With an American Categorical card that earns profitable Membership Rewards factors, cardholders can redeem factors by means of Amex Journey for lodges (together with trip leases), automobile leases, cruises and flights, or choose to make use of their factors for assertion credit, reward playing cards and extra.
Whether or not you are a factors knowledgeable or not, you too can maximize your Membership Rewards factors by transferring them to Amex’s 21 airline and resort companions. With so many choices to redeem and maximize your hard-earned factors, your Membership Rewards factors are extraordinarily precious.
Maintain studying to search out out extra about the right way to redeem factors, the right way to maximize Amex advantages and one of the best Amex playing cards to earn Membership Rewards factors.
What are Amex Membership Rewards factors?
Membership Rewards factors are the factors forex of American Categorical. You probably have an Amex card that earns Membership Rewards factors, you’ll earn them for on a regular basis spending, simply as you’d earn airline miles with an airline-branded card or resort factors with a hotel-branded card. Plus, relying on what Amex card you could have, you too can earn bonus factors in sure spending classes.
On the planet of factors and miles, American Categorical Membership Rewards factors are thought of a number of the most dear and helpful factors you possibly can earn due to their flexibility. Per TPG’s August 2024 valuations, we worth Amex factors at 2 cents per level. Since Membership Rewards factors are a type of transferable forex — Amex presently has 18 airline and three resort companions — there are plenty of methods to get essentially the most worth out of your factors if you switch them to companions.
Associated: How (and why) you must earn transferable bank card factors in 2024
How do I earn Amex Membership Rewards factors?
The best solution to earn plenty of Membership Rewards factors is by making use of for a Membership Rewards points-earning American Categorical card. Amex has a number of to select from, starting from premium playing cards with beneficiant advantages (and excessive annual charges) to no-annual-fee playing cards that reward day by day spending.
Incomes Membership Rewards factors from bank cards
Here is a have a look at the welcome supply, bonus-category construction, annual price and advantages for every of the six most dear Membership Rewards playing cards that will help you select which is one of the best Amex card for you.
| Card | Welcome supply | Bonus classes | Annual price | Perks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Platinum Card® from American Categorical | Earn 80,000 factors after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases throughout the first six months of account opening. | 5 factors per greenback on flights booked immediately with airways or with American Categorical Journey (on as much as $500,000 per calendar 12 months, then 1 level per greenback) and pay as you go lodges booked with American Categorical Journey. | $695 (see charges and costs). |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages. |
| The Enterprise Platinum Card® from American Categorical | Earn 150,000 factors after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases throughout the first three months of card membership. | 5 factors per greenback on flights and pay as you go lodges on AmexTravel.com; 1.5 factors per greenback on eligible purchases in choose enterprise classes and eligible purchases of $5,000 or extra (on as much as $2 million of those purchases per calendar 12 months, then 1 level per greenback). | $695 (see charges and costs). |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages. |
| American Categorical® Gold Card | Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases in your first six months of card membership. Plus, obtain 20% again in assertion credit on eligible purchases made at eating places worldwide throughout the first six months of card membership, as much as $100 again.
|
4 factors per greenback on purchases at eating places worldwide (as much as $50,000 in purchases per calendar 12 months, then 1 level per greenback); 4 factors per greenback at U.S. supermarkets (on as much as $25,000 per calendar 12 months in purchases, then 1 level per greenback); 3 factors per greenback on flights booked immediately with airways or on amextravel.com; 2 factors per greenback spent on pay as you go lodges and different eligible purchases booked on amextravel.com. | $325 (see charges and costs). |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages; phrases apply |
| American Categorical® Enterprise Gold Card | Earn 100,000 bonus factors after spending $15,000 on purchases within the first three months of card membership. | 4 factors per greenback on two choose classes the place you spend essentially the most every billing cycle, on as much as $150,000 in mixed purchases from these two classes every calendar 12 months (then 1 level per greenback); 3 factors per greenback on flights and pay as you go lodges when booked on amextravel.com; 1 level per greenback on different purchases. | $375 (see charges and costs). |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages. |
| American Categorical® Inexperienced Card | Earn 40,000 factors after you spend $3,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months of card membership. | 3 factors per greenback on eating places, journey and transit and 1 level per greenback on different purchases. | $150 |
Enrollment is required. |
| The Blue Enterprise® Plus Credit score Card from American Categorical | Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the cardboard inside your first three months of card membership. | 2 factors per greenback on on a regular basis enterprise purchases as much as $50,000 every calendar 12 months with no class restrictions (then 1 level per greenback); 1 level per greenback on different purchases. | $0 (see charges and costs). |
*Eligibility and profit degree varies by card. Phrases, circumstances and limitations apply. Please go to americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for extra particulars. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Firm. |
The knowledge for the American Categorical Inexperienced Card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.
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Different methods to earn Membership Rewards factors
After getting one (or extra) of the above playing cards, there are extra choices for incomes Amex factors. The primary is leveraging Rakuten, one in all TPG’s favourite on-line procuring portals. Previously generally known as Ebates, the positioning as soon as provided money again to customers who clicked by means of to taking part retailers from its dashboard. Nonetheless, members can now earn money again or Membership Rewards factors.
If you do not have an account, you possibly can enroll right here and luxuriate in a one-time bonus of $30 (or 3,000 factors) if you spend at the least $30 inside 90 days of turning into a member.
