Increased Credit Card Bonus – And Why It May Cost You A Lot More Points

There has been some noise in the last couple of days about how American Express has upped their bonus on the American Express Business Platinum card to match the current bonus on the American Express Consumer Platinum. That bonus is for 40,000 Membership Reward points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

Of course, up is better than down when it comes to credit card bonuses. It is always nice to see issuers bump up a bonus, even if it is only for a limited-time. However, unless you have to have this card right now, I would definitely hold off. If you apply for this offer right now, it may end up causing you to miss out on over 100,000 additional points down the road.

Why The Current Amex Business Platinum Offer Could Cost You Points

The current public offer of 40,000 Membership Reward points is a 15,000 point increase from where the bonus has been for quite a while. It is a good bonus and one that does not require a ton of minimum spending (unlike a Business Rewards Gold card I had that required $10,000 in 3 months). Bear in mind that all of these offers have no waiver on the $450 fee for the first year. 

Apply now or wait for the better, targeted offers?

Should you want to apply for this offer, the link is here:

American Express Business Platinum – 40,000 Membership Reward Points – Application Link (I do not receive a commission for this card)

However, there are reports coming in from all over about offers being received this week (targeted) for 50,000 Membership Reward points, while others are receiving offers of 100K Membership Reward points and still others are getting offers for 150K Membership Reward points, like I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.

The reason it may cost you if you apply now for the 40,000 point offer is because American Express (currently) will not allow you to receive a bonus on a card if you have had it (or a Business Gold or Business Green) in the last 12 months (and that is a very strict 12 months). So, if you were to apply for this 40,000 point offer, it would prevent you from receiving the bonus for the higher amounts as long as you hold the card (and for the 12 months following). This holds true even if you receive a targeted offer in the mail after you already have the card.

So, unless you are in a hurry and need this card right now (in which case, you could always get the American Express Platinum Mercedes Benz card with 50,000 points), I would hold out and check your mail more closely for those higher offers. This, of course, assumes that you have a small business since this is a business card.

This is a great card with some great benefits. If the higher spending requirements for the big bonus cards ($20,000 in 3 months to get the full bonus) would be a crippling factor, then it may be better to get the public 40,000 point offer. But, with things like Bluebird and Amazon Payments, you could knock off that amount in just two months using your Bluebird account and a family member’s.

Are You Targeted?

You can also check online to see if you have been targeted (a couple of my readers found they were targeted through this, so you may be as well!) – unfortunately, I have been targeted for the lower 25,000 point offer! 🙂

Go to the american express website (some people are having problem with this – right-click the link and select to open in a private browser/incognito to see it. I just went through the process again and it works fine for me – but no 150K offer!) and checking for “Respond To Your Mail Offer”. Select “No, Use My Name and Address” and enter your information for your account. You can do this for both personal and business cards.