New American Express Gold customers can get 30,000 bonus points as part of an enhanced offer in the run up to Christmas.

The credit card giant has increased the sign-up bonus on its Preferred Rewards Gold credit card from 20,000 to 30,000 points in its biggest ever up-front points offer.

New Amex Gold cardmembers can earn 30,000 points when they spend £3,000 in the first three months of having the card.

It means that new members signing up for an Amex Gold Card from today could earn up to 30,000 points.

In the run up to Christmas, it would not be hard to make a dent in the American Express's £3,000 spending requirement.

Research from TSB Bank shows consumers are expected to spend an average of £315 each on gifts alone this Christmas, that's before food, booze, nights out and entertainment come inot play.

To get the offer, customers must sign up for an Amex Gold Card and be accepted by 14 January.

The 30,000 points are worth £150 in gift vouchers at a range of shopping, travel and lifestyle partners, used to offset purchases made on the card, or they can be redeemed against flights and hotels with Amex Travel.

Membership Rewards points can also be converted 1 to 1 into Avios meaning you can get 30,000 Avois points with the bonus deal.

On top of this, existing Amex Gold cardmembers can earn extra membership rewards points when referring a friend, as part of the limited time offer.

This means a person who is referring will now earn 14,000 rewards points per referral, rather than 9,000. 

Meanwhile, the person who is referred gets 40,000, up from 22,000, when they spend £3,000 in the first three months of having the card.

The person who is referred will also earn an extra 5,000 points when they make a transaction of any amount within the fifteenth month of having the card.

The limit for referral earnings is set at 90,000 points a year.

The referral bonus runs until 14 January.

Gold cardmembers get four Priority Pass lounge accesses each year and £120 in Deliveroo statement credits a year. 

This arrives in the form of two £5 credits each month. You receive £5 cashback each time a Deliveroo order for £5 or more is charged to your Gold card, up to £10 of credit per month.

Gold cardmembers also get up to 12,500 bonus Membership Rewards points each membership year based on total spending. 

The first 2,500 points arrive after £5,000 of spending and a further 2,500 points are earned after each incremental £5,000 spend, up to a total of 12,500 points.

The bonus is only available to customers who have not held a personal American Express card in the previous 24 months.

Is it worth getting the Gold card for the bonus?

The Amex Gold card is free for the first year and then has a hefty £195 annual fee in the years following.

You can cancel before this is charged and there is no obligation to keep the card beyond the first year.

Those who fail to pay their balance off each month will be hit with a 31 per cent purchase rate. The representative APR is 88.3 per cent, including the annual fee.

It makes it crucial to pay off as you go along, or you wipe out any potential benefits - and could end up with a hefty interest bill. 

Rob Burgess of frequent flyer website Headforpoints, said: 'This is the most generous sign-up bonus available on any free UK loyalty credit card – albeit that Amex Gold is only free for the first year.

'For future years, there is a fee of £195. I would personally struggle to justify that fee in light of the benefits unless I was making heavy use of the $75 hotel credits, the airport lounge passes and the Deliveroo credit.'