Credit Card Offers Amex Explorer: 50,000 bonus Amex points

Earn uncapped Amex Points and enjoy a $400 travel credit every year!​

Learn more and apply for this card:

American Express® Explorer Credit Card

With the American Express Explorer credit card, earn uncapped Amex Membership Rewards points and offset the annual fee with a travel credit.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

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What are the main benefits of this card?

1. Signup bonus: 50,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards Points, when you spend at least $4,000 on eligible purchases within 3 months of approval
2. Earn 2 Membership Rewards Points per $1 on eligible purchases, uncapped, which you can transfer to 13 different airline & hotel programs
3. $400 annual travel credit fully offsets the $395 annual fee

Why we like the American Express Explorer credit card

This card lets you earn Amex Membership Rewards points at a solid rate of 2 points per dollar, uncapped, without the higher annual fee of the Amex Platinum card.

You can transfer Amex points to 11 airline frequent flyer programs and 2 hotel loyalty programs, generally at a 2:1 rate. For example, this means you’re effectively earning 1 Velocity Point, Qatar Avios or Cathay Asia Mile per $1 spent on the card.

The $395 annual fee is offset by a $400 annual travel credit that you can spend on eligible flights, car rentals or hotels when booking through American Express Travel.

You'll also receive two free annual visits to the Amex Centurion Lounges in Sydney or Melbourne Airport, plus complimentary travel insurance. See our card guide for the full details:

American Express® Explorer Credit Card

With the American Express Explorer credit card, earn uncapped Amex Membership Rewards points and offset the annual fee with a travel credit.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

AFF members are welcome to discuss this card in this thread.

 

[rock86]

@Dr Ralph may I ask, do you hold a card for a minimum amount of time before burning?

I've got a couple of cards I need to cancel, but I only signed up earlier this year and wondering if I should hold them closer to the renewal date before cancelling.

Do you know if it makes a difference to your credit score?

If you're choosing to churn and burn cards, make the required spend then put the card in the bottom draw until the points arrive in your account, then cancel. Rinse, repeat.

Most of the financial institutions don't take much consideration of the 'credit score' issued from credit agencies, but rather have their own criteria needing to be met for approval which will include validating some of the information contained within your credit file.

It will all boil down to your current limits and serviceability, although some card companies will deny your application if you have a lot of enquiries in short spaces of time.

That;s all my opinion however, and I'm not the good Dr

 

[DC3]

Based on what I have seen, this is a pretty good card, and is what people have been asking for: earning 1.5 points per dollar spent for most things ...

MR transfer to airlines is 2:1, so effectively 0.75 airline points per dollar, on transfer. As I mainly fly QF, I’m now using the Qantas cc, 1:1, since the AMEX transfer devaluation. Will not suit everyone, but works for me.

 

[Coops1]

MR transfer to airlines is 2:1, so effectively 0.75 airline points per dollar, on transfer. As I mainly fly QF, I’m now using the Qantas cc, 1:1, since the AMEX transfer devaluation.

Your confusing the earn rates. The post you quoted was from 2016.

- Until the devaluation (Apr19) you earned 2 “gateway” points per dollar spent, which transferred at the rate of 4:3, thus 1.5 flyer points per $ when transferred.

- Currently, you still get 2 “gateway” points, but they convert 2:1 to 1 flyer point, not the 0.75 your quoting.

 

[Dr Ralph]

@Dr Ralph may I ask, do you hold a card for a minimum amount of time before burning?

Unless there's a compelling reason, I cancel the card as soon as the bonus points are awarded.

'Compelling' may be somewhat of a misleading word though. Here's two examples of where I would/have kept the card for an extra period of time:

1) ANZ recently awarded extra points on purchases (not capped) for a period of about 2 months. I was set to cancel my card but held off to take advantage of this opportunity.
2) I've held off cancelling AMEX to take advantage of small shop. With 25 cards at one time this was just too generous an opportunity to miss out on.

Overall I'm always guided by this: 'The sooner I cancel, the sooner the clock starts on the exclusion period'. And 'I've never met a card worth keeping'.

I know others have different views and I wave at them from F or J. The game changes all of the time, play hard and reap the rewards.

Do you know if it makes a difference to your credit score?

I doubt it. But I don't care about my score at all. In my experience income and ability to repay are the key factors. I've never (yet) been refused any card and churn upwards of 6 cards a year.

 

[DC3]

Your confusing the earn rates ...

Apologies if there’s confusion. I was talking AMEX, generally, probably. With my Member Rewards, AMEX halved the redemption rate with airlines earlier this year, along with other earning changes. While I am yet to cancel my two remaining AMEX cards, I am doing just as well by using the Qantas Premier cc with most transactions it seems.

With so many AMEX threads on AFF, I should have posted in one of the others about this.

 

[goldenhorn]

Unless there's a compelling reason, I cancel the card as soon as the bonus points are awarded.

