Amex Refer A Friend: How to Get Links (Offers, Bonuses) [2020]

Offers contained within this article maybe expired.

Over the past few years, I have earned tens of thousands of points with the Amex Refer a Friend program and it is one of the best kept secrets of American Express.

This article will show you where (and how) to get American Express referral offer links for different credit cards and will show you what kind of referral bonuses you can expect to earn.

I’ll also show you some must-know things to avoid to make sure you don’t get kicked out of the referral program! 

What is Amex “Refer a Friend?”

Amex Refer a Friend is a program that allows you to earn bonus points when others use your referral link to apply for an Amex card and get approved.

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How does Amex Refer a Friend work?

Amex Refer a Friend is very simple and easy to use.

All you have to do is generate a special referral link and send that link to a friend or family member. If that person is approved then you’ll be entitled to special bonus points.

But there are some things you should consider before jumping on this referral program.

Timeframes

There are sometimes specific timeframes that the referral offers are good for. So you really need to pay attention to the deadlines so that you’re always offering a non-expired referral link.

Always double check that the link works before you send it out. If it is not currently valid, you will likely see a message saying something like “this offer is no longer available.”

Welcome offers

Another thing that you should always check on is what the welcome bonus is for that person you’re sending your referral link to.

You don’t want to send them a sub-par offer and sometimes the referral offers aren’t as good as the best available public offers. For example, you might send a friend an offer for 30,000 points but there might be a better offer for 40,000 points available to that friend. So try to verify that you are sending your friend the best offer available to them.

You can check on how to find the best welcome offers here.

How to get your referral links

There are a few ways to get your referral links.

First, you can go to the Amex referral page here. 

You either log-in with your Amex account information or you can input the number of your card.

I recommend just logging in to your Amex account because then you can just easily scroll through all of your referral offers.

Once you login you should see a page with all of the different cards that you can generate referral links for. The screen will show you how many points you can get for the referral and how many points the person you are referring can get from the welcome bonus.

You can then scroll down and choose the way you would like to share the referral link.

Amex Refer a Friend via Links

The simplest way to get your referral link is to just output a link. To do this scroll down and click on referral link. You can then text or share that link with your friends allowing them to easily apply.

Amex Refer a Friend via Social media

You can also refer others via social media on Facebook or Twitter.

If you click on one of the social media icons and you’re logged in, they will generate a pre-written post containing your referral link that will look like the image below. You can edit the post and it won’t go out until you confirm your message by hitting the post/tweet button.

Amex Refer a Friend via Email

You can also generate referral links via email but Amex has some strict conditions for using email to send Refer a Friend links.

If you want to send the card offer to your friends by email, you must only use the email tool that Amex provides.

Emailing your friends the card offer outside of the provided email tool is prohibited and will make you ineligible for the referral bonus. Why is this the case?

I’m not sure but it likely has something to do with financial regulations or compliance rules.

You’ll see the email tool on the main Refer a Friend log-in page, where you can add multiple email addresses.

In the email, they may disclose your name, email address and status as an American Express Card Member, and the fact that you will receive a bonus if they take advantage of the offer.

You should note that some of the individuals you refer may not receive a referral e-mail if they have previously “opted out” of receiving e-mail marketing communications from American Express. That is why I recommend simply generating a link and sharing that link via text message.

List of Amex Refer a Friend credit cards

Below is a list of most of the cards that offer Refer a Friend bonuses and examples of what they may offer. For a full list of every card that currently offers a referral check here.

You should know that these referral offers are subject to change and could disappear. Also, they all have annual limits on the points you can earn per year. For example, you might be limited to a total of 55,000 Membership Rewards per year or 80,000 Hilton Honors points. Always check the terms of the offer to be sure of the limits.

Platinum Card from American Express

•  15,000 Membership Rewards
• Full card review here

Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express

• 10,000 Membership Rewards

Blue Business Plus Credit Card

• 10,000 Membership Rewards

Blue Cash Preferred from American Express

• 75 Reward Dollars

Blue Cash Everyday from American Express

• 75 Reward Dollars

Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card

• 5,000 to 10,000 bonus miles

Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card

• 5,000 to 10,000 bonus miles

Hilton Honors American Express Card

• 15,000 points

Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card

• 20,000 points

Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

• 25,000 points

Amex EveryDay Card

• 10,000 Membership Rewards

Amex EveryDay Preferred Card

• 10,000 Membership Rewards

The Business Gold Rewards Card

•  10,000 Membership Rewards

The Plum Card

• $100 statement credit

Gold Delta Skymiles Business Credit Card

• 5,000 to 10,000 bonus miles

Platinum Delta Skymiles Business Credit Card

• 5,000 to 10,000 bonus miles

The Business Platinum Card

•  25,000 Membership Rewards

Can I find out who used my referral link?

No, this information is kept under wraps due to “the confidential nature of the credit approval process.” American Express states that “you will not be notified of whether we approve or decline any application(s) from individual(s) you refer.”

So the best route to take is to simply check back with your friend after a week or two to see if they were approved.

How long does it take to receive my points?

Amex states to “please allow 8-12 weeks for the referral bonus to post to your account after each referred individual is approved for the Card.”

You don’t have to always wait so long for your referral points. For example, I’ve received referral points for Amex cards in a matter of days before so sometimes the timeline is much shorter than you’d expect. If your card is brand new or if you are a new member to American Express then it likely will take extra long for your referral bonus to post to your account.

Generally, if you have not seen the points deposited in a couple of months, I would call in and inquire about the points especially if you know that the person you referred was approved.

What to do if Amex Refer a Friend is not working?

The Amex referrals are not always processed properly.

