Amex Referral: When Bonus Post & How to Check Referrals (2025)

Advertiser Disclosure: We love living points life by using points and miles to elevate travel experiences. In the interest of being transparent with you, we may be compensated from an approved credit card's application, or from some of the products and services recommended on this site. This only happens when you click on our affiliate links. We also earn commissions from purchases made through Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Thank you for your support and especially for reading this blog! Please see our Advertiser Disclosure for more details!

Similar to the Chase-Refer-A-Friend program, American Express also has its own Refer-A-Friend, Reward Yourself program that you can refer a friend to apply for an Amex card. You earn referral bonus points when your friend’s application is approved using your referral link. In addition, you can also refer a friend to a different Amex card that you do not have using the same link.

In this post, I will provide data on the time it takes for the Amex referral points to post and go over some frequently asked questions about the American Express Refer A Friend program.

Amex Referral: When Bonus Post & How to Check Referrals (2025) — Photo Credit: American Express Refer A Friend

Table of Contents

How does the American Express Refer-A-Friend bonus work?

One benefit of the American Express card is the opportunity to refer a friend to an American Express card. It includes both charge and credit cards. You will receive referral bonus points when your friend applies for an American Express card using your referral link and gets approved. You can refer just about anyone to apply for an American Express card you have or even for a different American Express card you do not have (more below).

To earn referral bonus rewards, you must ensure that your friend applies for a particular Amex card through your referral link. Otherwise, you will not receive the rewards.

Furthermore, the Amex Refer A Friend program limits how many referrals you can refer per calendar year (January – December) to earn referral rewards. In other words, if you max out your allowed referral bonus points per calendar year, you will not earn any more referral rewards for that particular Amex card until the next calendar year.

How to generate an Amex card referral link?

The most straightforward way to generate a referral link for a specific American Express card is to do the following on your computer’s desktop:

Go directly to the American Express Refer A Friend website
Log into your Amex account.
You will see all referral bonuses available on each American Express card you have, along with the terms of each offer.
Scroll down on the page, and you can refer via email, social media, or direct referral link.

It’s worth mentioning also that sometimes the American Express Refer A Friend site is not working. Unfortunately, when that happens, you will have to wait it out by continue checking until Amex resolves the error.

How to refer a friend on the Amex app?

The method above generates the Amex referral link for the computer’s desktop. If you are on the go and want to create a referral link using the Amex app, do the following:

Launch the American Express app and sign in.
Tap on the Account.
Scroll to the bottom. Under the Refer a Friend, tap on Send Invite.
Tap on the American Express card that you want to refer someone to.
You can either refer by email or share a link.
- If you receive the error message “This campaign has expired,” tap on the URL provided under the heading “You can see current offers by visiting here.”

How to refer a friend for a different Amex card?

Unlike the Chase-Refer-A-Friend program, American Express now allows card members to refer a friend for a different Amex card, whether they have that card or not. You can refer to just about any Amex card using the referral link of the card that you have.

For example, you have the American Express Platinum Card. You can generate a referral link to earn bonus points for the Platinum card, but your friend wants American Express Blue Cash Preferred Credit Card. In that case, you can also refer your friend to the Blue Cash card by using the Platinum card’s referral link. I’ll show you how to do that below.

To use Amex refer-a-friend for a different card, do the following:

Go directly to the American Express Refer A Friend website.
Log into your Amex account.
After logging in, scroll down on the page to get the direct referral link from the Amex card you have and want to earn its referral rewards.
Go to the referral URL on your computer’s browser. Once the page is loaded, scroll to the top, where you will see the section “Your Referred Card | Personal Cards | Business Cards” (See the screenshot below).
Click on the section under which the different Amex card falls, whether a personal or a business card.
Find that different Amex card that you want to refer to and click on the card’s name.
Select and copy the entire URL. That is your referral link for that different Amex card. When your friend applies for the card using that link, the Amex system automatically tracks in the back end, and you’ll earn referral rewards accordingly.
The URL is very long with random characters. You can shorten it with the help of a free URL-shortening service such as Bitly before sending out the link if you’d like.

