The Amex Explorer is back on the 100K Member Rewards (Gateway) signup bonus. The last time this ran, referrals earned 110K points, but I don't have a referral code. I'm sure those who do will soon be here to help out.
AmEx Explorer: 100K Signup Bonus (Spend $1500 in 3 Months, $395 AF, $400 Travel Credit)
1830
Referral Links
Business Explorer Card: random (1)
Referrer: 40,000 Reward Points
Centurion Personal Charge Card: random (7)
Referee gets 200,000 MR points. Referrer gets 150,000 MR points.
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Anyone with another Amex issued credit card like Plat Edge, Velocity Card, etc. applied for this Explorer in APRIL 2017 and received the bonus?
Hey Guys,
Thought id Share my experience with everyone.. I Previously Applied for the Explorer card in November last year hoping to get the 100K points. I currently hold An Amex Platinum edge.
The point system was linked upon signing up ( I was getting 2 Accent point per $) after spending 3k on the card i still didn't get the points. I then called Amex to unlinked the point system but got Nervus since 30 days of activation was coming up and i would had to pay 395 Annual fee for nothing..
I then cancelled the card With no fees and a bonus was.. they Left the 400 Travel Credit in my account by accident.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/262944After a few months of seeing the big promotion again..i got tempted and decided to try again.. End of March/early April i reapplied for the Explorer under a referral ( 80K points) to try again and got the 80K points today after meeting the spending..
Steps i took
1 - Apply for the card
2 - Upon getting the card ( check the App. if it says Check points on card blah then it's linked). Call Amex and Unlink it. i gave them some BS that i was going to cancel the plati edge card in the near future so they would unlink it.. it was a bit annoying since the operator was telling me that 2 Accent point is greater than 2 Gateway points. They unlinked it anyway after i pushed it to happen.
3 - Spend 1.5k.
4 - Get the points after transaction has cleared.
5 - If you dont get the points.. you can cancel it within 30days with no charges or 31 days and they will pro-rata a month. 395/12 (32 bucks a month)Also, You can apply for AMEX Life insurance with the amex card 20K points. You can cancel after 2 months ( it cost 5.50 Per month for me.). 20k for 5-20bucks depending on the age… worth it.
Hope this helps people who has a card and wants to test.
Wow really where did you find out about the life insurance thingy. That's awesome if that's the case.
Got a link to the 20K points for life insurance? Only see one month free, no bonus points.
How can I find the 20K life insurance reference?
thanks
Um… i had no reference number.. Well i was actually looking at American express products and comparing life insurance with AAMI and other companies..
So i filled out the details and i closed the website prior to making payment. Then.. A few days later someone from American express (SYDNEY) Called me and offered the product to me. I said no at first then he mentioned that there was a bonus (20K) going on right now.
EG :
1 : You cannot have your you and your partner signing up with Life insurance on one card. only 20k will Trigger upon first payment
2 : Person has never signed up with Zurich life insurance before.So after a 20 mins phone call, Going through everything.. The operator agreed that Zurich will cover me. I confirmed with the operator.. If i signed my mother up for life insurance, would i get the points. He said no. I asked him again.. if i can sign up her on another card which was my explorer. He said it will Trigger both times. So i scored 40K points. Also going through the website is fine apparently but go through a phone call to make sure if you want.
Note that i said you can cancel in 2 months because first month is free!Hope this helps!
Which reward system did you unlink it from? I have the Plat Edge with Ascent but no other amex cards, so this will link with Gateway right? If so, no need to unlink with anything in my case?
And did you tick the "I have an existing Amex Card" checkbox when applying for this card?
Hi FeZza,
So if you currently hold the Plat Edge, You will be on the Ascent program automaticlly.
If you sign up with the Gateway, you will be most likely be on the Asent program linked together ( you will be earning 2points but 1.5 since it's lower)I Un ticked the Exiting Amex card but i dont think it matters. if you want PM me, ill try and help you out if i can.
Thanks mate! Just got the card and activated it and checked it's already linked to Gateway rewards instead of my current Ascent (with my Edge), so I'm all set to spend and qualify for the bonus points?
Hey Fez,
I think so. as long as you can see
Explorer - Gateway points :xxx
Edge - Ascent Points :xxxalso you will have 2 travel vouchers. 400 and 200.
AMEX has a bug currently.. they can only display one of the vouchers. since you have linked it this way, you will see only 200.You will need to call AMEX and tell them to UNLINK the Plat or Explorer from ONLINE then redeem the voucher and then call up and relink it back.
I was on the phone with them for an hour the other day. wasn't fun when the operator didn't know about the bug.Thanks
@Phuiie:
Sure is, Explorer - Gateway, Edge - AscentI've now done the $1,500 spend, will wait a week before calling up about my points.
I do see the $400 travel credit, but not on the Edge because I used that last year soon after applying for the Edge. Also because the edge voucher last year was for any flight and not a dollar amount.
After receiving the bonus points, I should be calling up to link my Explorer with Ascent rewards correct?
Hi Phuiie,
Do you know since when do they charge the annual fee? 30 days after it was approved or the day it was activated(through call I suppose)?
