Your Secret to Discounts & Rewards

When it comes to rewards cards, American Express offers some of the, um, most rewarding credit cards around. In addition to generous welcome bonuses and points earning capabilities, this credit card issuer sets itself apart with its Amex Offers rewards program.

If you’re not taking advantage of Amex Offers with your Amex card, we’ll be frank: You’re missing out. According to the company, Amex cardholders have saved more than $865 million with Amex Offers over the past decade.

Wanna get in on that chunk of change? Here’s how to make the most of this lucrative perk.

What’s the Deal With Amex Offers?

The Amex Offers program lets American Express cardholders save money or earn Membership Rewards points when shopping at a variety of popular retailers.

The offers generally come in one of three flavors (these are just examples; actual offers may vary):

• Cash back: “Spend $50 at 1-800-Flowers and get $10 back”
• Bonus points: “Spend $100 at Nike and get 10,000 Amex Membership Rewards points”
• Extra points earning: “Get an additional 3X Membership Rewards points/dollar spent at Crate and Barrel”

All U.S.-issued American Express credit cards — both personal and business — come with access to Amex Offers. Even if you have an ​American Express® Serve® or ​American Express Bluebird Card, you can participate using your americanexpress.com account.

The only cards that aren’t eligible, according to the program’s FAQ page, are American Express corporate cards, gift cards, and prepaid cards (aside from the ones mentioned above).

How Do You Find Amex Offers?

While most Amex cardholders have access to Amex Offers, they probably don’t have access to the same ones.

To see which Amex Offers are available to you, log in to your American Express account and scroll to “Amex Offers & Benefits” at the bottom of the page. Or, if you’re in the mobile app, click on the “Offers” tab.

Amex Offers often include heavy hitters like Amazon and Best Buy!

To get more details about each offer, including rules and restrictions, click on the arrow to the left of the company’s logo.

If you have multiple American Express credit cards, you can switch between cards — and their tailored offers — by clicking on the card at the top right hand of the page.

How Do You Sign Up for Amex Offers?

Signing up for an Amex Offer is a cinch: Simply click on “Add to Card” — that’s it! 

The only thing to be aware of? If you have more than one American Express card, double-check that you’re adding the offer to the card you’ll use to make the purchase. Use your dining card for restaurant deals, if you’ve got one, your grocery card at supermarkets, etc.

Since you’re only allowed to claim each offer once per cardholder, the offer will disappear from all your cards as soon as you add it to one of them.

According to Amex, enrollment in each offer “may be limited” and offers “may not be available after enrollment limits are met.”

Translation? If you’re pretty sure you’re going to take advantage of an offer, add it to your card. If you wait too long, and the offer reaches its enrollment limit, it may disappear from your list.

After adding a DoorDash Amex Offer to my card

That said, you should only sign up for offers from retailers at which you’re already planning on shopping. If you feel like scanning the offers is giving you too much incentive to break your budget (I feel ya there!), consider only checking the list when you’re about to shop at a particular store or for a particular product.

How Do You Redeem Amex Offers?

After you’ve added an offer to your card, there aren’t many more hoops to jump through. You’ll just need to make a qualifying purchase, using your registered Amex card as the payment method.

In most cases, when you meet the requirements — say, making a $50 eligible purchase on your Amex card — the offer will be applied automatically. On occasion, Amex says merchants may ask you to use a certain link or enter a promo code at checkout.

For this Amex Offer from Grove, you must use a special link to be eligible.

To avoid issues, you should always complete your purchase directly with the merchant, and directly with your Amex card (avoid paying with a digital wallet).

You should also read the fine print: Some offers require you to spend the entire amount in a single transaction, while others allow you to spread out your purchases over time. Some only apply for in-store purchases, while others are only available through a merchant’s website.

Once you’ve successfully redeemed the offer, American Express will send an email promising to issue your statement credit or points within 90 days from the end of the offer period (though they usually show up much sooner). If you don’t see the credit after that time period, Amex suggests running through these steps and then reaching out at amex.co/chatnow.

