AmEx Explorer Card: 100,000 Bonus Points ($4,000 Spend in 3 Months), $400 Travel Credit, $395 Annual Fee

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AmEx Explorer Card: 100,000 Bonus Points ($4,000 Spend in 3 Months), $400 Travel Credit, $395 Annual Fee
Go to Deal
PTA84 on 03/07/2025 - 12:01 americanexpress.com (3293 clicks)
Last edited 03/07/2025 - 12:05 by 1 other user

New offer for the Explorer card, available via Amex or personal referral.

Receive 100,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® Points when you apply online by 2 December 2025, are approved, and spend $4,000 on eligible purchases on your new American Express Explorer® Credit Card within the first 3 months. T&Cs apply. Available to new American Express Card Members only.

Key benefits:

  • $400 travel credit to spend on eligible domestic and international flights, hotels or car hire with American Express Travel
  • Complimentary domestic & international Travel Insurance
  • Enjoy two complimentary entries per year to The Centurion® Lounge at Sydney International Airport or Melbourne International Airport
  • Transfer points to over 10 airlines incl. Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines
  • Smartphone Front Screen Cover, covering up to $500 for repairs if you break your screen when you pay for your phone outright or monthly bill with your American Express Explorer Credit Card. A 10% excess applies to the claimed amount.
  • Receive up to US$100 hotel credit and room upgrade (when available) at select hotels in The Hotel Collection when you book two consecutive nights’ stay

New Amex card members only - you must not have held an Amex card in the past 18 months.

American Express Referrals

Business Explorer Card: random (3)

Referrer: 40,000 Reward Points

Centurion Personal Charge Card: random (4)

Referee gets 200,000 MR points. Referrer gets 150,000 MR points.

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Financial American Express Credit Card Membership Rewards Reward Points Travel Credit

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Comments

  • catbin on 03/07/2025 - 12:02

    this or the qantas one?

    • Hugh G Rection on 03/07/2025 - 12:50
      +1

      i did qantas, it benefits me more. 2 qantas lounge passes + 2 amex centurion lounge passes.

      • ozbargainerlife1 on 03/07/2025 - 21:51

        did u get approved for qantas. whats ur churn history

    • pkr123 on 03/07/2025 - 16:45
      +1

      Which qantas offer are you referring to?

  • MJD91 on 03/07/2025 - 12:09
    +1

    Does anyone know how many Velocity points you can get with the 100k from this offer?

  • b3au on 03/07/2025 - 12:15
    +6

    FYI it looks like the targeted referral for 110,000 is still live.
    https://imgur.com/a/7R7GDUE

    • JuryWheel on 03/07/2025 - 12:26

      where did you see this?

      • b3au on 03/07/2025 - 12:32
        +1

        To refer someone? After logging in on the Amex website, it appears under an "Exclusive for you" section… if you're targeted.

  • JuryWheel on 03/07/2025 - 12:19

    Anyone have success referring their partner/wife/husband so they have their own card (vs a supplementary) to get the points? Any easy way to find out how long ago you may have cancelled a previous amex card?

    • JDMcarfan on 03/07/2025 - 14:09

      the former yes. just did that 2 days ago and referral was credited yday (parent and child, still supplementary on the others account and same address).
      the latter would just be searching your inbox for closure email and use that date

  • wazza23 on 03/07/2025 - 13:04

    I think I'm still going to go for the amex velocity card. Most my points are used for flights on velocity or SQ. Anyone think otherwise? Explorer gives the flexibility of sending the points to other places though…

  • auditek on 03/07/2025 - 13:08

    Does anyone pay rent and/or mortgage with one of these?

    • ryefig on 03/07/2025 - 13:11

      How do you do that?

      • ozchobie on 03/07/2025 - 13:34

        i am guessing sniip

      • Caped Baldy on 03/07/2025 - 13:55

        I believe you can do DEFT payments but the fees are higher with credit.

        I'm wondering if it's possible to do strata payments.

