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American Express occasionally sends targeted offers to Card Members to activate its Pay Over Time feature. These promotions often include generous Membership Rewards bonuses — sometimes worth tens of thousands of points. Here’s what you need to know about Pay Over Time and how to check if you’re eligible for the current (and lucrative) offer.
What Is American Express Pay Over Time?
Pay Over Time is a feature that allows American Express Card Members to carry a balance on certain charges — with interest. Amex describes it as follows:
“Pay Over Time gives you the flexibility to pay for eligible charges over time, with interest. Eligible charges are automatically added to your Pay Over Time balance up to your Pay Over Time Limit.”
While the added flexibility can be useful, interest rates can be very high. However, you only pay interest if you carry a balance. If you pay your statement in full each month, you can activate, earn the promotional bonus, and never pay a dime in interest.
New Green, Gold, and Platinum card accounts are automatically enrolled in Pay Over Time, and the feature is initially set to Active. That’s why it’s important to keep track of your account; you don’t want to accidentally carry a balance and get hit with interest charges, which can undermine your credit score. That said, if you don’t want to use Pay Over Time, you can always pay in full.
Related: How To Unenroll From Amex Pay Over Time (And Why It's a Good Idea)
20,000 Membership Rewards Bonus for Activating Pay Over Time
If you haven't already activated Pay Over Time, Amex sometimes sends out targeted offers to encourage you to opt in. These promotions can be a great opportunity to earn Membership Rewards points with minimal effort.
Here’s what you need to know about the current Pay Over Time activation offer:
- Targeted Card Members can earn 20,000 Membership Rewards for activating Pay Over Time.
- There’s no cost to activate and no requirement to use the feature.
- Eligible Cards:
- Bonus points typically post within 8–12 weeks after activation.
To see if you're targeted for the Pay Over Time promotion, check your email (or mailbox) for an offer from Amex. You can also log into your account and visit the Amex Offers page to see if it's available elsewhere. Additionally, try this direct activation link to check for eligibility.
You won't be eligible for the bonus if you’ve previously activated Pay Over Time, or if you have accepted this offer on your card account in the past.
Related: Cards That Earn Amex Membership Rewards Points
Final Thoughts
Amex frequently encourages Card Members to activate Pay Over Time, but not all invitations come with bonus points. Before activating, double-check that your offer includes Membership Rewards points so that you don't miss out on a potential 20,000-point windfall.
If you are eligible for this offer, don’t wait — activate right away! It’s one of the easiest ways to earn extra Amex points with minimal effort. And you don't even have to use the feature to get the points.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I wasn’t targeted for this offer but am curious about “the crazy retention offers Amex has been handing out like candy” 🙂
I’m going to be up for renewal soon and have been thinking of canceling since the Centurion Lounges seem to always be full the few times I am at an airport that has one. I have Priority Pass through other cards.
I really wish Amex would do more of the offers with Bonus points with a given purchase on the offers they do monthly. I have one on a biz plat for spend 12,500 get 3,500 bonus points that can be used up to three times.
Not a bad deal really if you have some large purchases coming up.
I received this offer as a banner on my Amex homepage after signing in. I never received the points and have chatted with Amex twice. I un-enrolled just now. There are plenty of posts that Amex has not been fulfilling these signups for Pay As You Go. Just makes me skeptical when points don’t arrive and the Amex reps say that it takes 8-12 weeks. Yet other commenters state that they received the bonus points in less than a week. There also reports that the offers can vary from to 10K to 30K of MR points.
Added on Friday night and 20K MR posted on Sunday night. Thanks AMEX
Awesome! Glad to hear that the points are posting so quickly!
Would my current “pay in full” autopay setup still exist after adding this offer or would I need to manually pay in full each month that Pay Over Time is activated? Thanks!
Kevin – you’ll be good. You would only be affected if you had the “minimum payment” setting. Full is still full. You’re good 🙂
Deberían ampliar el beneficio al resto de las tarjetas, no solo a la GOLD. Gracias
I also received this offer and enrolled , as mentioned before a very good offer to take advantage of, but my recommendation is to be cautious on the extensive use of the “financial” service, so its more self autocontrol than any other aspects, having said that, I would recommend to apply if you have the chance.
I wasn’t targeted and somehow I’m already enrolled.
Seems worth enrolling in for the points, but not using.
“Seems” really is not the right word here. Enrolling is an easy, definitive yes. And, I’ll venture to say that you will never be offered more miles for less work. It’s impossible to beat a one second, simple click for signup with no cost or risk.
Do they offer this on any non-US Platinum cards? Even without the bonus points offer? I’ve never heard if it on my UK/AU cards.
That’s a good question. We generally focus on US cards – as that’s enough to keep us busy! Sorry we can’t help with this.
Got this offer several months ago for 10k, hoping I’m targeted for 30k. Anyone know any ways to increase your chances of being selected?
I got this offer several months ago and I enrolled my card right away. The points posted to my account a few days later. It was one of the easiest ways to earn a substantial number of points and it hasn’t changed anything for me. I still pay off the card every month just like I always have done.
It is great for those who have signed up but do not need to actually use the feature.
I was automatically enrolled in this program with my Platinum card, but dismissed my participation based on this article. Hopefully that puts me on the radar for the targeted promotion. I can see why Amex might want people to be in the program, but it’s a net neutral feature if you adhere to a budget and pay your bill in full every month.
Yes, I’ve been targeted and have been tempted by the rather lucrative offer, especially since my spending on the AmEx has been fairly dismal this past year. However, I have not had a chance to research the questions/concerns I have about the offer and appreciate your detailed research that answers almost all my questions. My only question I have not had a chance to research and/or see in your research, is how long must one be signed up for the program, before they can unenroll without the reward points being cancelled by AmEx? As travel begins to resume in earnest and as most travel purchases with my AmEx are over the $100 threshold, I do not want to be constantly checking the account to be sure I do not accidentally incur interest as I pay all my cards in full each month.
That’s a good question! And an apt one with how sensitive Amex can be about “gaming”. That said, I’m not sure how long would be “safe”. Personally, I’d probably wait 3 billing cycles. As long as you pay your account balance each month, you should be set.
Amazing content for my future travellings. I was selected with this few weeks ago and I will definetely take advandtage of it. Thank you so much for your generosity!