This is a great offer applicable to new customers only or who haven't had an amex in a while.
500 bonus Airpoints Dollars: when you apply online by 27 September 2021, are approved and spend $1,500 on your new Card in the first 3 months.
New Card Members only $195 Annual Fees
Bear in mind amex is not accepted in all places I have about a 70pc success rate on my purchases.
Referrer gets 15 Airpoints Dollars. Referees should select the Airpoints card if not taken to the correct Amex card.
Referrer gets 40 Airpoints Dollars. Referees should select the Airpoints Platinum card if not taken to the correct Amex card.
Just note that - dont lie about your income, that could be fraud..
They never validated anything with me.
Need to have a personal gross (pre-tax) annual income of $65,000 or more.
Are they very strict about income? What if the income is below $65,000, is it gonna get decline straight away?
great deal - too bad i signed up to the 400 air points months ago.
Same here :(
yesterday i called to see if they would offer me 300 airpoints to retain me for another year (membership cost $195) and they said no!
Did you cancel?
Yep, i cancelled
They do offer me 300 Airpoints when I called them to cancel.
Anyone know how much is 500 airpoints equivalent to and how do you usually use it?
500 airpoints equivalent to 500 dollars, you can use in some shops/ restaurants as well as using them on flights
And at\in the Airpoints store of course https://www.airpointsstore.co.nz/.
One stop you can pay with Airpoints at is Mitre 10.
After lockdown ended that's where most of my Airpoints went, I figured I wouldn't be able to use them on flights for a while…
1 AP = $1 NZD
If it’s close to your renewal, call and cancel, and they’ll generally offer you a credit equivalent to the cost of the renewal fee.
Just act as though you’re willing to properly cancel (I’ve done this at least 3 times)
I too have done this 4 years running now
May I ask what reason do you usually give them please. Tried to pretend I was going to cancel but they didn't offer me any retention except to downgrade to $149 Edge card. Was hoping they would give me 100000 points to cover the fee.
interesting.. I just say I want to cancel due to the annual fees. What card do you have atm? Airpoints downgrade to an Edge (which is amex points based) seems like a strange redirect.
@simch: Sorry, didn't make it very clear. I have AMX platinum membership reward, annual fee $325. Its one of the old cards which offer 2 points on all spendings. Last year AMX offered me 100000 points to keep the card. So I thought they might do it again but no luck. Apparently they only offer retention once every two years in USA. Wonder how they decide the offer or maybe you spend quite a lot on the card, and they want to keep your business. Do they usually offer you just enough airpoints to cover your card or a lot more? Thanks
@Superpower21: Which card is this? I'm not familiar with any Amex card recently offered with $325 annual fee. I have 3 (Platinum Airpoints, Edge, and Standard Airpoints) which have annual fees of $195, $149, and $0 respectively.
All my non-supermarket spending goes on the Platinum Airpoints with Edge reserved only for supermarket spending (Edge has best reward to spending ratio for supermarkets) so maybe why I get different treatment?
They usually offer airpoints that cover the annual subscription and then some.
For Platinum Airpoints they offered $300 (annual fee is $195) and for the Edge I suspect they'll offer 50000 which is equivalent to $333 airpoints dollars if converted.
@simch: The card is called platinum membership rewards (very old card, not available anymore). They bought the platinum edge to replace this one. Here is the link https://www.americanexpress.com/nz/credit-cards/membership-b…
Wow, 3 different cards! So you have got $195+$149 fee waived for 4 years plus some extra points? That's very impressive. I love American Express, especially all the cash rebate promotions they have. Good that you have free airpoint card with 10 times 'spend $10 get $5 back' as well. Now it makes this card more appealing to me. 🤣
@Superpower21: oh wow I was just going to say that looks exactly like my Edge. I'd say that's probably why they prefer you moved onto the Edge? Though you did say you got the 100000 retention bonus last year so if they only retired you card last year, that debunks my theory.
Yep that's right. I've been net gaining points through Amex, bless them. $10 get $5 back is a treat, and before that $50 get $20 back too. I also have 3 supplementary cards for each one making it a total of up to 8 cards that can be used for every single spend promo :)
@simch: Haha… I feel we need to form our little AMX users group, as we both have lots of cards.
I thought both cards are the same until I check the policy documents. Platinum membership rewards card does cover more and have a bit more benefits. I like I can earn 2 points everywhere, but obviously edge gets the free domestic return flight ear year.
Would you keep both cards if you had to pay the fees? Airpoints card earning rate is good but air new zealand is very stingy in term of release reward tickets. You can only maximise the rewards when you redeem outside NZ with other airlines. So I am not very keen to get the card.
@Superpower21: Oh yeah there's definitely an Amex group that could do well as a sub-group within Cheapies or something lol…
My Edge gets me 3 points per $1 at supermarkets, and 2 points per $1 at petrol stations. Given that, would you say that 2x points on everything would net you more points on an annual basis? (I guess if you go to restaurants a lot then my question doesn't really apply)
I would stick with just Airpoints Platnium if I had to pay the fees.
Are you able to eloborate what you mean by Air NZ being stingy? From my experience I have had 0 restrictions using Air NZ dollars as they are accepted like cash when booking on Air NZ and Grabaseat.
