American Express Card Portfolio
Like many of you, I’m busier with American Express than any other card issuer. That generally means lots of cards coming in and going out. But recently, my wife and I have opted for many more to depart than arrive. In conjunction with those moves, we mapped out our plans and hopes for new Amex accounts. Along the way, we’ve found our biggest Amex reset ever rather refreshing. But our slimmer American Express card portfolio comes with one substantial downside. So what are we facing and how are we adapting?
Plummeting Referral Bonus Opportunities
One of the many ways we’ve enjoyed picking up additional Membership Rewards points (and cobranded rewards currencies, on occasion) is via credit card referral bonuses. A variety of banks offer such rewards to an individual who refers another person to a credit card, but Amex is the most generous here. With Amex, an existing cardholder can pick up a referral bonus regardless of the card product the person referred ultimately chooses.  Referral bonuses are particularly helpful for points and travel hobbyists who participate with multiple players, such as a spouse or domestic partner.
Of course, with fewer cards now, we have fewer opportunities to refer. Worse, only a subset of our American Express card portfolio has referral bonuses available. On top of all this, the offers are relatively inferior to what we’ve historically held. These are the Amex cards we currently hold and the referral bonuses available:
Me
- Amex Gold:Â No referral bonus
- Hilton Honors Amex Surpass:Â Zippy
- Delta SkyMiles Gold Amex:Â Nada
- Schwab Amex Platinum:Â $100
The Wife
- Amex Gold:Â 15k Membership Rewards Points
- Hilton Honors Surpass (Two Accounts):Â Zilch
- Hilton Honors No-Fee:Â 20k Hilton Honors Points
- Delta SkyMiles Gold Amex:Â Bupkis
- Schwab Amex Platinum:Â $100
Our Upcoming Moves
Obviously, we knew our referral bonus opportunities would take a hit when we decided to thin out our Amex profile. But now that we’re here, it’s a bit surreal. With only one referral option at such a low $100 amount, I clearly got the worst of it. Naturally, I’ll take it when referring my wife, since it’s still easy money and I have no other options. But otherwise, oh my, I’m feeling the longtime absence of consumer card referral bonuses now more than ever.
The wife’s a bit better off. The silver lining is that we noticed her consumer card referral bonus opportunities have improved. It’s been years since she’s been able to refer from a Membership Rewards-earning consumer card. But now, she can refer from her Amex Gold for an easy 15k points. This is probably the best it’s going to get for a bit, though. Unsurprisingly, she’ll ignore the Schwab Amex Platinum and Hilton Honors no-fee card referral bonuses.
Given my measly $100 referral option, I’m the biggest priority here. I need to pick up a Business Gold and/or Business Platinum sooner rather than later. But that was part of my plan, anyway, with the Business Gold. The Business Gold and Platinum have broadly offered 20k and 25k referral bonuses – at a minimum. That said, I’m not desperate for either simply for referral purposes. The right no-lifetime-language offer needs to come along, and I’m fairly optimistic I won’t have to wait long. If that entails my wife picking up elevated time-sensitive welcome offers via referral from my Schwab Platinum for now, so be it. On her side, 15k referral bonuses via Amex Gold are much easier to accept than my meager $100, but still can’t compare to the 20k, 25k, and well beyond we’ve seen for the past few years.
Consequently, neither of us can rationalize Amex annual fees as being counterbalanced by referral bonuses – not as much, at least. We’ll lean more on elevated welcome offers, unique ongoing spending opportunities, timing, and card benefits for that. But Amex has ample opportunities for that last one, particularly with the recently-refreshed Platinum and the ongoing value we obtain from the Gold’s consumer version.
American Express Card Portfolio – Conclusion
To an extent, our lacking referral bonus conundrum is temporary. We’ll each have a fuller American Express card portfolio soon enough, and referral bonus opportunities and capacity will come along with that. Along the way, though, we must be prepared if Amex potentially tweaks (lowers) the standard referral bonus offers. I’m not overly concerned here, though, considering Amex still offers a variety of methods to earn buckets of points.
How do you currently feel about Amex card referral bonus opportunities?
