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steve76 wrote:

Update: the button did finally appear on the app for one of my cards (it must have been between 3 and 4 hours after the email). I just wish they did things in the right order…

It has now appeared for me as well on the BAPP card.

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How typical of Amex…

“Hello left hand. Have you met right hand yet?”

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I got the email today as well.

For my Platinum card (default in the app), there are three large buttons just below the ‘Statements and Activity’ blue text which is roughly in the middle of the screen. Below that, three large buttons are Make Payment, Digital Card and Manage PIN.

Strangely though for my BAPP card, those buttons read Make Payment, Manage PIN and Manage Notifications. There is nothing under the ‘Account’ tab (right hand side) for that card either.

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I would go to your TfL account and immediately change the password. Better to be safe than sorry. After all, it’s not the first time TfL have been hacked.

Be aware that if you have a registered card with TfL that you have used its physical card to travel with and the same card using an electronic wallet like Apple Pay, it will be listed in your TfL account more than once. In this case though, the respective card numbers will be the same.

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@Peanut1981 You mentioned the possibility of Virgin in a couple of your posts, so I’ll chime in to say you can also look at a combination of the Amex Gold card plus one of the two Virgin Atlantic cards. Any savvy points collector will tell you it is sound advice to have a non-Amex card in your wallet for those inevitable cases where a retailer won’t take Amex (typically smaller establishments like a local hairdresser and quite a lot of insurance companies). I am not too clued-up on them but the Virgin cards also allow you to earn a companion voucher in a similar way to BA.

I can’t emphasise enough the points made by the members before me: you want to maximise your spend on cards. That means avoid paying cash; even if you’re just getting a coffee, be sure to put it on your card. Household bills like energy and council tax can also be put on one type of card or another. Just check that you are not paying a ‘penalty’ for doing so.

One final tip: use the Avios or Virign shopping portals when buying online goods. Places like Apple, John Lewis, Harrods, Selfridges and all sorts of retailers will award multiple bonus points per £, simply by purchasing through their respective portals. These are on top of what your credit card(s) earn per £ so there are plenty of opportunities to supplement your arsenal.

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This sounds like a classic tale of Amex’s “super-reliable” chat bot online reps. I find it hard to believe how the online chat is a good alternative to speaking with someone on a call. From experience, the online chat lot try their utmost to leave them alone and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what you experienced.

Of course I can’t say 100% for certain that their policy hasn’t changed. But all in all, I’d say you are best off calling the new accounts/applications team on their 0800 number.

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cats_are_best wrote:

On Harrods Amex and Centurion today…

£50 statement credit when you make a single, eligible transaction of £115+ online at The Economist Subscriptions by 30/3/2026. Valid once per Card for the first 45,000 Cardmembers to save.

…must be popping up on others too.

Exactly the same offer has appeared for me on a few cards: BAPP, Platinum, Business Gold.

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Andrew J wrote:

My Selfridges one is spend £600 get £60. The first vaguely useful offer of the year so far – I was begining to think Amex were starting to phase out offers.

I have this on my BAPP in a different form. £200 spend for £30 back. I have previously had £400 spend for a similar cashback amount IIRC.

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Aston100 wrote:

I seem to recall someone asking (a few years ago) about household insurance providers that accept amex.

I would definitely find that useful!
Amex frequently sends out questionnaires asking where their customers would like to use their cards. I find insurance is an area that is not adequately covered by Amex.

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Raskolnikov wrote:

EDF take Amex

I second that. They’ve accepted Amex for quite a number of years.

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The Urbanite wrote:

rum wrote:

It will be interesting though to see if the HSBC World Elite Premier card also gets a refresh.

Do all applications for HSBC Premier cards result in a hard credit search?

I suppose the Premier WE card had one first when the points rate increased from 2 to 3 points per £1 of spend in late 2024, the free card is just catching up and having some of the benefits rationalised. Big fan of the product because of the transfer bonus offers.