@simch: Yes I definitely earn more points with my card, that's why I have to suck it up, paying $325 this year and try asking them again for the retention offer next year. Please keep me updated if you have more luck next year too.
Yes using the airpoints like normal is no problem at all. I have been doing that too as we can't really go overseas since covid-19. But once we can travel again, you can use this chart to maximise your points.
https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airline-partner-reward-chart
Eg. Tromso (Norway) to Longyearbyen (Arctic) is 960km, you only need $125 airpoints one way with SAS airline. I paid $263 nzd (economy but lowest class). This was before I knew about the chart.
Or for Japan, Tokyo to Hokkaido is about 1300km, you will pay $350 by train or flight, but its only $150 airpoints with one of the Asian Airlines. Hope this makes sense to you.
There are a lot of things you can do with the membership reward points if you look into it.
@Superpower21: ahh I see what you mean by stingy, this is great. Thanks for sharing this, I didn't know this existed til now and understand your hesistancy to use Air NZ dollars.
So in terms of the points you earn with your $325 card, do you tend to convert them into Air Miles or book stuff through Amex Travel? (Just curious what you use the majority of your points for)
@simch: Yes, air nz is very stingy in terms of releasing award tickets, so does qantas. Try avoiding those two to maximise your points.
I have redeemed through Amex travel many times as 133.34 pts = $1 (best value). Also redeemed vouchers (not very good value) and quite a few concerts and shows.
I started looking into the airmiles in 2019 and was stocked how I could maximise my points. To give you an idea, 2 MR (membership reward) = 1 AM (Asia miles). 30000 AM is a one way economy ticket to Asia, 85000 AM is one way business ticket to London.
It really comes down to where you want to go, if you travel in NZ lots, then your airpoints card is the best. I like to keep my point in MR, that gives me great flexibility and my points never expires. I had a spectacular plan for my points last year, but then covid happened….
If I knew what I have known now, I would not use Amex travel,
but the airmiles are constantly decreasing in value, especially after covid, so I would probably use some now as who knows when we can travel again.
I successfully did this just a few minutes ago.
Got the 400 signup bonus last year.
Getting close to renewal so called now and said I wanted to cancel.
Stated the reason was the card cost was too high to justify the airpoints that I couldn't spend well with covid.
They read through all the cancellation terms, it sounded like they were fully cancelling the card.
Then they offered me 300 airpoints to stay. Will stay with them since they give the best earn rate and this more than covers the fee.
Is there any inconvenience to use American Express credit card in NZ? Thanks.
It's not accepted every where. That's all. Specially small businesses won't due to high fees.
Got 400 airpoints about 15 months ago, before renewal, called to cancel, they offered me 200 airpoints and to downgrade to white (no fees) then a month later they emailed me offering me 400 points to upgrade back to platinum.
Do major supermarkets accept AMEX?
Most big retailers do (PnS, NW, Countdown, as well as plenty of other retailers Briscoes, The Warehouse, Noel Leeming, Harvey Norman, etc.) Most of your big purchases can be done on Amex, but it's useful to keep another credit card as a backup.
I heard that a lots of Pns having problem to pay with Amex, that's a post on the general discussion about this.
Is the $195 annual fee paid in advance ie. as soon as you sign up and get approved?
Just spoke to them and the $195 annual fee is payable on your 1st bill . Airpoints get credited 6-8 weeks after you have reached your 1500 spend .
What is the credit limit you guys get?
$2000NZD
Applied yesterday, got approved today, that was pretty quick…
That's quick, I applied on Thursday, still haven't heard anything. Could be because of my existing multiple credit cards
Finally received a text yesterday. Now just waiting for the card to arrive
Applied Friday around 11am, approved around 2pm. Amazingly fast.
Just waiting for it in the mail now…XD
Strangely I received a text saying that it was approved, but have had no emails from them yet.
It took a while for mine to come through, no emails just silence and then about 2 weeks after applying a card turned up in my mailbox. I was a little surprised by the credit limit they gave me, I think on the application I checked something like maximum as opposed to setting a specific amount so when it came through they gave me a strange figure of $38’942 as my credit limit, waayyy more than I expected or need and no idea how they determine the amount.
@moschops: Maybe you indicated 'Yes' on the question "Would you like us to assign you the maximum Credit Limit based on your application information?" :)
I applied when I saw this deal on Cheapies, got approved the next day with instant txt confimation. Received email confimation 2 days ago and the credit card arrived via courier today. Now….what to buy….what to buy….?
@SaintJadey: Mine arrived in the mail today as well. Planning to book some Airbnb accommodation, should get close to the $1500 in 1 transaction :D
What are you guys planning to use the free 500 airpoints on?
@genesis: Apple products using airpoints is my current favourite, just waiting until September for the next iPhone release since I’m due an upgrade having held out for 5 years since my last.
Sad exisiting customer not eligible… I m using the white no annual fee one. Time to cancel….
Is the first year annual fee free?
No, don't think so.
Thanks @Superpower21
Anyone know if Amex verify income here? I know they don't in the USA or Oz.