on the Amex Business Platinum was 110,000 points back in July, 2022. Amex Canada has historically offered increased welcome bonuses for the Summer over the last few years, so we may see it jump back up to 100,000+ points again.

90,000 Amex points is redeemable for $900 cash value, which after the annual fee of $499, will put you ahead by $401 on approval. Of course, your best bet for travel is to transfer those points to an airline loyalty program during a transfer bonus promotion (which vary throughout the year).

Or for a simple travel redemption with Amex Fixed Travel, your welcome bonus points will cover a return economy flight to Europe, and almost enough for anywhere in the world.

A business class flight to Hawaii or Mexico, from Canada is also in reach, as you’ll be 75% of the way there with the welcome bonus points alone. By putting your daily spend on your Amex Business Platinum Card, you can earn enough to cover your business class return flight within your first year of Card membership. And you’ll enjoy airport lounge access with food and drinks before your sunny vacation.

Amex Gold Card Canada Increased Welcome Bonus!

The Amex Gold Rewards Card Canada also saw an increased welcome bonus today:

Earn up to 60,000 Membership Rewards® points:

New American Express® Gold Rewards Cardmembers, earn 5,000 Membership Rewards® points for each monthly billing period in which you spend $1,000 in net purchases on your Card. 

This could add up to 60,000 points in a year. That’s up to $600 towards your next vacation.

This welcome bonus has increased from the previous offer of 50,000 points. However, instead of earning all the welcome points after hitting the traditional 3 month minimum spend, the welcome bonus points on this Card are spread out over the entire year.

This earning structure makes it a grind to earn points, even though it shouldn’t be hard to charge $1,000 a month in everyday purchases.

Having to wait a whole year to be awarded the welcome bonus points, only to have to sign up for another year’s annual fee, is not appealing.

We are seeing more “subscription” based services these days, and to me, this falls in that category. I hope they switch back to the traditional welcome bonus offer for this otherwise attractive Card.

Instead, check out the earning rate of the Business Gold Card that offers 70,000 points immediately after hitting the 3-month minimum spend, with another spend bonus of up to 40,000 points. Learn more about the Business Gold Card Canada.

Amex Platinum Canada Sees New Welcome Bonus Structure!

The Amex Platinum Card Canada also sees a positive change today. Although the welcome bonus offer is staying at 80,000 points, the earning structure is much improved:

New Platinum® Cardmembers, earn 80,000 Welcome Bonus points after you charge $7,500 in net purchases to your Card in your first 3 months of Cardmembership.

Finally, the traditional offer is back! The previous offer only gave out 60,000 points after hitting the minimum spend, and then gave the remaining 20,000 points AFTER signing up for another year on the Card.

Now that wasn’t even close to a fair deal when you had to renew the annual fee to get your original welcome bonus points from the previous year. Thankfully, that embarrassing offer is out the window and we are back with the traditional 80,000 points after meeting the minimum spend.

80,000 points is enough to redeem for $800 cash value, which puts you up $101 cash just for getting approved for the Card.

Or with Amex Fixed Travel, you can get 2 roundtrip economy tickets anywhere in Canada or the USA (except Hawaii and Alaska), for the price of the annual fee ($699).

If you’re looking to travel to the United States, this price point makes sense in a lot of scenarios.

Check out roundtrips to Florida, New York, Pittsburgh, Colorado using Google Flights.

If you were to pay cash for flights to those destinations you’d be paying double the price. If you apply for the Amex Platinum Card Canada, and use your welcome bonus points, it will cut the price in half!

The cash price of flights to those destinations is way more than you’d pay for the annual fee on this Card, which makes getting this Card a great deal – especially with airport lounge access!

Conclusion

Smaller updates for Amex Canada include the interest rate increasing from 19.99% to 20.99% on the Amex Business Platinum Card, Amex Business Gold and Business Edge Cards in Canada.

If your budget allows it, the big winner in this round of Amex Card updates is the Amex Business Platinum Card. $10,000 minimum spend in the first 3 months is steep, however, the immediate welcome bonus of 90,000 points is well worth it, and will put you ahead with $401 cash, even with a basic statement credit redemption.

A business class flight in the USA with Amex Fixed Travel is 100,000 points. You’ll have almost enough for that with the Business Platinum Card welcome points.

For the annual fee of $499, you can redeem your 90,000 points for a business class flight in the USA which is an exceptional deal when you compare cash prices of $2,500+.

Amex Canada has been relatively quiet with Card updates lately. Will there be more offers coming in Summer, 2023, or are you going to jump on these Card offers today?