How to Find Amex Elevated Offers

When it comes to earning credit card points, one of the best ways to do so is through the welcome offers available when you open a new credit card. In general, these offers include a bonus of tens of thousands of points for new cardmembers who spend a certain amount of money in a certain period of time after opening an account.

Some of the best welcome offers in the entire credit card industry are available from American Express. For instance, here’s the current welcome offer for The Platinum Card® from American Express ($695 annual fee, see rates & fees):

However, while the standard welcome offers for this Amex card and others are certainly lucrative, Amex also issues targeted offers of elevated offers to certain individuals.

For instance, whereas the standard welcome offer for the Amex Platinum may be 80,000 Membership Rewards points, certain consumers may be eligible to receive a welcome offer of up to 175,000 points.

Use the CardMatch™ Tool

One of the easiest ways to locate Amex elevated offers is by utilizing the CardMatch™ tool. This tool allows you to put in some basic information and then view credit card offers that match your profile. Oftentimes, even if you can’t find an Amex elevated offer through certain sources, you’ll receive increased offers through the CardMatch™ tool.

Check for Offers Through the American Express Website

You can also check for elevated welcome offers through the American Express website, which has a similar tool to the CardMatch™ tool mentioned above. With this tool, you simply need to enter your name, home address, the last four digits of your Social Security number and your annual income, and the tool will match you with suggested Amex credit cards.

When using this tool, you’ll often be presented with elevated offers that you might not find if you were to simply search for a credit card through a search engine.

Call American Express Customer Service

Another way that you may be able to find Amex elevated offers that you can’t find through other channels is by calling the Amex customer service number and asking if there are any targeted offers available to you for specific cards.

You can view a full list of American Express’s customer service numbers on the Amex website.

Browse in Incognito Mode

In some cases, you’ll receive access to an elevated offer only if American Express is able to identify who you are (which they can do when you search in a regular browser window). However, in other cases, Amex will extend elevated offers to you only if they don’t know who you are.

So, if you aren’t finding any Amex elevated offers while searching through a standard browser window, you may want to try searching through an incognito window (which prevents Amex from identifying you).

On the other hand, if you usually search in incognito mode and you aren’t finding any elevated offers, you may want to try searching in a regular browser window.

Search in Different Browsers or Different Devices

Occasionally, even if an Amex elevated offer isn’t available to you through one browser, you may be able to find an elevated offer through another browser. So, if you typically search through Google Chrome and you aren’t finding any increased offers with American Express, then you may want to try searching through Safari or another browser.

Additionally, you may also be able to find certain targeted offers when searching on different devices. So, for instance, if you don’t find an elevated offer when searching on your laptop, you may want to try searching for that offer on your smartphone.

Click Through an Affiliate Link

Occasionally, you’ll get better welcome offers when clicking through an affiliate link. So, if you search directly for a specific Amex credit card and you don’t get an elevated welcome offer, you may want to go to a third-party website and search for an affiliate link for that card.

For example, if you want to find an affiliate link to a specific credit card, you can always search for that card through our website. Then, once you click on that card’s affiliate link, you may receive a better welcome offer.

Click Through a Referral Link

Another way to potentially find Amex elevated offers that may not be otherwise available is to get a friend or family member who’s already an Amex customer to send you a referral link. Not only will you possibly be offered a higher-than-normal welcome offer for signing up for a specific credit card, but the referrer will also get a bonus if you open a card by clicking through their link.

To generate a referral link, sign into your American Express account and then go to the “Refer a Friend” page. Then, choose to send a referral link to your friend or family member by adding their email, phone number or by copying your custom referral link and sending it directly to them.

If you click on a referral link for an Amex credit card, you don’t have to open that specific Amex card to earn the welcome offer for yourself and your friend. Instead, you’ll have the option to browse through several Amex credit cards that you can choose from, all of which will be eligible to earn a welcome offer for yourself and your referrer.

Search Amex Offers & Benefits

You can also sometimes find elevated welcome offers for specific Amex products by visiting the Amex Offers & Benefits section if you’re already an Amex cardholder. In this section, you’ll find mostly rebates and discounts with retailers (which can often be lucrative). However, occasionally, you can also find welcome offers for credit cards among these offers.

The Amex Offers that you’ll receive will be different for each Amex card that you have. So, if you have multiple Amex credit cards, make sure you check the Amex Offers & Benefits section for each of those credit cards.

Receive Targeted Offers via Mail

Oftentimes, if you’ve opted in to receive direct mail from American Express, whether via email or physical mail, you can receive elevated offers for Amex credit cards that may not be available elsewhere.

If you don’t currently receive mail from Amex, you can increase your chances of receiving a targeted welcome offer by changing your account’s marketing preferences. To do this, you can log into your Amex account and go to the “Account Services” section. Then, navigate to the “Security and Privacy” tab and select the “Privacy Preferences” subsection. On this page, you’ll be able to opt in for direct mail from Amex via email or physical mail or both.

The Bottom Line

One of the best ways to earn a large sum of American Express Membership Rewards points quickly is by opening an Amex credit card and earning the welcome offer. However, by searching for Amex credit cards through certain avenues, you may be able to find even larger welcome offers than what’s publicly available.

So, if you have an Amex credit card in mind, before you decide to apply for it, you should do your due diligence and see if there are any targeted welcome offers that may be available.

For example, while the standard welcome offer for the Amex Platinum Card may be 80,0000 points, you might be able to find an elevated welcome offer of 175,000 points by clicking on affiliate links, clicking on referral links, searching on incognito mode, searching on different browsers, by using the CardMatch™ tool or through another method.

The difference between those welcome offers is 95,000 Membership Rewards points, which is worth a minimum of $950 and could be worth much more when redeemed through transfer partners. You don’t want to leave that value on the table.

So, before you sign up for an American Express credit card, make sure that you research the targeted offers that are available for that card and then try all of the methods listed above to ensure that you get the best possible welcome offer.