For a limited time, receive 80,000 Membership Rewards Bonus Points with the American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card when you apply via the link on this page.¹
Receive an additional 20,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points on top of the current 60,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® Points offer when you apply by 27 May 2025, are approved and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases on your new American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card within 3 months of your approval date. T&Cs apply. Available for new American Express Card Members only.
This special offer is only available via Amex’s select partner list. If you apply via a different link or visit the Amex site separately, you will not be eligible for the offer.
Don’t miss out! Visit the secure, mobile-friendly application form on the Amex website via the button below.
American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card: The Lowdown
The American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card is designed to reward purchases across a wide range of lifestyle spending categories, offering an earn rate of up to 5 Membership Rewards points per $1 spent on eligible purchases.
Beyond the points earning potential, Amex’s new credit card comes with a range of ongoing benefits, including Smartphone Screen Cover, Purchase Protection and access to Pre-sale tickets and experiences. Insurance Terms conditions and exclusions apply.
The fee to hold the Card is just $9 per month, or $108 across a 12-month period.
Head to the American Express website to apply here (secure, mobile-friendly application form). Or, read on to learn more.
What are 80,000 Membership Rewards points worth?
The American Express Essential Rewards Card earns points into the Membership Rewards ‘Gateway’ program.
80,000 Membership Rewards points are equal to 40,000 frequent flyer points in programs such as Qatar Privilege Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Virgin Australia’s Velocity.
As a flexible rewards program, Amex Membership Rewards allows you to earn points now and decide what to do with them at a later date. As long as your account is in good standing, your points don’t expire.
Transfer your points to over 10 major Airline Reward Partner Programs, use them to pay for purchases, or redeem for gift cards online.
The leading airlines you can transfer points to include:
- Velocity Frequent Flyer
- Asia Miles
- Etihad Guest
- Malaysian Airlines Enrich
- THAI Royal Orchid Plus
- Hawaiian Miles
- Qatar Privilege Club
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Emirates Skywards
Earn up to 5 points per $1 on eligible spend
The headline benefit of the Amex Essential Rewards Credit Card is the potential to unlock accelerated points earning across a range of lifestyle spending categories, (on the first 10,000 points per month).
Earn 5 points per $1 spent on eligible eats & drinks purchases
First and foremost, earn 5 points per $1 spent at restaurants, fast food outlets, cafes, bars and selected food delivery services in Australia.
This is the highest points earn rate offered for eligible spend in the Eats and Drinks category for an American Express Card in Australia. It equates to an earn rate of 2.5 frequent flyer points per dollar with select leading airline programs.
This 5x per $1 is available across a range of Amex accepting locations classified as ‘Eats and Drinks’ which includes bars, pubs, restaurants fast-food locations and cafes. Some of our favourites include Merivale Restaurants & Bars, ALH pubs and restaurants, Chris Lucas Restaurants, Anyday Venues, The Boathouse Group Cafes, Toby’s Estate Cafes, 4 Pines Breweries, McDonalds, Sushi Hub, Fishbowl, Guzman & Gomez locations plus thousands more. Eligible food delivery services include Uber Eats and Menulog.
Earn 3 points per $1 spent on selected streaming subscriptions
- Netflix
- Stan
- Prime Video
- Spotify
- YouTube
- Disney+
- Binge
Earn 2 points per $1 spent at selected major retailers
At the time of writing, eight merchants are classified as Selected Major Retailers for the purposes of accelerated points earning. These are:
- Amazon
- Kmart
- Bunnings Warehouse
- Uniqlo
- Myer
- The Iconic
- JB Hi-Fi
- Harvey Norman
Note that purchases with these merchants are only eligible for additional points if the transactions are made online or in-store in Australia.
1 point per $1 spent everywhere else
Finally, you’ll earn 1 point per dollar on all eligible spend outside the accelerated earn rate categories.
After a total threshold of 10,000 points is earned in a month, the earn rate will drop to 1 point for every $1 across all spend categories, until the threshold resets at the start of the next calendar month.
Get rewarded with other benefits
Above and beyond supercharged points earn, the American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card offers a range of other benefits, designed to offer value to Card Members each and every month. These include:
Smartphone Screen Cover: Accidentally broke the screen on your phone? You can be reimbursed for the cost of the screen repair up to $500 for two events a year. A 10% excess applies to the claimed amount. Waiting periods may apply. Terms, Conditions and Exclusions apply.
American Express Experiences: Enjoy once-in-a-lifetime experiences with access to pre-sale tickets. Enjoy exclusive access to live music, sports, theatre and more. Plus, Amex Card Members can take advantage benefits such as complimentary drink vouchers, Card Member only Entertainment Lounges and more.
American Express Offers: Access credits and bonus point offers on shopping, dining, entertainment and more.
American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card fee
A fee of $9 is payable to hold the American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card each month. This equates to $108 across a 12 month period.
American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card eligibility
To apply for the American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card, you’ll need to have no history of bad debt or payment default.
You must also be an Australian citizen or permanent resident or hold a long-term visa. Long-term means 12 months or more and does not include a student visa.
When you apply via the link on this page, receive an additional 20,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points on top of the current 60,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® Points offer when you apply by 27 May 2025, are approved and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases on your new American Express Essential Rewards Credit Card within 3 months of your approval date. T&Cs apply. Available for new American Express Card Members only.
This special offer is only available via Amex’s select partner list. If you apply via a different link or visit the Amex site separately, you will not be eligible for the offer.
Card Members who currently hold or who have previously held any other Card product issued by American Express Australia Limited in the past 18 month period are ineligible for this offer.
Don’t miss out! Visit the secure, mobile-friendly application form on the Amex website via the button below.
- 60,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points + additional 20 000 bonus points: Offer only available to new American Express Card Members who apply by 27 May 2025 via the link on this page, are approved and spend $3,000 on eligible purchases on their new Card in the first three (3) months from the Card approval date. If you apply via a different link or visit the Amex site separately, you will not be eligible for the offer. Eligible purchases do not include Card fees and charges, for example annual fees, interest, late payment, cash advances, balance transfers, traveller’s cheques and foreign currency conversion.If you previously held a David Jones American Express Card and have not held any other American Express Card(s) in the past 18 months, you will be eligible for the offer. All other Card Members who currently hold or who have previously held any Card product issued by American Express Australia Limited in the past 18 months are ineligible for this offer. 60,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points will be awarded to the eligible Card Member’s account 8-10 weeks after the spend criteria has been met. Subject to the Terms and Conditions of the Membership Rewards Program available at https://www.americanexpress.com/en-au/benefits/rewards/membership-rewards/. This advertised offer is not applicable or valid in conjunction with any other advertised or promotional offer.