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Targeted: Up to 20,000 AMEX Membership Rewards Points for Adding Platinum Card Authorized Users (Do It for Free!)

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    Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.

    If you have The Platinum Card® from American Express, check your email to see if you can score up to 20,000 bonus AMEX Membership Rewards points for adding authorized users!  You’ll earn 5,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points for adding an authorized user (up to a limit of 4) who then spends $500 on their card within the first 3 months.

    Even if you didn’t get an email, it’s worth a quick call to see if you can add the offer to your account because lots of folks had success by calling in.  This offer is good through February 28, 2019.

    You can add 3 authorized users for $175 total (See Rates & Fees).  Then it costs $175 for each additional authorized user (See Rates & Fees).  But you can give your authorized a Gold card – instead of a Platinum card – for $0! (See Rates & Fees)

    Earn Up to 20,000 AMEX Membership Rewards Points by Adding Authorized Users to Your Account. There’s a Way to Do It for Free!

    I’ll share the details!

    5,000 AMEX Membership Rewards Points for Adding an Authorized User (up to 20,000 Points)

    Link:   Targeted AMEX Authorized User Bonus

    Through February 28, 2019, you can earn 5,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points when you add an authorized user to your account and they spend $500 in purchases on the card within the first 3 months of account opening.  You can earn the bonus for up to 4 authorized users, which would earn you 20,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points.

    For the Platinum card, AMEX charges $175 to add the first 3 authorized users, then $175 for each additional user.

    Each cardmember will get all the perks of The Platinum Card® from American Express, including airline lounge access, hotel elite status, and $100 Global Entry credit – but they will NOT get their own account statement credits for airline incidentals, Uber rides, or Saks purchases.

    Still, this can be an excellent way to give someone lounge access and their own perks for hotel stays.  And can be worth the fee, depending on your situation.

    Authorized Users Can Access Fantastic Centurion Lounges With Their Platinum Card. You’ll Pay $175 for 3 Authorized Users, Then $175 for Each Additional User

    But you don’t have to get your authorized users their own Platinum card.  AMEX gives you the option to give them a Gold card instead, which costs $0!

    And you can still earn the bonus points when you meet the same terms.  So this could be an easy way to scoop up a lot of extra AMEX Membership Rewards points for nothing out-of-pocket.

    If you weren’t targeted for the offer, don’t worry.  Lots of folks report success by calling the number on the back of their card and having a phone agent manually add the offer to their account.  This will also give you an opportunity to confirm the terms of the offer, especially if you want to send your authorized users Gold cards instead of Platinum cards.

    Also, folks report needing to call even if they did receive an email so you might be picking up the phone to register anyway.

    Are There Drawbacks?

    When you add an authorized user to your AMEX cards, it will show up on their credit report – and therefore impact their Chase 5/24 status.  Folks who want Chase cards have had luck explaining to Chase they’re authorized users on someone else’s account.  But if you’re concerned about this, you might hold off on adding others to your card.

    Or, you could add a minor to start their credit history early because they won’t be concerned with their Chase 5/24 status for a while.

    Also, even though each authorized user will get their own card and unique card number, you are still fully responsible for charges made to their card.  So only add people you implicitly trust to repay you, otherwise, you’re on the hook for their purchases.

    Other than these considerations, this is an easy way to boost your AMEX Membership Rewards balance!

    Enjoy the extra points!

    For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, please click here.

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)