American Express trialling bonus points offers …. and a good Harrods cashback deal

If you have an American Express Preferred Rewards Gold or American Express Platinum card, you may have a new style of personalised offer showing on your online card statement.

On my account, I will receive 2,000 bonus Membership Rewards points when I spend £500 at Apple before 22nd May.

This is the first time that I have seen Amex run a bonus points offer for a retailer as opposed to a straight cash statement credit.

What is worrying is how pathetic this offer is!  The majority of Membership Rewards remptions value your points at 0.5p or less.  This means that you would be getting £10 of value back for a £500 spend, which is rubbish.  Even if you convert your points to Avios and value them at 1p each, you are still only getting £20 of value back.  Most cashback deals are more generous.

Let’s hope this doesn’t herald the start of a new trend.

If you want something more generous, this deal is better:

On my British Airways Premium Plus card, I have an offer for £50 cashback on a £300 purchase at Harrods before 5th June.

This is a great deal.  You can buy gift cards at any Harrods till point and that will trigger the £50 credit.  You can then spend the £300 whenever you want.

If you are thinking of spending £500 on an Apple product, you should buy it in Harrods instead!  If you have two participating Amex cards, you could buy 2 x £300 Harrods gift cards and get £100 back which you can then spend in the large Apple concession in the Technology department (next to Toy Kingdom, where I spend worrying amounts of time).

At the time of writing, this deal is not on the cardmemberoffers.co.uk website so you can only sign up if it shows for you online.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review