If the explorer card is not activated yet, then I apply another platinum edge, will it be free or still have to pay annual fee for the first year?
And are you saying that after you got the bonus points on explorer, you can relink the two and enjoy the ascent program instead?
Thanks, never used a credit card before, haha
Hi Alohame,
From my card history, i applied for my card um… 20th of March? i received it on the 27th and it had a 395 charge on the 28th.
From my understanding you can link the point system afterwards again. some guys from ozbargin has confirmed. i haven't done it myself yet will let you know how it goes when i get my Life insurance points (May 4th).
Im not sure about he platinum edge fee waived since i had it prior to my explorer!. sorry.
Hope this helps.It helps, thanks mate!
Can I buy Woolies gift cards via cash rewards to get to the 1500 spend?
Silly question I know, but not treated like a cash advance or something else?
Thanks!Yes. You can.
can someone confirm, once you get the 100K points ($700) , can you use that to pay off your AMEX credit card statement?
No you cannot pay off your credit card statements with points.
just found out that you can indeed, very cool credit card offer
Ok that I didn't know about. Not good use of points but each to their own I suppose.
I've got some good news for existing card members! Although my points didn't come through automatically (I applied the first week of April when it was supposedly already harder to get bonus points for existing members) , I rang up on Monday and asked for them. I didn't threaten to cancel, I just asked for my points. The lady on the phone said she could see I was eligible for the promotion and that she would manually add them to my account. Wait 3 to 5 days, she said. Within a few hours, they showed up! I then rang back to re-link the Explorer account to my Platinum Edge (Ascent), another very helpful rep said that was a smart idea and got it done on the spot. Wait 48h she said (and again this was all done within hours) - I also got her to combine my logins so now everything shows up together while using the app!
Some things that may have worked in my favour:
- I applied via a referral link
- I created a new Amex profile for the new card
- When I noticed the cards were still linked, I rang up to de-link
- I then started to spend the $1,500I now get to keep the much wanted 3 points for supermarket spend whilst getting 2 points for virtually everything else (except for Govt spend), all at a 1:1 rate for frequent flyer miles transfers!
I spent hours and hours reading up on this so feel free to PM me if you have any questions!
Thanks for your update and congrats!
Just a quick question, when you relinked the cards, do your 100k points show up automatically, i.e. in the platinum edge ascent account?Correct, now under the Explorer is says 'View your point balance under card (PE)'. And under my PE it shows the combined points 'Ascent: xxx points'.
Hi,
Does that mean that you now have 100k Ascent points and can convert to other airlines at 1:1? Thanks.
@divious: Certainly have, or 'had' I should say, they're already redeemed on a nice business class flight!
Any idea how long the card takes to be received in the post?
nvm. received.
Just letting people know I recently (1 month ago) cancelled my AMEX Platinum, I saw this offer and applied for the Explorer card, despite previously having a platinum card, have just received the 100,000 points bonus.
Good to hear, I guess there are now enough recent cases of existing/recent AmEx card holders who have received their bonus points (again, happy to share the steps I took via a PM with those who are interested).
lukits01,I assume you are now on the Gateway program though? Are you planning on getting a Platinum Edge on top of this to move up to Ascent?
Nah, I worked out the explorer is better for me.
Only had the platinum for the free Virgin flight reward which has been discontinued.
I had the QF Amex card which was cancelled in December last year. Applied for this card in April, met the required spend 2 weeks ago and haven't seen the bonus points yet. Called up today to enquire and was told that they could see I had held a card in the previous 18 months and therefore wasn't eligible for the bonus promotion on offer.
that's sad
Others may have flown under the radar with computerised approvals etc.
But I can imagine if you ring up and they are looking through their system manually looking for a reason for no bonus, then they would ID that. Use up the travel credit and cancel the card. And try again later.
But I can imagine if you ring up and they are looking through their system manually looking for a reason for no bonus, then they would ID that.
That wasn't the case for me. The rep I spoke to credited the points manually despite me having another AmEx card already. Having de-linked the card helped I guess. This wasn't an ignorant rep either, she came across as very much aware of all promotions/conditions and was extremely helpful and to the point.
Hurry up folks, only 4 days left before this promo runs out!
Oh yes. It is mentioned somewhere else - it is important that the account is not linked to another Amex rewards scheme. I rang and delinked, and THEN did my minimum spend and got the bonus points. (That was a few months ago though)
Just spoke to a rep today and she told me if you add a supplementary card to your account in May, you will get 3000 bonus points.
I just added 4 cards, hopefully this is true.
I have CPA gold card which uses Membership Rewards Gateway - $1spend = 1 point. Would this card be categorised same reward program card as explorer?
$1 amex spend = 2 points x 0.75 t'fer to FF programs = 1.5 velocity per $1 spend (add 15% during promo periods) = 1.725 velocity per $1 spend on amex explorer
Oh just searcged this. 100k promo over?
Read this: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/299466?page=1#comment-4562…
Random referral mean when you select the referra,l the link is randomise and is not specific to one person.