I love credit cards so much!

[AmyAnne]

Sweet. My renewal is usually charged in January/February or thereabouts.

Mine too. I wonder how they decided on April.

 

[afan]

I see it as different since they are only able to be used through rewards programs, which the board sponsor is unable to use.

It's not that any travel agency can't be named, it's that they need to be spelled out so they can be *'d if not allowed, like those with the magical deals. I don't think talking about Conexions (I always get the name wrong) that is used for UR or TYP points and talking about an agent you've used there is a problem. These are bookings with points that no other agency, regular or magical, would get.

 

[AmyAnne]

AMEX SELF-REFERRAL UPDATE: You can now self-refer to ANY card

This will sound somewhat complex...but follow me here:

1) If you hold any AMEX non-cobrand business OR personal card: (Gold, Platinum, Everyday, EDP, BCE, BCP, BGR, Biz Plat, Biz Green, etc...)

- You can now refer to ANY AMEX Card. This crosses over from business to personal. You can refer a BCP from a Biz Plat. You can refer an SPG business from an Everyday card. The possibilities are limitless.

2) If you hold an AMEX co-brand business OR personal card: (Delta, SPG, Hilton)

- You can now refer to ANY card in that family business or personal. Previously you couldn't cross over from biz to personal. You can refer Hilton biz from Hilton aspire. You can refer SPG Lux from SPG biz.

3) The theory here is you can also self-refer to these cards. This means that once you hold one AMEX non-cobrand you can self refer to ALL other AMEX cards. Of course, self referrals could stop tracking at some point...but for now all reports indicate that this will work.

THIS is probably the best explanation out there right now: http://travelinpoints.com/one-amex-card-generates-all-american-express-referrals-huge-if-it-works/

DOC has one up too: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-...ferrals-program-now-crosses-over-to-any-card/

I will be discussing with DISchurner mods on what to do about our DISchurners AMEX thread as this could necessitate a change...

Mostly out of curiosity (because I really shouldn't push my luck with AmEx), if I were going to refer myself for a card, which card would give me the best referral bonus?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Mostly out of curiosity (because I really shouldn't push my luck with AmEx), if I were going to refer myself for a card, which card would give me the best referral bonus?

Depends on which cards you hold and what the current offers are and how you value points. You could figure that out by going to the American Express website, click on the "refer a friend" at the bottom and perusing all the offers available for your referral activities.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

After a brief discussion with the DISchurners mods, we will continue to maintain an AMEX thread...and you're welcome to post links to all 29 cards if you so choose. Please make sure we continue to give the BEST advice possible here...(i.e. advise somebody to SELF refer if that's possible, make sure to call-out when a better offer may be available through an alternate method).

We may create a "guide to self-referring" over there to assist with how that works.

We have also added the following disclaimer as a stickied comment on the AMEX support thread as well as at the top of the text on that thread:

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE APPLYING!!

• The links you see below MAY NOT be the highest offer available.
  
• Additionally, you may be able to SELF REFER if you currently hold an American Express card. This will be much more lucrative as you will get both the referral points AND the signup bonus!

If you are unsure what these two things mean, please consult the DISboards thread BEFORE applying. Once you apply for an offer, AMEX will NOT match you to a higher offer.

 

[Calfan]

So, on this self-referral thing with Amex, does anyone have a guess as to how this will work within the referral caps Amex implements? I've already hit the 55k max annual referral bonus on my Amex Biz Plat (one self-referral to Biz Green, one referral of DH to Biz Green and one self-referral to Biz Gold). Would I still be eligible for a referral bonus if I self-refer (or refer DH) to the new Amex Gold via my personal Plat or is that 55k annual referral bonus cap across the whole family of Amex cards? I guess I'm trying to ask whether I get a 55k annual referral bonus bucket for my Biz Plat AND a 55k annual referral bonus bucket for my personal Plat....And if it is just one annual referral bucket, does that reset Jan. 1?