Learn extra: The best way to use Rakuten to earn bonus money again or Amex factors
Do Amex factors expire?
Membership Rewards factors don’t expire, offered you retain at the least one card that earns Membership Rewards factors open.
In case you cancel all Membership Rewards Amex playing cards, you need to redeem or switch your factors earlier than closing the final card. In any other case, you’ll forfeit the factors.
Who’re the Membership Rewards switch companions?
By transferring Membership Rewards factors to 18 airline and three resort switch companions, you possibly can seek for award journey throughout the globe, protecting virtually each main route and metropolis. Thus, incomes Membership Rewards is often extra precious than solely incomes factors in one in all these airline or resort loyalty packages. Keep in mind, you aren’t locked into one switch associate — you possibly can ship some factors to at least one program after which some to a different.
Under, we have listed all these companions, switch ratios and the switch occasions found in our testing.
Immediate transfers are all the time most well-liked, and Amex does an excellent job of constructing that occur in contrast with different transferable factors, akin to Chase Final Rewards factors and Citi ThankYou Rewards factors. If you have not completed so already, hyperlink your switch associate accounts to your Membership Rewards account. This prevents delays sooner or later when you could have to make a fast switch.
Associated: Present level switch bonuses
The most effective methods to redeem Membership Rewards factors
There are limitless methods to make use of these switch companions to get most worth to your Membership Rewards factors. Here is just some of our favourite redemptions:
- Fly to Hawaii on factors and miles: Switch your factors to Singapore Airways KrisFlyer and you may pay simply 13,500 KrisFlyer miles for a one-way flight from California, Oregon or Washington to any of the 4 Hawaiian islands serviced by Alaska Airways. These primarily based elsewhere within the nation can guide nonstop or connecting flights on United Airways. You may pay 19,500 factors for a one-way economic system ticket or 39,000 for enterprise class. This contains United’s long-haul nonstop flights from Newark, Chicago and Washington, D.C., to Honolulu.
- Save on business-class award flights: Singapore Airways additionally operates two of the world’s longest flights, from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) to Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR) and New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK). You will not wish to spend 18 hours in an uncomfortable seat — so use your Membership Rewards to fly enterprise class. Each routes price 111,500 factors plus taxes and costs one-way, a small value for consolation on such an extended flight.
- Switch your Amex factors to Iberia Plus: On off-peak dates, you possibly can fly from JFK and Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) to Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) for simply 17,000 Avios in economic system, 25,500 in premium economic system and 34,000 in enterprise class every approach. This can be a steal — most airways cost at the least 60,000 miles for a one-way business-class flight to Europe.
- Switch your Amex factors to Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue: Ebook business-class flights from North America to Europe ranging from simply 50,000 miles every approach.
- Ebook home American and Alaska award flights: Following devaluations from British Airways Government Membership, Qatar Airways Privilege Membership is now one of the best ways to guide home flights operated by American and Alaska Airways. Flights 650 miles or shorter will be booked for simply 6,000 Qatar Airways Avios.
- Switch your Membership Rewards factors to Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Membership program: Ebook round-trip business-class flights to Japan on ANA for simply 105,000 Membership Rewards factors from the West Coast of the US and 120,000 factors from the East Coast.
Simply do not forget that transfers are irreversible, so you must solely switch your factors as soon as you’ve got confirmed award area for the flight or resort you need.
You can even use your factors to guide nearly any journey by means of the Amex Journey reserving platform. You often obtain a worth of about 1 cent per Amex level. That is an OK however not spectacular solution to redeem these factors.
Poor-value methods to redeem Membership Rewards factors
Sadly, a number of choices for redeeming your factors characterize lower than stellar worth and will usually be averted if you wish to maximize your hard-earned rewards. These embody:
Utilizing factors for expenses: This is sort of a cash-back possibility protecting eligible expenses in your billing assertion. What are eligible expenses? You possibly can view the checklist of eligible expenses out of your present on-line assertion. With this feature, you may solely obtain 0.6 cents per level, so it isn’t an excellent return.
Utilizing Pay with Factors at checkout: After linking your Membership Rewards account with on-line retailers like Amazon, Greatest Purchase and Grubhub, you possibly can pay to your purchases at a barely higher (however nonetheless poor) worth of 0.7 cents per level. Though this feature can typically be helpful for promotions, you could wish to flip this off to stop unintended and unauthorized use of your factors.
Redeem for taxi rides in New York Metropolis: You possibly can redeem factors to your fare in New York Metropolis taxis at a worth of 1 cent per level.
Redeeming for reward playing cards: One of many worst choices is redeeming your factors for reward playing cards. Relying on the service provider, these redemptions are price wherever from 0.5 cents to 1 cent apiece.
Associated: How on a regular basis purchases price me 1000’s of factors
Backside line
Membership Rewards factors are simple to earn due to Amex’s beneficiant card gives. Plus, with a mixture of switch companions, they’re additionally simple to redeem. Whether or not you select to splurge on a tropical getaway or use your factors to go to household in one other state, having Membership Rewards factors at your disposal can undoubtedly assist prevent cash.
For charges and costs of the Amex Platinum card, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Gold card, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Enterprise Gold card, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Enterprise Platinum card, click on right here.
For charges and costs of the Blue Enterprise Plus card, please click on right here.
