Do you know someone who would love the benefits you enjoy with your American Express credit card?
With the Amex Refer a Friend program, you can earn rewards every time a friend gets approved for a qualifying Amex card with your referral link.
The Amex Refer a Friend program makes it easy to earn a significant number of bonus points, whether it’s Membership Rewards, Hilton Honors points, or other points associated with a co-branded Amex card.
Through the American Express Refer a Friend program, you can earn up to 150,000 bonus points every year.
What Is Amex Refer a Friend?
The Amex Refer a Friend program is a referral program available to American Express cardholders.
Through the program, you earn bonus points when someone you refer applies for an American Express card.
To qualify for points, you must refer someone who is approved for an Amex card using your personalized referral link generated through the Amex app or your Amex account.
How many points can you earn?
Through the program, you can earn up to 150,000 bonus points per year.
If you don’t refer friends using a co-branded Amex card and earn Membership Rewards points instead, that should be worth at least $1,500 — but you can get an even better value when transferring points to transfer partners.
If you have an American Express credit card, it pays to use the Refer a Friend program to refer friends and family members who can benefit from a card in the Amex portfolio.
You may know someone who wants to earn free hotel stays with Hilton or the travel perks that come with the Delta Reserve Credit Card from American Express.
When your friend uses your referral link, they’ll get a welcome offer and you’ll get a referral bonus.
How Does Amex Refer a Friend Work?
The Amex Refer a Friend program is very straightforward:
- Log into your Amex account or use the app to generate a referral link
- Send your referral link to friends via email, text, or the Amex mobile app
- When your friend uses your link to apply and gets approved, you get a referral bonus
Referral bonuses vary by credit card. With most Amex cards, you can get a bonus of 10,000 to 20,000 Membership Rewards points, 10,000 SkyMiles with the Delta cards, or 20,000 Hilton or Marriott Bonvoy points.
Unlike some credit card Refer a Friend programs, American Express essentially includes all of its credit cards in the program, not just a select handful.
You don’t even need to have the credit card you refer, nor does your friend need to apply for the card you refer them to.
You won’t know if someone you refer has applied or if and when they are approved — unless you ask them, of course. When a referral is approved for an Amex card, your referral bonus will be credited to your account within 8 to 12 weeks.
Referring Friends to Other Amex Cards
It’s important to note that American Express is different than other Refer a Friend programs: your friends don’t need to apply for the same credit card you have to get the bonus!
In 2018, Amex updated the program, allowing you to refer friends to any credit card in the same card family as yours.
For example, if you had the Hilton Honor American Express Surpass Card, you would still get the bonus if your friend applied for the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express instead.
Amex changed the rules yet again in October 2018. Now, you can refer friends to any American Express credit card, even if it’s outside the card family.
If you only have the American Express Gold Card, you can use your referral link and get a bonus if your friend applies for the The Platinum Card from American Express or a co-branded card like the Hilton Honors or Delta American Express cards.
When this happens, you’ll earn the bonus in the currency of the card you generated the link from, not the type of credit card you referred.
Say for example, you generate a link with your American Express Gold Card for the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, you’ll earn Membership Rewards points, not Hilton Honors points.
After generating your referral link, your friend will be taken to a referral landing page for the card you referred.
Below the “Apply Now” button will be a section called “Explore Other Cards” where they can click through to applications outside the card family you referred.
All credit cards will be eligible for a referral bonus, including business and personal cards.
As a general rule, you will get the referral bonus for the card you referred, no matter which card your friend chooses and gets approed for.
That’s a great bonus if you have a premium Amex card and want to refer someone who is better suited to a standard card with no annual fee or a lower annual fee.
Ways to Refer a Friend to Amex Cards
There are a few different methods to refer a friend to American Express credit cards. Learn the differnt ways below to get started earning points from referrals.
Refer a Friend Online
The easiest way to refer a friend online is to go to the Amex Refer a Friend landing page.
Log into your American Express account to scroll through all of your offers or enter your card information to see if your card is eligible for a referral offer.
When you see a referral offer for your card — or you want to choose another Amex card to refer — you will use the personalized referral link that’s been generated.
You can share this link with friends via text, email, Twitter, or Facebook. If you choose to share the link via social media, a pre-written post with your referral link will be generated but you can edit the post if you like.
American Express requires that you only use their email tool to send referral offers to friends by email.
Important note: if you email the referral code outside of this tool, you become ineligible for the bonus.
To refer friends by email, choose the email option and add your friends’ email addresses and first names.
Refer a Friend on Mobile
You can also refer friends to Amex directly through the Amex app.
