100,000 points go a long way
According to travel website The Points Guy's valuations, Amex points are worth 2 cents apiece. That means the Amex Platinum's 100,000-point bonus is worth $2,000. That's huge — the bonus alone is worth nearly four years of annual fees!
Shop online or buy American Express gift cards, and 60,000 points are worth $300 (0.5 cents each point). When you book flights, upgrades, and Fine Hotels & Resorts accommodations through Amex Travel, you'll get $600 worth of value from your points.
Depending on the redemption method, the value of 50,000 Amex rewards points ranges from $250 to $500. The average value is $325, as each Amex point is worth an average of about 0.65 cents.
With the 85,000-point welcome offer, you can get up to $1,309 of flights. You'll initially redeem your points at a rate of one cent each.
You can qualify for a welcome bonus of up to 75,000 points on the American Express Gold Card after spending $4,000 within the first three months of card membership. That's another 15,000 points more than the standard bonus and the highest offer we've ever seen for this card.
These points are worth a whopping $2,400 based on TPG's most recent Membership Rewards valuation of 2 cents apiece.
The 80,000 points are worth over $1,000 in travel when you redeem them directly through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal, which allows you to book flights, hotels and rental cars.
Using the Invest with Rewards feature is simple: Log into your Amex account, click “invest with rewards”, then follow the prompts. In the end, the cash will be deposited into your Schwab brokerage account where you can then invest it or withdraw it.
The Centurion® Card from American Express, sometimes referred to as the Black Card, may be the hardest credit card to get because you need a special invitation from Amex to apply and there's a high financial bar to getting the card. It's been reported the card requires a $7,500 "initiation fee" and a $2,500 annual fee.
While 200K Amex points will typically only give you about $2,000 in value when you shop for flights in the Amex travel portal, you can sometimes find Business or First Class flights — that can normally cost over $10,000 — for only 200K points, when transferred to a frequent flyer program.
To redeem points for a flight, you need at least 5,000 American Express rewards points. The number of points needed can vary based on your card type and flight selections. You can only use the program once per transaction.
If you booked through Amex Travel, you'd have to pay at least 700,000 points just for a one-way flight. If you used transfer partners, you could pay as little as 50,000 points, a savings of nearly 93%.
You can also redeem your Amex points as statement credits for charges on your credit card account (a minimum of 1,000 points is required to make a redemption). Unfortunately, statement credits are only worth 0.6 cents per point, so they're a poor use of points.
We generally value Membership Rewards points at about 2.2 cents per point, which means that a 100,000 Membership Rewards points bonus offer is worth ~$2,200, a 125,000-point bonus is worth ~$2,750, and a 150,000-point bonus is worth $3,300.
There is real value, potentially over £600-worth, in the 60,000 American Express Membership Rewards points you would receive as a sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum. This assumes that you qualify for the bonus and meet the target of spending £6,000 in six months.
Membership Rewards® points have no expiration date. However, points may be forfeited as described in the program Terms and Conditions.
Yes, it is hard to get the American Express® Gold Card because it requires at least good credit for approval. Unless your credit score is 700 or higher and you have a lot of income, it will be very hard for you to get approved for the Amex Gold card.
American Express does not disclose a specific income requirement, but it will need to be enough to make payments on the card and to afford the $250 annual fee.
Is the American Express Gold Card worth the annual fee? If you make use of the card's annual credits and you spend a lot on dining and groceries, the card can be well worth the $250 fee. If you're not maximizing the credits and bonus categories, another card could be a better choice.
Amex Membership Rewards points are some of the most valuable credit card rewards you can earn because they're flexible — you can redeem them for a wide variety of rewards, including travel, or cash them in for other redemption like gift cards or statement credits.
0.5 cents per point for American Express gift cards (so a $500 gift card is 100,000 points).
Cardholders will be able to repay their outstanding balance using the points by logging into their online account or mobile banking app. To redeem their points spenders will just need to select the transaction they wish to pay for.