New high offer: Rakuten “refer a friend” now earns you & them $50 or 5,000 Amex points [targeted]

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Rakuten is one of our favorite cash back sites because it allows users to choose between earning pure cash back or Amex Membership Rewards in place of cash back. Now, for a limited time, the site is targeting some users for the best referral bonus we have ever seen it offer.

Rakuten Friend Referral Program

The program and the current promotion couldn’t be simpler:

• Refer friends to Rakuten (link)
• When a referred friend spends $50 through the Rakuten portal (across any of the hundreds of stores that the portal offers), the friend earns $50 and you (the referrer) get $50 too.
• According to the Rakuten press team, not all referrers have access to this latest (and largest) offer, so if you’re new to Rakuten, check that the link referring you will earn you the highest bonus going – when you click through to Rakuten via a referral link (like the ones in this article) and click on “join” (top right of the Rakuten page), you should see this:

• This offer is available through 30 September 2025.
• The offer is valid only if the person being referred signs up and completes their qualifying purchase by 30 September 2025.

Collecting American Express Membership Rewards points

Follow this link to see how to choose to earn Amex Membership Rewards in place of cash back.

Rakuten offers 1 Membership Reward point in place of every 1 cent of cash back earned through the portal and that fact brings with it three pieces of good news:

1. As TFM values Membership Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, every cent of cash back earned could be said to be worth 1.5 cents if you choose to earn Membership Rewards points.
2. If you choose to earn Membership Rewards points, this promotion will see you earn 5,000 points for every friend you successfully refer (as long as they go on to spend $50 during the promotion period).
3. Every person who is referred to Rakuten and who chooses to earn Membership Rewards points can earn 5,000 bonus Membership Rewards points from the referral, and those points will come on top of whatever other points are offered for the purchases being made.

Be careful how you pay

There’s more on offer here than just the great cash bonus or the Membership Rewards Points – this is an opportunity to make the most of all the other deals that will stack with this promotion.

Check the Amex offers that your American Express cards have been targeted for as a number of retailers that appear on the Rakuten portal often have Amex deals going as well (e.g. Levis, Sunglass Hut, Macy’s, etc…).

Cards like the no annual fee Blue Cash EveryDay® Card from American Express (3% cash back on up to $6,000 of US online retail purchases – terms apply) and the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (2 points/dollar on up to $50,000 of spending and 1 point/dollar thereafter – terms apply) can be very useful cards to use with Amex offers that stack with the cash back on offer through a lot of the retailers you’ll find on the Rakuten site.

If you don’t have any relevant Amex offers to use, make sure you use a credit card that will reward you well.

Most miles and points credit cards will only offer 1 point or mile per dollar at a lot of the participating retailers, so this would be a good opportunity to use a good cash back card (like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® Credit Card – 1.5% cash back on all spending) or to use a card on which you’re currently working towards a great welcome offer.

Bottom line

This is a very nice promotion for all sides from Rakuten as the referrer and the person being referred can both do very well out of this … just don’t forget that the person being referred must spend at least $50 through the Rakuten portal for everyone to walk away from this as a winner.

Click here to be referred to Rakuten and to qualify to earn $50 cash back or 5,000 Membership Rewards points