I'm really on the fence about applying for the new Gold (or should I say Rose Gold ) card. I'm just not convinced about its day-to-day benefits for us. We are already getting 5x UR on grocery via the Amazon gift cards (purchased at office supply stores with CIC or at a retailer that falls within a CF 5x quarterly category) to Albertsons gift card route. So the 4x MR on grocery doesn't excite me except in the rare instance where DH or I don't have an Albertsons gift card on us to cover a purchase. And I'm not convinced that 4x MR on dining beats 3x UR. Of course, we could just get the card for the referral bonus (if eligible -- see above) and the 50k MR welcome bonus, even if we don't end up using the card in its bonus-spend categories. If I had 5/24 room and could get the card to pool with my own MRs, I probably wouldn't hesitate. But it would make a lot more sense for our larger strategy and my 5/24 status to have DH get it. But then the MRs are in his account...If we are able to upgrade our Emirates flights home from Africa, that isn't an issue, because we can each transfer to Emirates and pool that way, but if that doesn't come through, then I'd have to figure out another way to use MRs out of his account. And then there's all the MSR. I'm almost done with the MSR on both my Biz Gold and Aspire, so that's not a problem. But I plan to have DH apply for the SW biz and personal cards to get the CP, so there is that MSR coming, plus the MSR for the CIP if I can get approved for that later this month. What to do....

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So, on this self-referral thing with Amex, does anyone have a guess as to how this will work within the referral caps Amex implements? I've already hit the 55k max annual referral bonus on my Amex Biz Plat (one self-referral to Biz Green, one referral of DH to Biz Green and one self-referral to Biz Gold). Would I still be eligible for a referral bonus if I self-refer (or refer DH) to the new Amex Gold via my personal Plat or is that 55k annual referral bonus cap across the whole family of Amex cards? I guess I'm trying to ask whether I get a 55k annual referral bonus bucket for my Biz Plat AND a 55k annual referral bonus bucket for my personal Plat....And if it is just one annual referral bucket, does that reset Jan. 1?

I'm really on the fence about applying for the new Gold (or should I say Rose Gold ) card. I'm just not convinced about its day-to-day benefits for us. We are already getting 5x UR on grocery via the Amazon gift cards (purchased at office supply stores with CIC or at a retailer that falls within a CF 5x quarterly category) to Albertsons gift card route. So the 4x MR on grocery doesn't excite me except in the rare instance where DH or I don't have an Albertsons gift card on us to cover a purchase. And I'm not convinced that 4x MR on dining beats 3x UR. Of course, we could just get the card for the referral bonus (if eligible -- see above) and the 50k MR welcome bonus, even if we don't end up using the card in its bonus-spend categories. If I had 5/24 room and could get the card to pool with my own MRs, I probably wouldn't hesitate. But it would make a lot more sense for our larger strategy and my 5/24 status to have DH get it. But then the MRs are in his account...If we are able to upgrade our Emirates flights home from Africa, that isn't an issue, because we can each transfer to Emirates and pool that way, but if that doesn't come through, then I'd have to figure out another way to use MRs out of his account. And then there's all the MSR. I'm almost done with the MSR on both my Biz Gold and Aspire, so that's not a problem. But I plan to have DH apply for the SW biz and personal cards to get the CP, so there is that MSR coming, plus the MSR for the CIP if I can get approved for that later this month. What to do....

The Caps are specific to the REFERRING CARD irregardless of which card the REFEREE signs up for. Once you hit your cap (i.e. 55k on your Biz Plat), regardless of where those "clicks" came from, you will not earn additional points. It is advised to keep track of each card separately to maximize your earnings on this method.

 

[striker1064]

Mostly out of curiosity (because I really shouldn't push my luck with AmEx), if I were going to refer myself for a card, which card would give me the best referral bonus?

15k MR each for Platinum and Business Platinum. That's most valuable to me, personally. Off the top of my head I think SPG Biz is 20k Marriott? And I'm not sure about Hilton Aspire. So it'll depend on what's most valuable to you.

Or just keep referring yourself until you max them all. That works too.

I'm debating on Hilton Biz. 15k MR cashes out for more than the $100 SC available via dummy booking. But I only have a personal Plat. I'd hate for it not to work and miss the $100.

 

[Albort]

just gonna wait for the CSR vs Amex Gold card argument now...

