Check Your Amex Account for Referral Bonuses of up to 45K Points

Updated: August 5, 2026, 2:44pm CDT

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Amex Gold Card and Amex Business Gold Card Referral Bonuses Reach 45K Points
How To Check Your Amex Referral Offer
Final Thoughts

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Some American Express cardholders are seeing elevated referral bonuses of up to 45,000 Membership Rewards points for each approved referral. The offers appear to be highly targeted, so you may see a different bonus — or no elevated offer at all.

Still, it only takes a minute to check, and you could have a valuable referral offer waiting in your account. Here are the details.

Amex Gold Card and Amex Business Gold Card Referral Bonuses Reach 45K Points

American Express is targeting select cardholders with elevated referral bonuses ranging from 30,000 to 45,000 Membership Rewards points per approved referral. That is a significant increase over the more typical offers of 10,000 or 15,000 points, though bonuses can vary by cardholder and even by individual card account.

The highest offers appear to be available on the American Express^® Gold Card and American Express^® Business Gold Card, with some cardholders seeing bonuses of up to 45,000 points. However, these offers are not available to everyone, and multiple cards within the same Amex account may display different bonuses.

When we checked our accounts at Upgraded Points, the highest offer we found was 40,000 Membership Rewards points per approved referral on the Amex Gold card.

Amex Gold card referral bonus — Some cardholders are receiving up to 45k-point referral offers, but the highest we found across dozens of accounts was 40k. Screenshot: American Express

Although that falls just short of the highest 45,000-point offer, it is still an incredibly generous bonus for referring a friend or family member who is already considering an Amex card.

How To Check Your Amex Referral Offer

To see what offer you have, log in to your Amex account online or open the Amex app. Select your Amex Gold card or Amex Business Gold card and head to the Refer a Friend section or click on this link.

Amex refer a friend — Screenshot: American Express

If you have more than 1 Amex card, take a minute to check each one. Referral bonuses vary by card, so the first offer you see may not be the best one in your account.

The person you refer may have some flexibility, too. They do not always have to apply for the same card tied to your referral link. After opening the link, they can browse other Amex cards and choose the one that works best for them.

Just make sure they complete the application through your referral link. If they leave the page and apply somewhere else, you might not receive the bonus.

Amex limits cardholders to earning up to 5 referral bonuses per card account each calendar year. You can find your specific bonus, annual limit, and other terms in your account, so it is worth taking a quick look at those details before sharing your link.

Hot Tip:

Want to learn more about how referrals work, which cards are available, and how many points you can earn? Check out our complete guide to the American Express Refer a Friend program.

Final Thoughts

Earning up to 45,000 Membership Rewards points from a single referral is a fantastic deal, especially if you have a friend or family member who is already thinking about applying for an Amex card.

Since these offers are targeted, you might see a smaller bonus — or no elevated offer at all. Still, we found a 40,000-point offer in one of our own accounts, so it is definitely worth taking a minute to check yours.