There are a few things to note when it comes to Amex refer-a-friend for a different card:

You can refer to just about any Amex card, whether you have that card or not.
Each referral bonus of the different Amex cards is based entirely on the referral bonus of the Amex card you use to generate the other card’s referral link. What I mean by that:
- Suppose you generate a referral link for an American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card that you do not have using the referral link of the American Express Platinum Card that you do have. In that case, the referral bonus you’ll earn will be American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points, not Marriott Bonvoy points.
You cannot use the hotel or airline’s credit card referral link to generate a referral link for the Amex Membership Rewards points card.
All terms and conditions and the maximum referral rewards you can earn each calendar year also go with the original Amex card you use to generate the different card’s referral links.

Can you refer yourself to an Amex card?

No, you cannot.

American Express will claw back your referral rewards, jeopardizing your banking relationship with American Express. Therefore, do not refer yourself to an American Express card.

Can you refer your spouse for an Amex card?

Yes. The American Express referral program is also known as American Express Refer A Friend, but in reality, you can refer just about anyone for an American Express card. You can refer your friend, neighbor, roommate, spouse, domestic partner, colleague, or even a stranger who is eligible to apply for an American Express card. You can also refer a business for an American Express business card.

How to check Amex referrals?

Chase allows you to keep track of card referrals yourself, but American Express does not.

You can keep track of Amex referrals on your own by looking at your American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points summary. It can be time-consuming, but you count the referral bonus points that you have earned so far against the maximum number of bonus rewards that you can earn in the calendar year (January – December).

On a computer’s desktop:

Log into your American Express account and go to Rewards & Benefits.
Under Rewards, click on Points Summary.
Select the month from the Date Range drop-down menu to view your earned referral bonus points. If you do not remember which Amex card you used to generate the referral link, you can select the card from the CARD drop-down list.
The description should say something like this: K….35K BNS.

On the Amex mobile app:

Open the Amex mobile and log in.
Select the Amex card that you want to know.
Tap on the Membership at the bottom of the screen.
Tap on Rewards Summary.
Finally, tap on Earned.
The description should say something like this: K….35K BNS.

Alternatively, you can also contact American Express customer service, and they can see that information on their end. You can also chat with Amex and ask them to check for you.

How long does it take for Amex referral bonus points to post?

According to the American Express Refer A Friend program, “The bonus will be posted to your account within 8-12 weeks after your friend is approved.”

In practice, though, it takes only 2-3 days. Here’s my data point:

On September 13, I used the online chat feature to ask the Amex rep to check how many referrals I had left for my account ending XXXX.
The rep checked and told me that he saw one approved referral on September 12 and advised me that the referral bonus could take 8-12 weeks to appear in my account.
On September 14, surprisingly, Amex posted my referral bonus points from that approved application to my account.

How to check an Amex referral application status?

It is impossible to check who applied for a particular Amex card through your referral link, the application’s status, etc. American Express will not disclose that information due to individual privacy concerns.

If you refer an Amex card to someone you know, the simplest way is to ask the person whether their application was approved or not.

Does Amex report income to the IRS for referral bonus points?

Yes. Amex reports income to the IRS for referral bonus points that you earn. You will receive the 1099-MISC form, which stands for Miscellaneous Income, and you are required to report that income properly on your tax.

Unlike the Chase Refer-A-Friend program on tax reporting, Amex only reports your referral bonus points income on Amex cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points. It applies to both consumer and business Amex MR-earning cards.

American Express values the referral points earned at 1 cent apiece. For example:

If you earn a total of 55,000 bonus Amex MR points from referring your American Express Platinum Card, you will be taxed on a $550 income.

It’s worth noting that reward points earned through non-referrals such as credit card signup bonus, your usual card’s spending bonus points, etc., are not taxable to trigger the 1099-MISC IRS form from American Express.

Amex Card Referral Bonus

Best Credit Card Signup Bonus Promotions and Offers (February 2025)

Author
Recent Posts

Follow Me

Phly Wright

Hi there, my name is Phly (pronounced as Fly). I am a dedicated travel enthusiast with a deep passion for miles and points. Always willing to share my expertise, I possess a wealth of knowledge on miles and points, extensively researching and staying up-to-date with the latest strategies for maximizing travel rewards through credit cards and loyalty program promotions.