by Charlotte Beugge
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card holders will now get 7,500 Bonus Membership Reward Points on the anniversary of taking the card only - as long as they have spent at least £15,000 on the card over that year.
The credit card, which has a £125 annual fee (reduced to £93 in the first year), also comes with two free visits to airport VIP lounges a year. New cardholders get 20,000 bonus points when they spend £1,000 on the card in the first three months.
As well as using their points on luxury gifts and experiences (such as spa days), cardholders can now use them for paying for hotels, flights, rail travel and cruises.
Points are accumulated at double the usual level on spending on travel, most purchases made overseas as well as supermarket and petrol spending in the first year the card is held. The points don't expire and can be redeemed for flights with many of the major airlines, hotels, car rental firms and Eurostar rail travel.
There are other travel-related reward cards such as Amex's British Airways Credit Card, which gives BA Miles; Virgin Atlantic White Card, which grants Flying Club miles and RBS YourPoints World Mastercard, which gives points that can be exchanged at easyJet, ebookers.com and others.
All these are credit cards, while the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card is a charge card and thus has no spending limit: you have to pay your balance in full each month.
