[More Targeted] FAQ About Those New AmEx Offers Released Today

Update 1/22/21: I’ve seen reports of more people finding the $25 and/or 4x offer on the business Platinum today, even for newer cards.

Update 1/17/21: reader Adam reports finally getting these offers to show up today; he had applied on 11/1/20, and these offers weren’t originally showing for recent cardholders, but they’ve now apparently did a new release to some of those newer cardholders.

Update 1/5/21: Added what happens when you make a $100 purchase for Home Depot & Best Buy. Also added what happens when you purchase through PayPal.

Here’s an FAQ about the slew of new AmEx Offers that came out today:

Which cards were targeted for these new offers?

Most of these new/good/interesting offers are for the Platinum personal card.

Notable Offers?

The most interesting offers on the personal Platinum card are the free $100 at Best Buy and free $100 at Home Depot and free $50 at Home Chef and free $60 at Wine Insiders on personal Platinum cards.

What Happens If I Make a $100 Purchase For The Two $50 Credits?

The Best Buy & Home Depot deals are spend $50, get $50 back and can be done twice. There are now multiple datapoints (1,2) that if you make a $100 purchase this will trigger both $50 credits. I suspect this will probably change and I’d still be making two purchases to trigger both as American Express has a history of retroactively fixing these things.

Important: while that seems to be working so far for Home Depot and Best Buy, that’s not the case for all the other offers such as Goldbelly, according to a reader.

What Happens When You Purchase Through PayPal?

This will trigger the PayPal credit but not the individual merchant credit:

• Home Depot: 1,

I don’t have a consumer Platinum card. Is there anything for me?

Notable offer on other cards:

• Get $25 credit for $500 spend, can be done 10x for up to $250 in credits. Lots of people got this in Blue Business Plus, Business Platinum, SimplyCash business card, and maybe others.
• Get 4x Bonus Membership Rewards On Wireless, Shipping, Advertising, Gas and Office Supply. This is found on the business Platinum and business Gold.

I have a consumer Platinum card. Why wasn’t I targeted with these offers?

The fine print states clearly for most/all of these offers that it’s only for those who had the card from before November 1, 2020. Should be showing for all Platinum cardholders from before that date, and on all versions of the Platinum card; let us know if that’s not the case.

(Update: some Platinum cardholders – from all the various versions – are not seeing these offers, apparently it’s somewhat targeted.)

Will these offers work on gift cards?

Some of the offers have terms excluding gift cards. In practice, I’ve seen reports of email confirmations coming from gift card purchases too, but it’s impossible to know if AmEx will crack down on that and claw back the credits at some point in the future.

Worth noting: the Best Buy offer only excludes e-gift cards, so physical gift cards should be fine for that one.

Can I get the offers on multiple cards?

Like all AmEx Offers, each person/SSN can get it on just one of their cards, even if you hold more than one Platinum card and see it on both. If you have authorized user cards, the authorized user can get it as well.

When Will The Credits Post?

Terms state that ‘Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 6/30/2021’, though historically AmEx Offer credits post just a few days after the charge posts.