That’s interesting – thanks for that.
I knew the WE card had a refresh, but didn’t realise the earning rate actually went up. Seems like that was a reaction to the Barclays Avios offering. I think the HSBC cards are likely to have better customer services than Barclays, but you are right: only the WE card is really worth it for the earning rate. That’s especially true for non-£ sterling spend.

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So the free HSBC Premier card is going to be marginally better than it was for UK £ sterling spend, but no different on foreign spend. When compared to the Barclaycard Avios cards, HSBC’s World Elite Premier card wins on foreign spend (2 points to the £ equivalent), but it doesn’t result in an upgrade voucher. Otherwise the free Barclaycard Avios card is just fine as a non-Amex backup.

It will be interesting though to see if the HSBC World Elite Premier card also gets a refresh.

Do all applications for HSBC Premier cards result in a hard credit search?

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Wiseoldman wrote:

Currently some people are getting the free yer offer and others are being told fee is payable. Algo at work

Oh I see. It’s all going that way now…

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doningtonphil wrote:

When I enquired about downgrading from Platinum business to Gold they advised that diesnt qualify for fee free in the first year, I would be hit wiht th annual charge on my first statement

They don’t know what they’re talking about. I have down this many times and I have never had to pay a fee on the Gold card. Unless I kept it for >12 months of course.

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easyJet plus membership – Spend £249 to get back £125
On Gold Credit. Also received a targeted email.

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jay1804 wrote:

Yes it counts towards your spend target.

Amex Offers credits don’t minus spend or points.

Yup, I can vouch for this too (and it doesn’t apply just for Platinum spend target).

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R76 wrote:

The blurb at the top of that page specifically says “when you upgrade from the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card or The American Express Rewards Credit Card”.

That’s a very good observation.
But it hasn’t always been like that. I distinctly remember it being advertised as purely an upgrade from Gold Credit, with a separate page for upgrading from the Gold Charge. Seems like they finally woke up and made this clarification.

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davefl wrote:

HUh? It’s always the first Saturday in Dec and one day only. I’m just surprised that they’ve not been promoting the heck out of it for weeks as they usually do.

Back in the good old days, the Shop Small campaign went on for a good two weeks in early December, if my memory serves me well. That meant you could get the £5 back on spend throughout those two weeks. Looks like those times are far behind us…

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Previously, I upgraded my ARCC to Plat using the standard Gold -> Plat upgrade route.

There is currently a bonus upgrade offer here:
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/benefits/upgrade/platinum/

Best thing to do is to log in to the account that you want to upgrade, then open this link in a new tab in the same browser. Click the ‘Upgrade now’ button and it should immediately take you to the application page. If it doesn’t allow the upgrade, it will display a message saying ‘you have no eligible cards’ or something like that.

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davefl wrote:

Rather than formally linking your wise with paypal, why don’t you just do a payment to your US Wise account bank number USD to USD with the transfer money option? Or is that what you tried?

That’s what I was referring to regarding Revolut in my previous post in this thread.

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Do you have a UK Revolut account with GBP and USD currencies set-up? Maybe send it to your Revolut in USD?

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I just found that a quick trip to M&S Food on Friday paid by Amex has tracked to my airtime. Totally unexpected and though Amex wasn’t working properly.

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Harrier25 wrote:

I’ve just gone through a dummy transaction to pay £1,000 into my self assessment account at HMRC using my Starling business debit card and the surcharge payable is £1.10.

That’s really good to know – thanks for sharing this. I wonder how that compares with other business accounts. I have Starling Business and couldn’t be happier with them.

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JDB wrote:

Thank you. Stacks with the Nespresso Black Friday 20% off 100 pods BF20 offer.

I can’t get the BF20 code to work. It’s BF15 for me which works out at 15% off on 200 capsules.

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Matt wrote:

When I signed up for the Marriott card I was asked if I’d be using it for business spend, with a popup info box that said that if it was for business then they could open other spending categories for points earning, and possibly higher rates I think. I’m using it for personal use so didn’t investigate further at the time.

Thank you. Sounds like there is a path to business use and that it’s worth looking into it further.