This is a convenient option when you’re traveling and get questions about your travel benefits or you’re out with friends and would otherwise forget to send a referral link later.
To refer someone from the app, choose the “Account” option then select “Refer a Friend.”
You can enter your friend’s email address or send your referral link directly through the app.
Amex Cards That You Can Refer a Friend
You can refer a friend as long as you have an eligible American Express personal or business credit card.
Every card you have will show the referral bonus you can earn plus the welcome bonus your friend can receive.
Note: the welcome bonus for your friend may be different than the public offer for the card and it may actually be better!
The list of eligible credit cards includes the following, along with recent referral bonus (subject to change).
American Express Personal Cards:
- The Platinum Card from American Express: 15,000 Membership Rewards points per referral
- American Express Gold Card: 10,000 Membership Rewards points per referral
- American Express Green Card: 5,000 Membership Rewards points per referral
- Amex Everyday Credit Card: 10,000 Membership Rewards points per referral
- Amex Everyday Preferred Credit Card
- Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express: $75 reward dollars per referral
- Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express
- American Express Cash Magnet Card
- Plum Card from American Express: $100 statement credit per referral
American Express Business Cards:
- The Business Platinum Card from American Express: 25,000 Membership Rewards points per referral
- American Express Business Gold Card
- Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express
- Business Green Rewards Card from American Express
- American Express Blue Business Cash Card
Hilton Honors Credit Cards:
The Hilton Honors cards make it easy to earn free Hilton stays faster than ever.
Earn between 7x and 14x Hilton bonus points on Hilton stays on top of base and elite status points plus enjoy automatic elite status and other travel perks.
- Hilton Honors American Express Card: 15,000 Hilton Honors points per referral
- Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card: 20,000 Hilton Honors points per referral
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: 25,000 Hilton Honors points per referral
- Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: 20,000 Hilton Honors points per referral
Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards:
The Delta SkyMiles cards come with a host of travel perks like free checked bags, access to Delta Sky Clubs, priority upgrades, and companion tickets. You’ll also earn SkyMiles that can be redeemed for free Delta flights.
- Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express: 10,000 SkyMiles per referral
- Delta Reserve Credit Card from American Express
- Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express
- Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card from American Express
- Platinum Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card from American Express
- Delta Reserve for Business Credit Card from American Express
Marriott Bonvoy Credit Cards:
With the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card, you’ll enjoy complimentary elite status in Marriott Bonvoy plus free night certificates, Marriott statement credits, Priority Pass Select membership, and free Global Entry. You’ll also earn bonus Marriott points to redeem for free Marriott stays.
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card: 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per referral
Wrap Up
The Amex Refer a Friend program makes it easy to give your friends the opportunity to start earning rewards and travel perks while enjoying bonus points for yourself.
With an average value of 1.8 cents each, even 10,000 Membership Rewards points as a referral bonus can be worth $180 or more depending on how you use them.
The 20,000 bonus Marriott points you can get for referring a Marriott Bonvoy card is more than enough for a stay at a category 1 hotel or two stays during off-peak nights.
Know someone who can benefit from any American Express card, whether you have it or not?
Sending them a referral link is quick and easy and you can both benefit.
You can also learn how to refer a friend to Chase, Capital One, Barclays, and Discover.
FAQ
Who is eligible for Amex Refer a Friend?
You can participate in the Amex Refer a Friend program as long as you have a qualifying Amex card (most qualify!) and your account is in good standing.
What cards are included Amex’s Refer a Friend?
Virtually all American Express cards participate in the Refer a Friend program including Hilton Honors cards, Marriott Bonvoy cards, Delta SkyMiles cards, and Amex cards like the Platinum Card, Gold Card, Blue Cash cards, and Amex Everyday cards.
How do I create my Amex Refer a Friend referral link?
You can generate your Amex referral link by logging into your Amex account and choosing the “Refer a Friend” option, go to the Refer a Friend landing page, or use the Amex app.
How long does it take to earn the referral bonus?
According to American Express, it can take 8 to 12 weeks for the referral bonus to credit to your account. You may get the bonus much sooner, though; some people see the bonus post within a week or two.
How many points can I earn per year?
The Amex Refer a Friend program allows you to earn up to 150,000 points per year, although there are caps on how many referral bonuses you can earn per card. With most cards, you can earn up to 55,000 Membership Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy points, or Delta SkyMiles per year, or up to 80,000 Hilton Honors points.
Are business cards included in Amex Refer a Friend?
Yes! All Amex business cards participate in the Refer a Friend program including the American Express Business Gold Card, the Business Platinum Card from American Express, the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, and the Delta SkyMiles business cards.