When will I earn Amex Business Platinum points?

There are several different ways to earn Amex Business Platinum points. You can spend $15,000 in the first 3 months for 85,000 bonus points. You’ll get 5 points per dollar for flights and hotels, and 1.5 points per $1 for any purchase of $5,000 or more. Plus, when you use points to play for flights, you’ll get 35% of them back.

Your points will show up in your account somewhere between 6-12 weeks after you earn them, depending on the type of bonus. I’ll walk you through the specifics below.

Here’s how you earn Amex Business Platinum Points:

• You get 85,000 points for spending $15,000 in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, you will also earn 5 points per $1 spent on purchases in 5 select business categories (U.S. shipping, wireless telephone services from U.S. service providers, U.S. advertising in select media, U.S. office supply stores and U.S. gas stations), up to 80,000 bonus points per category within that period. You’ll get your points 8-12 weeks after you meet the spending requirements.
• You earn 5 points per $1 on flights and eligible hotels booked at amextravel.com. They’ll post to your account 10-12 weeks after you make such a purchase.
• You get 1.5 points per $1 on purchases of $5,000 or more. You can earn up to a million points per year this way. They’ll be credited to your account 8-12 weeks after you make this type of purchase.
• You get 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. They’ll appear in your account 8-12 weeks after you make a charge.
• You get a 35% rebate on points used to pay for first class or business class flights on amextravel.com. You can earn up to 500,000 points a year with this bonus. They’ll show up in your account 6-10 weeks after you book a flight.

If you don’t make your minimum payment on time, you forfeit your points for that month. You can get those points back, but you have to pay a $35 fee. Since Amex points are worth up to one cent each, paying the fee is only worth it if you have 3,500 points or more.

The initial 75k points bonus is good, if you can afford to buy things worth $20,000. 

Spend. Spend a lot. You should be in the green zone if you include travel on your list of expenses.