In fact, on a couple of occasions I’ve received emails from American Express apologizing for not processing referrals properly and then all of a sudden tens of thousands of points appear in my account.

This happened most recently with my Hilton card and I received the following message:

 What happened

Due to a technical error, when you referred your friend using the American Express® Card listed above, we mistakenly disqualified your account from receiving an eligible referral bonus. We apologize for not issuing your referral bonus when we should have, and for any inconvenience this error may have caused you.

We’re issuing points to your account

To make things right, we are crediting your account with the bonus points that you earned, but did not receive. You will see these points reflected on an upcoming billing statement. Please know you do not need to take any further action.

It’s difficult to trace though since you don’t receive confirmation of approvals. So if you’re sending out referral links to friends and family then it’s a good idea to follow up with them and check if they were approved.

Then you can wait a couple of months and if you don’t see any points in your account, then you can give American Express a phone call.

What to know about Amex Refer a Friend

There are a few bits of information found in the terms and conditions that you should be aware of.

For the most part, they just want to make sure that you’re not misrepresenting the offers or how any component of the referral system works. It’s mostly common sense but when posting your referral links in places like forums or on Reddit you need to be mindful about some of the specific restrictions for third-parties.

Might be taxable

Amex notes that the value of the referral bonus may be taxable income to you and that you are responsible for any federal or state taxes resulting from the referral bonus.

Banks are now often sending out tax forms for referrals so if you take advantage of several credit card referrals, you should expect to receive some type of tax form in the mail. If you had a handful of successful referrals this will likely amount to a few hundred dollars worth of income.

If you have any questions about this Amex will refer you to contact a tax advisor.

Let others you know you’re getting rewarded

When you invite a friend to participate in this program for purposes of earning yourself a Welcome or Referral Bonus, Amex states that “you must make sure your friend knows you could receive a reward from American Express if they are approved for a new Card.”

Basically, just be open about the fact that you might be benefiting and you’ll be in the clear.

Publish links

You should not publish or distribute your referral links in locations where the audience is likely to include individuals you do not know or who may not be interested in the Card Offer.

What I really take this to mean is that they don’t want you spamming people with referral links.

Posting links to websites/third-parties

To the extent you decide to post your referral link on any third party website or platform, such as a social media website, you must:

• Also comply with that third party’s terms of use and
• Make it clear to those who view your post that you will also receive a reward if they are approved for a new Card.

Amex also notes that:

by engaging in any such activity on a third party site (1) you will be, at your own risk, subjecting yourself to those third party sites’ privacy, security and consumer practices and policies which American Express does not endorse or control, and (2) that those third party sites may be able to tell, based on your activity, that you are an American Express Card Member.

You also acknowledge and accept that the friends you refer will be able to tell that you are an American Express Card Member.

Current cardholders

You cannot earn a referral bonus for those who already currently have the card you recommended or for individuals who have been referred by someone else.

Multiple referrals

You might be wondering what happens when two or more referrals are sent to a single person by multiple people.

If two or more card members invite the same individual to join on the same card offer, Amex will credit the reward to the person whose referral link was used to complete the sign up process.

Friends, family and known acquaintances

Amex states that the referral “program intends for you to invite only your interested personal friends, family and known acquaintances.”

Again, this goes back to trying to prevent people from spamming.

No misrepresentations

Amex wants to make sure that you’re not muddling up their marketing when you send out your referral links.

So whenever you refer your Card to a friend, “any additional statements you make, of which are not provided by American Express, about our Card products or the Referral Offer, must be

• consistent with the content and materials we provide you and/or your friends,
• truthful, accurate, factually supported, not misleading, and
• reflect your honest beliefs, opinions, or experiences with your Card.”

Don’t be shady

“Any modification or efforts to bypass, manipulate, obscure or otherwise modify the delivery and accurate presentation of the referral link, sharing tools, content, disclosures or other materials and instructions we provide will be considered a violation of these terms.”

So don’t try to cloak links and misrepresent the welcome bonuses or any other aspect of the credit card offers. Make sure they understand how many points they can expect to earn and that they understand how the spending requirements work.

Just be upfront about the referral offers and you won’t have any issues.

Update to the Amex refer a friend policy

Amex updated their refer a friend policy so that you can refer for different types of Amex cards from the card that you hold. For example, if you only have the Amex Gold Card you can now use referral links for other cards like the Amex Platinum and even non-Amex branded cards like the Delta and Hilton cards.

To do this, copy and paste your referral link into the browser bar and then click on “All Personal Cards” at the top and then you should see all of the eligible referral offers.

You should earn points in the currency for the card that you generated the link from (the card you actually hold) and not with the type of card you referred. So if you generated a link from your Amex Gold Card for the Hilton Ascend, then you should earn Membership Rewards and not Hilton points.

Can I refer myself?

Some people have used referral links to refer themselves to another American Express card. This has allowed them to earn additional points and is very tempting to many people. However some people who have done this have had their accounts closed, so I would recommend against doing this.

Do other banks offer referrals?

American Express is not the only issuer to offer credit card referrals.

For example, Chase has a referral program where they offer referrals for the following cards:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Freedom
• Chase Ink Preferred
• Chase Ink Cash
• Chase United
• Chase Southwest Plus and Premier
• Chase Disney Rewards Visa credit card 
• Chase Hyatt 
• Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card referral 

Other issuers like Barclays, Discover, and US Bank offer referrals for select products.

Final word

Amex Refer a Friend is a great program that helps take your reward earnings to the next level if used right.

It’s simple to generate link offers and the terms and conditions are easy enough to comply with so long as you refrain from spamming people and are upfront about the offers.

I recommend any Amex cardholder to check on referrals on a continual basis to make sure they aren’t leaving any points behind.