How Do You Stack Amex Offers?

To get the most out of Amex Offers, always try “stacking” other discounts, such as coupon codes and shopping portals, on top of them.

Here’s an example of how this might work:

• You need some new shirts and jeans, so you sign up for an Amex Offer from Madewell that gets you $20 back if you spend $100.
• You search online for a Madewell coupon code, and find one that gets you an additional 10% off your purchase.
• You check Cashback Monitor, and see that you can get an additional 3% cash back by accessing Madewell through the Top Cashback portal.
• You sign into Top Cashback, click its Madewell link, and put your goodies in your cart. You add your 10% coupon code, and complete the purchase with your Amex card.

Last step? Feel really proud of yourself for getting $100+ worth of stuff for less than $80!

4 More Tips for Maximizing Amex Offers

Though participating in Amex Offers is a super straightforward way to earn bonus points or cash back, here are several hacks that will allow you to take your earning to the next level.

• Set calendar reminders: There have been several times that I’ve signed up for an Amex Offer, only to forget about it and let the expiration date pass. To avoid repeating my mistake, create a list of the Amex Offers you’ve signed up for, and put a reminder in your calendar for two weeks before each one expires. (You may also get reminder emails from Amex — but if your inbox is anything like mine, you’ll probably miss ’em.)
• Choose the right Amex card: If there’s an offer for $50 off a $250 Marriott stay, make sure you add it to whichever Amex card earns bonus points on hotels or travel. If it’s a discount at a big box store, choose an Amex card that earns a solid cash back rate on everything.
• Evaluate Membership Rewards vs. cash back: Sometimes you’ll see multiple offers for a single retailer — one offering bonus points and one offering cash back. Think about which one is worth more to you: While many experts value Membership Rewards at more than 1 cent/point, that only applies if you’ll actually redeem your points for travel. If you don’t have a high-value redemption in mind, it might be wiser to simply take the cash.
• Purchase gift cards: Let’s say you see an offer for $10 off a $100 purchase at Staples. Even if you’d never spend $100 at Staples, you might spend $100 at a store for which Staples sells third-party gift cards (cough, Amazon gift cards, cough). Just read the fine print to make sure gift card purchases are eligible!

13 American Express Cards to Use With Amex Offers

Though there aren’t any “best credit cards” for Amex Offers — since all personal and business Amex cards come with access — you’ll see different offers with different cards.

For the biggest variety of targeted offers, you’ll need to have four different cards: two personal cards (one that earns Membership Rewards points and one that doesn’t) and two business cards (one that earns Membership Rewards points and one that doesn’t).

While we wouldn’t recommend applying for a credit card solely to get Amex Offers, the program is a nice perk. And if you’re looking for a card to round out your collection, here are some ideas in each category.

Personal Cards (Membership Rewards)

Personal Cards (Non Membership Rewards)

• ​Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express (Review):
  • 3% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%), 2% at U.S. gas stations and select department stores
  • Annual fee: $0 (Rates & Fees)
• ​Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (Review):
  • 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 per year in purchases, then 1%) and on streaming, 3% at U.S. gas stations and on transit
  • Annual fee: $95, $0 first year (Rates & Fees)
• ​Hilton Honors American Express Card (Review):
  • 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for eligible purchases charged on your Card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio; 5X at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. restaurants, and U.S. gas stations; 3X on everything else
  • Annual fee: $0 (Rates & Fees)
• ​Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (Review):
  • 2X miles for dining, U.S. supermarkets, and Delta purchases
  • Annual fee: $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99. (Rates & Fees)

Business Cards (Membership Rewards)

Business Cards (Non Membership Rewards)

As long as they don’t entice you to spend more than you’d planned, Amex Offers are an easy way to maximize the value of your American Express cards. Just in researching this article, for instance, I found an offer for $7 off an HBO Max subscription for up to three months. Since I already use that service, I was able to save $21 with just a few clicks. Go have a look and see what bargains you can find!