'Compelling' may be somewhat of a misleading word though. Here's two examples of where I would/have kept the card for an extra period of time:

1) ANZ recently awarded extra points on purchases (not capped) for a period of about 2 months. I was set to cancel my card but held off to take advantage of this opportunity.
2) I've held off cancelling AMEX to take advantage of small shop. With 25 cards at one time this was just too generous an opportunity to miss out on.

Overall I'm always guided by this: 'The sooner I cancel, the sooner the clock starts on the exclusion period'. And 'I've never met a card worth keeping'.



I doubt it. But I don't care about my score at all. In my experience income and ability to repay are the key factors. I've never (yet) been refused any card and churn upwards of 6 cards a year.

Thanks @Dr Ralph. That's enormously helpful. I definitely need to increase my burn rate!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

50k points bonus is on the low side for the explorer, so may be worth holding out a little, but just delays the next bonus in another 18 months too!

I love churning cards too, and do. Heavilly.

But some are keepers. If I only gained 50K every 18 months then I would be significantly behind by churning my Amexes. Now while each of our circumstances are different, in my case:

- Have earnt more than that from referrals alone
- Add in multiples of Supp card bonuses of 3-5K per pop. Probably have had about 10 in 18 months.
- Some extra bonus point earns here and there
- While I grab QFF and Velocity points too, my preferred use is to move as many points as possible to Krisflyer. My dual Amexes allow me to earn 0.18 to 0.73 more KF per $ spent (Again this is worth more than 50K extra per 18 month period). Not as lucrative as it was pre- transfer devaluation.
- I save or make many $thousands per year via the cashbacks.
- Having the two keeps is effectively free due the travel credit (so no fee penalty in having both)

So Amex is not as lucrative as it was, but I would be shooting myself in the foot if I cancelled them.

Though I have churned two of the Westpac Amexes recently. But they were always a churner for me.

 

[Lemon_Party]

I love churning cards too, and do. Heavilly.

But some are keepers. If I only gained 50K every 18 months then I would be significantly behind by churning my Amexes. Now while each of our circumstances are different, in my case:

- Have earnt more than that from referrals alone
- Add in multiples of Supp card bonuses of 3-5K per pop. Probably have had about 10 in 18 months.
- Some extra bonus point earns here and there
- While I grab QFF and Velocity points too, my preferred use is to move as many points as possible to Krisflyer. My dual Amexes allow me to earn 0.18 to 0.73 more KF per $ spent (Again this is worth more than 50K extra per 18 month period). Not as lucrative as it was pre- transfer devaluation.
- I save or make many $thousands per year via the cashbacks.
- Having the two keeps is effectively free due the travel credit (so no fee penalty in having both)

So Amex is not as lucrative as it was, but I would be shooting myself in the foot if I cancelled them.

Though I have churned two of the Westpac Amexes recently. But they were always a churner for me.

Agreed - amex are too valuable not to hold. I always have one plus supplements. Come 18 months I refer the wife and then cancel mine and vice verse. Though I needed QF points last time so currently with the QF amex, will be back to Explorer next year...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Agreed - amex are too valuable not to hold. I always have one plus supplements. Come 18 months I refer the wife and then cancel mine and vice verse. Though I needed QF points last time so currently with the QF amex, will be back to Explorer next year...

I keep mine and churn the wife's. So the upcoming re-join for her will be the first 18 monther. Prior that were churned regularly to gain the referral bonus and joining bonus as frequently as possible.

I like to warehouse points on mine as KF has the 3 year rule (One of the few bad things about the KF Program). Though the recent Amex MR and Velocity Transfer devaluations has my account bulging, and so I am even keener to not move more points to it for a little while.

 

[goldenhorn]

If you're choosing to churn and burn cards, make the required spend then put the card in the bottom draw until the points arrive in your account, then cancel. Rinse, repeat.

Most of the financial institutions don't take much consideration of the 'credit score' issued from credit agencies, but rather have their own criteria needing to be met for approval which will include validating some of the information contained within your credit file.

It will all boil down to your current limits and serviceability, although some card companies will deny your application if you have a lot of enquiries in short spaces of time.

That;s all my opinion however, and I'm not the good Dr

Thank you. I've been erroneously thinking I need to hold the card until close to renewal date so I don't set off any alerts of damage my credit score.

So I'm changing my strategy and will be burning as soon as I get the points.

I have a couple of AMEX cards that send points to QF for 15+ years now, but I think I'll burn those too so I can apply for a new AMEX in 12/18 months (whatever the exclusion period is). I thought there was a benefit in staying loyal as a member, but I can see there's really no benefit.

Agreed - amex are too valuable not to hold. I always have one plus supplements. Come 18 months I refer the wife and then cancel mine and vice verse. Though I needed QF points last time so currently with the QF amex, will be back to Explorer next year...

That's a good strategy to refer the wife and then cancel so she can refer you again in the future. Clever!

I love churning cards too, and do. Heavilly.

