AmEx Gold Rewards Bonus Followup

Written by nickel - 16 Comments

Quick update on the AmEx Gold Rewards $250 bonus offer… I just ran across a post over at Finding Financial Peace talking about how they signed up, got the 25,000 bonus points, and then successfully turned them in $250 in store gift cards.

I went ahead and applied for an American Express Card (business card, but anyone can get it as a “sole proprietor”)… I was supposed to receive 25,000 membership rewards after making my first purchase (of any amount, even $1). These membership rewards can be cashed in for a free airline ticket or for gift cards.

Well… I am very happy to report that I just received my free $250 in gift cards in the mail!!! Yup! $250 in free gift cards!! There are lots of stores to choose from.

Also note that the bonus points can be cashed in for a free round-trip airline ticket.

As for applying, FFP is correct in that you can apply as a “Sole Proprietor” — simply use your own name in place of the business name, and your SSN instead of a taxpayer ID number.

If you’re interested, it’s still not too late to apply. AmEx recently extended this offer, but it’s set to expire soon. While it’s that they’ll extend it again, as of right now you need to apply in the next couple of days to get in on the action.

Click here to apply now.

Published on October 12th, 2007 - 16 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards
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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

Wow this sounds like a great offer, I may just apply for it!
Comment by Xias — Oct 12th 2007 @ 11:00 am
Sounds like a great offer except for the $125 annual fee after the first year.

I suppose you could always cancel the card after the first year, but what’s the point in even messing with it in the first place?
Comment by Doc — Oct 12th 2007 @ 11:09 am
Applied late Monday, got the card yesterday, used it yesterday, put it in the drawer, awaiting my bonus deciding what to do with it. I’ve been eyeing a new computer at Dell, this would give me 250 off it.
Comment by Pat — Oct 12th 2007 @ 12:36 pm
I turned mine into a round trip flight on Southwest. I do like the card for my business, but the annual fee could be a deal breaker in 12 months. . .
Comment by rocketc — Oct 12th 2007 @ 1:44 pm
I plan on signing up for it myself. A free airline ticket is too good to pass up. Especially when my wife can get a card as well, and we can each get a free airline ticket. (I just have to verify which airlines the offer is good for, otherwise I may have to et gift cards).
Comment by Patrick — Oct 12th 2007 @ 3:54 pm
Nickel, thanks for posting about these great offers! I used the gift cards from AmX to start my Christmas shopping today!

I also just applied for the CitiBusiness PremierPass to get another $150. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Comment by Jennifer — Oct 12th 2007 @ 8:08 pm
“lots of stores to choose from.” Would you mind naming a few? Thanks!
Comment by bonnie — Oct 13th 2007 @ 11:59 am
Be advised that 25,000 rewards points CANNOT be converted to $250.00 in gift cards. Amex today says that rewards points can ONLY be applied to airline ticket and certain other items (rental car, etc.) with both on-line and phone offers but NOT gift cards (per Abhinav at AMEX).
Comment by Robert — Oct 13th 2007 @ 12:00 pm
Please disregard prior post (#9). AMEX nows says the points CAN be converted to gift card (per Sarab). I broke my own rule about cross-checking every offer at least three times before signing up. Quite frequently the reps have no idea what they’re talking about. Apologies for the confusion.
Comment by Robert — Oct 13th 2007 @ 12:15 pm
Yeah, the points can definitely be converted into gift cards. If you’re interested in some of the stores for which you can get gift cards, click through to Finding Financial Peace and see what she selected. There are a lot of others, as well, but I don’t have an exhaustive list.

Comment by nickel — Oct 13th 2007 @ 1:17 pm
Thanks for the info on the great offer!

My question is regarding applying the rewards points to American Express Gift Cards. Are there any fees associated with redeeming the points for the Amex gift cards or additional fees when using the gift cards to purchase something?
Comment by Zak — Oct 14th 2007 @ 4:33 am
Zak: No, it’s a straightup exchange of points for gift cards, and the cards have no additional fees. The only possible fees (aside from the annual fee if you keep the card for more than a year) is that some stores have inactivity fees on their gift cards if you don’t use them within a prescribed period of time (usually on the order of a year or two).

Comment by nickel — Oct 14th 2007 @ 7:41 am
Here is a link showing the stores you can get gift cards to: http://www.membershiprewards.com/catalog/shopping/. Just to point out, these are store gift cards, not American Express gift cards. You can get American Express gift checks that you can use at any store but it will cost you 5,000 points for a $25 gift check - totally not worth it since 5,000 points will get you a $50 gift card at most of the other stores.
Comment by Jennifer — Oct 14th 2007 @ 5:33 pm
Just a note to anyone who signed up for this: if you currently have a personal card from Amex that you access through their website — DO NOT simply add another card to your login, as I did. There’s $10 ‘linkage’ fee that I was unable to get reversed without loosing the 25,000 bonus miles on the business card.
Comment by mit kaese — Oct 25th 2007 @ 7:58 pm
Ugh, wish I would have known that sooner. I already did that. Oh well.
Comment by Zak — Oct 26th 2007 @ 3:05 am
mit: Yes, I’ve written about the linkage fee in the past. See here.

Comment by nickel — Oct 26th 2007 @ 8:37 am