        • sauce2k on 03/07/2025 - 14:07
          +2

          DEFT payment is crazy high with credit cards. Thought about doing this for my incredibly high strata but after seeing how much they charge, I gave up

          • Caped Baldy on 03/07/2025 - 14:43
            +1

            @sauce2k: Looks like 1.5% for a test of mine. Not crazy high but not great either - $15 for every $1000 :(

            Not sure why you got negged.

            • sauce2k on 03/07/2025 - 14:57
              +2

              @Caped Baldy: Too many sensitive people on OZB, already used to it lol.

              Yeh my strata has been quite high lately (special levies booo), thought about getting some points but just not worth it in my opinion

              • Caped Baldy on 03/07/2025 - 15:06

                @sauce2k: I just find it annoying, at least give a reason instead of being a salty baby lol.

                If churning, you could come out ahead if paying multiple quarters but there's other issues with that obviously.

        • jlien on 03/07/2025 - 15:05
          +1

          sniip didn't even let me use amex for my deft payment. only allowed visa/mc which made it useless.

          • VladImpaler on 03/07/2025 - 15:32

            @jlien: I had the same issue trying to pay DEFT the straty levy via SNIIP using AMEX - so had to use Visa instead.

            Presumably it's a DEFT thing as it's the first BPay transaction I've had a problem with when using SNIIP.

            • auditek on 03/07/2025 - 18:12

              @VladImpaler: Thanks for sharing.
              Perhaps best with other CC that are visa/mc to access points to pay rent/strata/mortgage then.

        • nanny0tt on 04/07/2025 - 04:48

          Deft accept visa/master prepaid cards and fees are moderate. Even with those at loss promos (eg 10x points ones) it still work out possitive

      • alpln on 03/07/2025 - 16:51

        You should be able to do a physical card payment in your agent office, but that's inconvenient.

  • Jaymac on 03/07/2025 - 13:10
    +1

    I miss the good ol' days where AMEX Gold promotions were often with 100k QFF points and the $249 annual fee was reimbursed with the adequate spending within 3 months…

    • sajidmib on 03/07/2025 - 13:22
      -7

      I spend nearly $2K on amex every month.

      • Jaymac on 03/07/2025 - 13:44
        +12

        Cool…

      • killingtime on 03/07/2025 - 14:00
        +10

        imagine thinking 2k is a flex

  • sajidmib on 03/07/2025 - 13:21

    I have AmEX essential card, does that mean i dont qualify for either the Qantas and the Amex original.

    • timhn on 03/07/2025 - 13:56

      New Amex card members only - you must not have held an Amex card in the past 18 months.

  • ozchobie on 03/07/2025 - 13:33
    +4

    The referral deal is better with more bonus points for you and for fellow ozbargainer, with the same requirements.

    Just click and click onto the referral link system instead until you find one with a yellow banner (that says Limited Time Offer) after the referral page loads, and it will show 110k points with the same spend requirements. And you help out a fellow ozbargainer.

    • joelj on 03/07/2025 - 14:41

      I tried this but it still only came up with 100,000 points

      • ozchobie on 03/07/2025 - 14:47

        Just tried a couple just now and at my second try it came up with 110,000 points.

        The yellow banner now says “Don’t miss your special referral offer” I think they changed the wording and that one has 110,000. Just try and try again until you see one.

        https://imgur.com/a/MLWgjyG

        • joelj on 03/07/2025 - 14:49

          Thanks, I did try again another couple of times and it eventually came up with 110k

        • Focus8 on 08/07/2025 - 09:30

          Pretty sure my friend's offer is just for 100K, and I've refreshed the page a few times using his referral link, but it still shows 100K.
          Wondering if anything needs to be done on his side instead?
          Thanks!

  • lankanpot on 03/07/2025 - 14:22

    Does this card offer better value? We’re currently using the Westpac Black Altitude Rewards, but the 3:1 conversion to Velocity/KrisFlyer feels a bit underwhelming. We're considering switching, especially since the travel credit sounds appealing. But I’ve read it’s only usable if you book flights through their portal, which might not always be the best deal. Has anyone had experience with this? Would love some advice!

  • DrRalph on 03/07/2025 - 14:22

    "Receive 110,000 bonus Membership Rewards® Points"

  • limetree1 on 03/07/2025 - 14:35

    Can I book flights and then cancel to get the $400 credit refunded? I think I saw it in some forum before but couldn’t be sure.

