American Express Referral Program: Refer Friends, Earn Points

One of the best features available on American Express Canada cards is the referral program.

By sending a refer-a-friend link to a friend or family member, you can earn bonus points if they’re approved, and they also tend to get a better offer than what’s available publicly.

If you take advantage of the referral program, it’s an excellent way to boost your balance year after year, especially with higher-end cards in the American Express lineup.

How Does the American Express Referral Program Work?

American Express offers cardholders the ability to refer friends and family members to various credit card products through the referral program.

As an existing cardholder, you can generate a referral link from your account, and then you can send it to friends and family members.

If they’re approved for a card, you’ll receive a referral bonus in the form of points or cash back, depending on which American Express card you’re referring from.

Your friend or family member will sometimes benefit from an offer that’s better than the best-available public offer, although they’re also sometimes the same.

Each card has a different referral bonus, and all cards have a cap on the amount of points you can earn through referrals each calendar year. We’ll summarize all of this information later on in this guide.

It’s important to note that you can’t use your own referral links to refer yourself to a card. Doing so is in violation of the program’s terms and conditions, and you risk having your account shut down.

One important aspect of the referral program is that the person using your referral link can apply for different cards other than the one to which they were referred. In some cases, you can leverage this to earn more points from your referral than you otherwise would be able to, which we’ll cover in the latter section of this guide.

Since American Express credit cards tend to offer the strongest overall value, with generous welcome bonuses, great earning rates, the most flexible points in Canada, and ongoing deals and offers, it’s certainly worthwhile to understand the referral program and how you can use it to your advantage.

Which American Express Cards Can Refer to Which Cards?

As we’ll discuss in detail, it’s important to understand which cards can refer to which cards in the American Express…