 

[Alexle2007]

I'm a little behind so don't know if this has been discussed already, but I was playing around on the UR Portal from my CSP and it looks like the change has been made to Expedia. I got excited for those of you that are holding out hope that booking with Disney may come back when they showed up, but no matter what dates I put it all the Disney hotels said sold out.

My original plan had been to save up URs for a Disney cruise, with that out the window I've been thinking about Caribbean All Inclusives. Has anyone ever done that with URs? It seems like a good value to me. Found one with good reviews for my family of 5 for 35-40k points per night. With my plan close to having two CP for 2018 we could fly to Punta Cana for 90,000 RR and $500 and stay at an All Inclusive for 6 nights for around 200K URs with the CSP or 172K if we would upgrade to a CSR. If my P2 and myself can both get the CIP we could have that by next spring! So even with the all the changes I can still see the value in URs.

Which resort in Punta Cana? We’ve been several times and depending when you are going the prices are awesome. We’ve always booked directly with the resort for the free transfers and an extra loyalty discount.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

And I'm not convinced that 4x MR on dining beats 3x UR. [...] But then the MRs are in his account...If we are able to upgrade our Emirates flights home from Africa, that isn't an issue, because we can each transfer to Emirates and pool that way, but if that doesn't come through, then I'd have to figure out another way to use MRs out of his account.

I was going to respond privately, but I figured this might help others... I value MRs much higher lately because of the pretty spectacular transfer bonuses. The recent 30% VS transfer bonus really helped on my Japan trip, and the current 40% with BA would have been even better. I did my JAL award tickets through BA and it would have saved me a ton of MRs. (MR and UR both transfer 1:1 to BA and VS so those bonuses really improve the spend power of MRs for BA and VS). I know you are planning Japan next year so it's really something to think about. You'd have to make a transfer now or before it ends 11/15 and hope there aren't any changes by time your Japan trip comes up, but that's a lot of saved avios when you are talking about 160k-200k round trip per person to fly business or first to Japan. The benefit is also that BA pools miles in the household if you set up a household account so you could use DHs avios very easily. I don't mind transferring speculatively because I use Avios and Virgin Miles all the time for trips to the UK. You can see the current and past transfer bonuses here: https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/current-point-transfer-bonuses/ They have a lot of them.

 

[Calfan]

The Caps are specific to the REFERRING CARD irregardless of which card the REFEREE signs up for. Once you hit your cap (i.e. 55k on your Biz Plat), regardless of where those "clicks" came from, you will not earn additional points. It is advised to keep track of each card separately to maximize your earnings on this method.

Great. Thanks! So far all of my referrals/self-referrals have been from my Biz Plat, so I have referral room on my Personal Plat if I decide to have DH (or me ) apply for the new Amex Gold. I'm going to noodle on it a bit. If I apply for the Gold now, it shouldn't mess up my plans to apply for CIP at the end of the month based on when Amex reports new cards. It could delay my follow-on plan to apply for CIC, but I have two more cards falling off my 5/24 in April 2019, so the delay wouldn't be that long. I"m more tempted to apply for me...

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I read through quickly today so I'm sorry if someone already posted this, but I'm really glad I was able to pull the 50k incognito a few days ago for the PRG. Aside from the annual fee issue, it looks like they are dropping the 2x on gas for new users. I will at least get it for a year. i'm trying to simplify my wallet so the 2x was a factor for me. https://frequentmiler.boardingarea....ld-cardholders-keep-2x-gas-and-195-into-2019/

 

[MKTokyo]

Ugh. You all have me convinced I need a rose gold PRG.

I want one so badly but it doesn't fit into my plans for the next year I need all my remaining slots for Chase.

 

[Lain]

I was coming on here to mention that I found I could refer DH to the gold card from my platinum one, but I see it's old news and maybe he can refer himself? I have been reading today's pages before I was going to post, but I was just playing with the referrals in my own account and realized we could generate one for a card we didn't own. Pretty interesting. Maybe worth taking advantage of it even if it puts him at 5/24 for a while. We get new cards so slowly it probably won't matter.