    • tunzafun001 on 03/07/2025 - 14:43
      +1

      Nope. They will keep the flight credit.

    • littlesoldier on 03/07/2025 - 14:58
      +3

      AMEX is now giving the travel credit like cashback, even if you cancel the flight you still keep the credit

      however, if you use AMEX travel to book for flight (to get the travel credit), most flights does not have free cancellation (eg. Qantas has $99 cancellation fee, unless you book through qantas website/app then you have a 24hours free cancellation window)

      Since the explorer card is giving travel credit rather than flight credit
      the safest option is to book for a free cancellation hotel
      after making a booking, wait till the travel credit shows in you account, then cancel the hotel booking
      and you will get the hotel booking fee refunded (and keep the travel credit)

      • jaypeee on 03/07/2025 - 15:04
        +3

        the real bargain is always in the comments

      • EarlyBird on 03/07/2025 - 18:35

        That's an interesting way to get the travel credit refunded. Does the refunded travel credit have the original expiry date or a new one?

        • littlesoldier on 03/07/2025 - 18:41
          +3

          no, it doesnt work that way
          Travel Credit -> once you opt to use travel credit to make booking, it will turn into statement credit in 3-5 days (like AMEX cashback)
          Hotel booking refund -> it will just like normal refund of purchases, showing a deduction from the original value

          So at the end, you dont get the travel credit back, but the statement credit (which reduce your next month repayment)

          • Saitake12 on 03/07/2025 - 19:51

            @littlesoldier: Would amex consider this abuse of the credit and close your account?

            • littlesoldier on 03/07/2025 - 20:14
              +1

              @Saitake12: I don’t see why this is an abuse, it’s just normal scenarios

              You book for a hotel using the travel credit
              Then your travel plan change, and you cancel the booking

              AMEX does says in T&C that they reserve right to take the credit back, but they don’t from experience

          • limetree1 on 04/07/2025 - 13:24

            @littlesoldier: Sorry I’m still a bit confused. Not sure if I understood you correctly.

            I thought when booking hotels, I’m using the $395 credit first, plus $105 from my bank if my booking is for example $500.

            When cancelling, I’ll get $105 refund to my bank, plus $395 as statement credit in Amex card, is this correct? Isn’t statement credit equal to cash refund?

            • littlesoldier on 04/07/2025 - 13:35
              +2

              @limetree1: No, when you book a hotel (with free cancellation) for $500, and opt to use your travel credit
              You will pay $500 immediately from your card
              Few days later, you receive $400 as a statement credit (like AMEX cashback) as another entry
              When you cancel your hotel booking, you get the $500 refunded

              So in your account activity, you will have 3 entries
              $500 AMEX travel hotel booking
              -$400 Travel credit
              -$500 AMEX travel hotel booking refunded

              • limetree1 on 04/07/2025 - 15:01
                +1

                @littlesoldier: Thank you so much. I assume you tested this and it works fine.

                This is great and i think I can keep this card for a long time as this is like I don’t have to pay annual fees.

                • Craze on 09/07/2025 - 22:26

                  @limetree1: But you'll miss out on sign up bonus points… if you're not fussed then yes this is a good hack/work around to essentially get the annual fee waived.

                  • heathz14 on 11/07/2025 - 20:10

                    @Craze: @Craze Why does this mean you miss out on sign up bonus points?

              • heathz14 on 11/07/2025 - 20:16

                @littlesoldier: What do you think of the comment below by Craze?

                • littlesoldier on 11/07/2025 - 20:46

                  @heathz14: I have no idea what that means, using travel credit and sign up bonus are two different things …

                  • Craze on 11/07/2025 - 21:17
                    +1

                    @littlesoldier: I meant if they were to choose to keep the card longer than a year then yes the travel credit hack can be use to waive annual fee every year but they'd miss out on future bonus points

                    • littlesoldier on 11/07/2025 - 21:24
                      +1

                      @Craze: Thanks for clarifying, yes only first year will be eligible for the sign up bonus, and it also has the standard 18 months Amex wait time before the next sign up bonus

          • EarlyBird on 23/07/2025 - 15:03

            @littlesoldier: I booked a hotel with the travel credit a week ago but it won't allow me to cancel under "Manage my booking".