But some are keepers. If I only gained 50K every 18 months then I would be significantly behind by churning my Amexes. Now while each of our circumstances are different, in my case:

- Have earnt more than that from referrals alone
- Add in multiples of Supp card bonuses of 3-5K per pop. Probably have had about 10 in 18 months.
- Some extra bonus point earns here and there
- While I grab QFF and Velocity points too, my preferred use is to move as many points as possible to Krisflyer. My dual Amexes allow me to earn 0.18 to 0.73 more KF per $ spent (Again this is worth more than 50K extra per 18 month period). Not as lucrative as it was pre- transfer devaluation.
- I save or make many $thousands per year via the cashbacks.
- Having the two keeps is effectively free due the travel credit (so no fee penalty in having both)

So Amex is not as lucrative as it was, but I would be shooting myself in the foot if I cancelled them.

Though I have churned two of the Westpac Amexes recently. But they were always a churner for me.

That's really helpful info!

I have a couple of the fee-free Amex that only transfer to QF, so I think I'll cancel and get hubbie to refer me to AMEX Explorer in 18 months so I have more flexibility in transferring to KF.

Is it the AMEX Explorer you're referring to that you keep?

 

[Dr Ralph]

Just applied.

Documents wouldn't upload via their website so had to email instead.

Could only add 2 supplementary cards during the application. So will have to add some more once the account is opened.

Anyone have recent experience with this card and can indicate how long to process/receive the cards?

Applied 5/9. Cards, including supplementary cards, received 10/9.

 

[PDog]

Agreed - amex are too valuable not to hold. I always have one plus supplements. Come 18 months I refer the wife and then cancel mine and vice verse. Though I needed QF points last time so currently with the QF amex, will be back to Explorer next year...

Same here, except my husband holds, I have a supp (or 3!) to his card & I churn.
Recently learnt how valuable the explorer is when the insurance painlessly took care of a $4500 rental car excess. For a card which essentially costs $0, it’s a keeper for one of us.

I reckon the hold vs churn costs for us (difference between sign on offer vs a referral offer) would be close to nothing given the extra points offers and savings throughout the 18 months. YMMV!

 

[Dr Ralph]

Just a heads up re supplementary cards. Seems the days of using your cat or dogs name may be over.

I didn't deliberately do the wrong thing, but I made an application for a supplementary card using the person's first name of Pam, but on their licence it's Pamela. AMEX called me and said they were unable to verify the persons identify using the information provided. Once I went through what they had and corrected it to Pamela the application was successfully processed.

If applications are being picked up for this sort of detail being wrong then I'd suggest caution when applying for supplementary cards.

 

[goldenhorn]

Just a heads up re supplementary cards. Seems the days of using your cat or dogs name may be over.

I didn't deliberately do the wrong thing, but I made an application for a supplementary card using the person's first name of Pam, but on their licence it's Pamela. AMEX called me and said they were unable to verify the persons identify using the information provided. Once I went through what they had and corrected it to Pamela the application was successfully processed.

If applications are being picked up for this sort of detail being wrong then I'd suggest caution when applying for supplementary cards.

I just applied for a supplementary card for my bro (he lives in the US so he won't be using it - I'll cut it up after the $500 spend to get the 5,000 points).

I noticed the license number is optional, so it made me wonder if you could use anyone's name if you don't have to verify their identity.

 

[Dr Ralph]

I just applied for a supplementary card for my bro (he lives in the US so he won't be using it - I'll cut it up after the $500 spend to get the 5,000 points).

I noticed the license number is optional, so it made me wonder if you could use anyone's name if you don't have to verify their identity.

Tried not using a licence number for another application. Got a call from Amex asking for it.

 

[PDog]

Tried not using a licence number for another application. Got a call from Amex asking for it.

Interesting. Only a few months ago I applied for one using my husband’s surname & my DL number (I retained my name so DL is in my maiden name as is all my ID). Card arrived 5 days later, no call, no issue.
Maybe using the same surname of the primary cardholder is the key? Or maybe they expect women to be in the process of changing their surname

 

[NoName]

No ID check for Mrs NoName just a few days ago. They asked name, DOB & what our relationship was and that was it. Sounds like it could be hit and miss.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Interesting. Only a few months ago I applied for one using my husband’s surname & my DL number (I retained my name so DL is in my maiden name as is all my ID). Card arrived 5 days later, no call, no issue.
Maybe using the same surname of the primary cardholder is the key? Or maybe they expect women to be in the process of changing their surname

Unless things have changed (and they may have) there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

Having applied for scores of supps over many years sometimes they want it and sometimes not. My last 2 supps earlier this year did not require it.

I have even had some supps arrived with misspellt names.

 

[maccaisking]

Tried not using a licence number for another application. Got a call from Amex asking for it.

I applied for supplementary cards a couple of weeks ago for my brother and a friend. One same surname, one different. I didn’t enter D/L details and cards arrived with no calls.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Well I may be emboldened to try again in the name of my dog.