@mmmears -- I've mostly away from my computer all day, checking in here and there, but really find myself about 4 pages behind and catching up. I think you might've caught @SouthFayetteFan's post here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-love-credit-cards-so-much.3528202/page-2715#post-59817758. My understanding was this was previously only possible on Amex co-branded cards within the same family of cards.

If you or your husband already have an Amex-branded card, even if it's not the new Amex Gold/Rose Gold Card, you can generate a referral from that Amex card (i.e., your or your husband's Platinums) for the Amex Gold/Rose Gold Card or any of Amex's other cards, and the referral bonus would go to your or your husband's MR account accordingly. Because MRs cannot be combined between different members, you should consider where you want the respective bonus points to go when referring and applying.

We always encourage the people in this thread and on DISchurners to seek the best offer and if you have the ability to self-refer yourself or refer a partner to the new Amex Gold/Rose Gold Card or any of Amex's other cards, please do so. This would net yourself the referral bonus and the welcome bonus (or the referral bonus to one player, and the welcome bonus to the other).

 

[Calfan]

I was going to respond privately, but I figured this might help others... I value MRs much higher lately because of the pretty spectacular transfer bonuses. The recent 30% VS transfer bonus really helped on my Japan trip, and the current 40% with BA would have been even better. I did my JAL award tickets through BA and it would have saved me a ton of MRs. (MR and UR both transfer 1:1 to BA and VS so those bonuses really improve the spend power of MRs for BA and VS). I know you are planning Japan next year so it's really something to think about. You'd have to make a transfer now or before it ends 11/15 and hope there aren't any changes by time your Japan trip comes up, but that's a lot of saved avios when you are talking about 160k-200k round trip per person to fly business or first to Japan. The benefit is also that BA pools miles in the household if you set up a household account so you could use DHs avios very easily. I don't mind transferring speculatively because I use Avios and Virgin Miles all the time for trips to the UK. You can see the current and past transfer bonuses here: https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/current-point-transfer-bonuses/ They have a lot of them.

That could make a lot of sense, except I need to keep my MRs as MRs for now, because my first priority is transferring them to Emirates to upgrade our flights home from Africa. If I traveled to the U.K. as frequently as you do (which could change if DD ends up at university in Scotland or England like her good friend CaliforniaGirl's DD) then I could see a speculative transfer in the future, but it's a no go for now. I am definitely beginning to value MR more highly though.

Right now I'm thinking about applying for the Gold myself at the end of the month right after I apply for CIP (assuming my Aspire still hasn't hit my credit report on 10/26).

 

[WVMomof3]

I had no plans for Amex cards anyway at this time, but I am feeling left out. lol I only have the SPG Biz. I don't even see on there where you could refer to other SPG cards either.

 

[Lain]

Thanks! I'm going back-and-forth with myself about this card. I really want to hold out for a 100K Plat for either dh or me. But this new Gold's categories really fit in with our spending (4x supermarkets!) and we would use the airline and dining credits (monthly Shake Shack date!). We're both 2/24. Dh is a not-terribly-willing P2 who said he'd be willing to get an Amex to diversify points. So that's cool

I'll see how I feel in December when it's time for new cards. I really want the rose gold one

If you sign up for the new Gold card in December, you can potentially triple dip the $100 airline credit on one $250 AF, if you plan to cancel the card after one year. If you decide that the new Gold card is a keeper, then it doesn't really matter. Just be sure to decide and get your application in well before 1/9/19 if you want the Rose Gold card.

 

[alryan]

Which resort in Punta Cana? We’ve been several times and depending when you are going the prices are awesome. We’ve always booked directly with the resort for the free transfers and an extra loyalty discount.

It was Dreams Puna Cana. The price was for the end of October 2019. I know that’s the end of hurricane season, but my daughter has three days off then. Can’t remember if Dreams is one that people I know have been to or not.

 

[Psychodisney]

I had no plans for Amex cards anyway at this time, but I am feeling left out. lol I only have the SPG Biz. I don't even see on there where you could refer to other SPG cards either.

Same with me! There is so much love for the rose gold and MRs. I need to learn more about MRs!