How to Earn Multiple Amex Welcome Bonuses in the UK: The 24-Month Rule Explained

Welcome bonuses are the fastest way to build a points balance in the UK. A single enhanced Amex offer can drop tens of thousands of Membership Rewards points into your account in one go, and those points convert straight into Avios, Virgin Points and a long list of other airline and hotel programmes.

The catch is that you cannot keep claiming bonus after bonus on a whim. American Express runs strict eligibility rules in the UK, and if you do not understand them you will either get knocked back at the application stage or, worse, open a card and never see the bonus land. Done properly, though, you can collect several large bonuses in a relatively short space of time by applying in the right order.

This guide explains the rules as they actually work in the UK, the order we would open cards in, and how long you need to wait before you can go again.

The one rule to remember

In the UK you cannot earn a welcome bonus on most personal Amex cards if you have held any personal Amex in the previous 24 months. Two cards escape this, and the whole strategy is built around them.

In the United States, Amex operates a "once per lifetime" bonus rule on each individual card. The UK works differently, and this trips up a lot of people who read American advice.

In the UK, the key restriction is the 24-month rule. For most personal cards, you will not receive the welcome bonus if you have held any personal Amex card in the previous 24 months. It is not card-specific in the way the US rule is. Holding a Nectar card blocks the bonus on Gold, holding a Gold blocks the bonus on Nectar, and so on. Once you hold any personal Amex, you are locked out of the standard bonuses across most of the range at the same time.

The cards caught by this rule are the Amex Cashback and Cashback Everyday cards, the free British Airways Amex, Preferred Rewards Gold, Marriott Bonvoy, Nectar, and the Amex Rewards Credit Card. Hold or have recently held any one of them, and the bonus on all the others is off the table.

A few important points of detail:

Amex usually tells you at the application stage if you are not eligible for the bonus, often before a hard credit check is recorded. The safest way to see an accurate offer is to view it while logged into your Amex account. If you would rather work it out before applying, our Amex welcome bonus eligibility guide walks through which offers you can still claim based on your card history.

Two cards do the heavy lifting for most people. Here is how the standard offers compare.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. No fee in the first year, then £195 a year if you keep it. The standard bonus is 20,000 Membership Rewards points for spending £3,000 in the first three months, and Amex regularly runs enhanced offers that push this materially higher.

The Platinum Card. An annual fee of £650, and no longer a charge card, so you are not forced to clear the balance each month. The standard bonus is 50,000 Membership Rewards points for spending £6,000 in three months, and enhanced offers frequently add a four-figure Amex Travel credit on top. The fee looks steep, but the dining credits, lounge access and travel benefits can cover a large chunk of it in year one.

Both convert to Avios at 1:1, along with Virgin Points and many other partners, which is what makes them the backbone of a UK points strategy.

Around these sit the cobranded and cashback cards: the British Airways Amex and BA Premium Plus, the Nectar card, the Marriott Bonvoy card, and the two Cashback cards. Most of these are caught by the same 24-month rule as Gold. The exceptions, as above, are Platinum and BA Premium Plus, which is exactly why the order you apply in matters so much.

The principle is simple. Claim the bonuses caught by the all-blocking rule first, then finish with the two cards that sit in their own silos, because those two can still pay out even after you hold other cards.

If you are starting with no personal Amex held in the past 24 months, this is the route that captures the most bonuses fastest.

Done this way, you can collect three welcome bonuses in a short space of time rather than waiting two years between each. If you are a company director or LLP member, the Business Gold and Business Platinum cards pay their bonuses regardless of your personal cards, so they can run alongside all of this too.

One practical note: Amex will rarely approve two applications on the same day, since it looks like someone scrambling for credit. Space the applications out by a few weeks rather than firing them off together.

Once you have worked through the cards above, the rule resets 24 months after you last held any personal Amex. To go again on the Gold, Nectar, Marriott or Cashback bonuses, you generally need to have held no personal Amex card for the previous two years. The cleanest reset is to close your remaining personal cards and let two clear years pass before reapplying.

The two silo cards work to their own clocks. You can requalify for the Platinum bonus once you have not held a Membership Rewards card (Gold, Platinum, Green or the Rewards Credit Card) for 24 months, and for the BA Premium Plus bonus once you have not held a BA Amex or Premium Plus for 24 months.

You will sometimes see talk of a seven-year reset on the same individual card. This is unofficial folklore rather than a stated Amex policy, and it is not something to build a plan around. Treat the 24-month rule as the reliable mechanic and anything beyond it as a bonus if it happens.

To put it together, here is how a patient run might look for someone starting with no personal Amex.

That is three personal welcome bonuses in quick succession, plus the option of two more from the business cards, all without falling foul of the rules.

When you are ready to start, you can apply via our referral links for personal Amex cards or business Amex cards. Using these helps support the work we do here, at no cost to you.

For the current enhanced bonuses worth timing your applications around, keep an eye on our latest Amex UK welcome bonus roundup. If you want a steer on which card fits where before you apply, our UK Avios earning credit card recommendations and our best business credit cards guide are the place to start.

All cards 18+ and subject to approval. Representative APRs: Platinum 685.3% variable (£650 fee); Gold 85.8% variable (£195 fee, £0 first year). Bonus figures shown are standard offers and vary with periodic enhanced promotions. T&Cs apply.