            I get the error:
            Cancellation Declined
            Your booking number XXXXX could not be cancelled at this time.

            Have you successfully cancelled any hotel bookings before?

            • littlesoldier on 23/07/2025 - 15:05
              +1

              @EarlyBird: you can contact the AMEX live chat to do the hotel cancellation
              as long as your booking has free cancellation you will get the refund

              • EarlyBird on 23/07/2025 - 15:29

                @littlesoldier: Thanks. Did you always have to go on live chat every time you had to cancel any bookings with them in the past?

            • Craze on 23/07/2025 - 19:48

              @EarlyBird: Same with my hotel booking, haven't contacted live chat to cancel though.

              • Craze on 26/07/2025 - 09:39

                @Craze: Contacted live to cancel booking this morning. Apparently their hotels are through Agoda and undergoing maintenance so online cancellation process is currently unavailable. Full refund, and the agent even confirmed that the $400 statement credit will not be voided/reversed!

  • lilkid28 on 03/07/2025 - 15:17
    +2

    Better to use a referral link that gives 110,000 bonus points, and helps the referrer with 40,000 bonus points

  • tqqq on 03/07/2025 - 16:32

    am I still eligible if I have had the same card more than 18 months ago?

  • nvnrj on 03/07/2025 - 17:05
    +1

    I have the 110,000 bonus points offer in my account. I hope someone uses it via the random referral links. TIA

  • Saitake12 on 03/07/2025 - 19:51
    +1

    Is Amex still auto rejecting churners?

    • ozbargainerlife1 on 03/07/2025 - 20:21

      I think so

    • JuryWheel on 03/07/2025 - 20:38

      How do they detect this….?

      • Saitake12 on 03/07/2025 - 20:43

        look at your credit report, you can see all the applications there.

    • s12345 on 25/07/2025 - 08:42

      yes. had three credit card applications in the last 6 months, one had been closed (according to credit report). rejected

      • Saitake12 on 25/07/2025 - 13:23

        Thats pretty heavy churning imo so would flag it. I think light churning would be more acceptable to them (based on my experiences)

  • Russ on 03/07/2025 - 23:06

    $400 travel credit to spend … with American Express Travel

    What are Amex Travel like? Expensive compared to the deals we see on OzBargain, or comparable?

    And can you use the credit on anything, or only on a limited range?

    I've never had an Amex card, and don't know how to value the $400 travel credit.

    • b3au on 04/07/2025 - 08:53

      You can search here - https://www.americanexpress.com/en-au/travel/ - without needing to be a Cardmember.

      • Russ on 04/07/2025 - 22:11

        Thanks!

        I've had a try, so far I'm not impressed. I selected a return journey flying Singapore Airlines, and then tried the exact same dates/times/flights booking direct with Singapore Airlines.

        Booking direct was just over $100 cheaper, $1266 vs $1369.

  • Zviar on 08/07/2025 - 10:12

    Can anyone clarify this?
    Does this mean, the person applying for a new "Explorer Credit Card" gets 75,000 (referral bonus) + 110,000 ( new sign up bonus, as shown on normal Amex website ).

    Explorer Credit Card:
    Referrer: 30,000 Reward Points
    Referee: 75,000 Reward Points

    • sydonk on 30/07/2025 - 09:42

      No lol. It would be 110,000 only, or whatever you see on the actual webpage.

  • Douges on 18/07/2025 - 10:25
    +1

    "$400 travel credit to spend on eligible domestic and international flights, hotels or car hire with American Express Travel"

    I have the $450 credit AMEX and one thing I didn't expect was how flights are more expensive in their portal.
    Just beware that you are most likely going to be paying extra using this credit than going through the provider directly.
    You also have to use all your credit at once - you cannot use your credit adhoc on multiple trips throughout the year

    • Zviar on 04/08/2025 - 15:21

      thanks for highlight. This is a very important point.

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