So if you use the gold card @nickh transfer across all your bonus points to the relevant flight rewards program is there a certain notice of time you have to give in advance to avoid the second year fee?
Im looking at either the Everday Cashback AMEX or the BA Avios AMEX Iām just not sure how much Iād actually use the points at my age atm - but may be surprised.
Cheers for the succinct answer
I donāt believe so. As long as cancel your Amex within the first 364 days, you wonāt pay the fee (I think).
It all comes down to your personal circumstances - Iāve never really needed the cashback - I always felt like it was pretty small, especially when I was younger and not spending as much.
So I figured the airmiles would come in handy one day (thereās no time limit on using them).
Fast forward a few years and Iāve saved thousands by using the airmiles - Iād estimate the cashback Iād have received to be significantly less (6 or 7 times less than the equivalent cost of the flights).
Doesnāt work for everyone, and you need to book flights in advance - But I personally love it.
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Thanks for the speedy reply!
Have you ever used anything other than the Avios program?
My plan was to get an amex now in the next month and then use the card for a year and have enough points to pay/part-pay for a flight to dubai/aus as a part of travelling next august.
Do you really need to book āpointsā flight a year in advance? 
EDIT: was thinking of using the emirates or another airlines program other than BA saying as id be flying from dublin more than likely 
I think collecting Avios is well worth it and if youāre clever about it you can actually get really good value from them when you redeem them. The headforpoints.com site is excellent for explaining the (sometimes arcane) rules and methods to extract the most value.
I know itās a minor point but they do actually expire if thereās no account activity for 3 years, so itās worth being careful if youāve built up a lot!
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I think youāre right, It is just understanding how to use them effectively I think - I think iāll look at getting either the Gold AMEX or the BA AMEX - only like the BA one as I wonāt need to min/max the cancellation and re-opening.
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This is a valid point (activity can be as simple as paying in a few points).
So, with BA, the options for ārewards flightsā (ones where you pay with Air Miles) are pretty slim the closer you get to the departure date.
I donāt know what the other options are like, as Iāve not used them.
The reason I stick with BA is because they fly all over Europe, and I donāt need to pay taxes on those flights.
If you fly out of Europe, you need to pay taxes, which at times, feel like the bulk of the ticket!
There should be ācalculatorsā on the various airlines websites which show you how much youāll have to payā¦
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Sorry to keep firing questions your way 
do you know what the ācool-downā is say for the account? I can see AMEX are trying to stop repeat sign-ups for bonuses but just wondered if you had any idea on if I cancelled I could only re-apply say X months later?
I believe itās straight away (could be proved wrong).
It was previously 6 months before you could claim the sign up bonuses - But I donāt remember seeing any restriction on simply re-applying (although there was never any benefit to doing this before).
Im in two minds which to get.
I am getting married abroad this year and guest have been sending me cash to pay for their part of the holiday.
I was thinking of keeping all the funds in a pot and when I have all the money, applying for a amex and paying the lot on their, then when the bill comes, empty the pot and pay the amex balance.
Id expect it to be roughly Ā£8000.
Whether to get the gold and bag the 20000 points plus the extra points for the transaction.
Or go for the cashback, max Ā£150 in bonus period, plus the 1 percent or .5 percent depending on which cashback card
Maybe get a companion voucher for honeymoon?
Decision decisionsā¦
So retailers are no longer funding your points?
Iām not sure I feel too sorry 
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Keep in mind that American Express may have charges abroad - I think the platinum cashback card does, for example.
The Nationwide Select CC has a smaller amount of cashback but it commission free, so might be worth a look.
I have two Amex cards, aflight point one and a cashback one and thereās no annual fee on either
You could always go for the cashback one instead. Iāve got two Amex. One airmile reward and the other a cashback
I use the BA AMEX as I fly with BA for work.
You can actually combine rewards with BA so this year I used the BA companion voucher, spent around 100k avios and got us business class flights to the West Coast USA for two. The companion voucher essentially gets you a reward flight for free (in points terms) but you do still have to pay the taxes on both.
Saved thousands!
I think Iām likely to grab the Gold AMEX points card for 11 months, ditch it before I have to pay the renewal fee (hopefully hitting the 20,000 bonus point haul) and then just moving back to the normal fee free BA AMEX (even though I wonāt get anything for signing up) iāll at least get the same deal Ā£1 for 1 point and wonāt need to pay.
Youād be better off holding it until after renewal fee if you manage to hit Ā£15,000 spend. Youāll receive 10,000 more bonus points and two more lounge passes. Then you can cancel and receive a pro rata refund on the fee.
Unlikely to hit that on my salary without moving into the realms of only pro rataāing about half of the annual fee.
Iām more just trying to āstart earlyā with the whole points accrual. Iāve had just a basic CC for about a year now which does next to nothing for me (apart from provide credit obviously).
So I think iāll just min max what I can, by the time Iām in a position to get that Ā£15,000 deal 24 months wouldāve gone and iāll be able to re-sign up.
Does anyone pay their bills/ rent/ mortgage out of their credit card or know if this is possible?
I donāt know how realistic paying rent is through credit card, but billhop can cover a lot of these (though for a fee) - https://billhop.com/gb/. Otherwise Curve card works for bills (just not with Amex).
Iām not sure retailers will be any better off because of this change unless Amex are reducing their fees because of this change