With an American Express card that earns profitable Membership Rewards factors, cardholders can redeem factors by means of American Express Travel for lodges (together with trip leases), automobile leases, cruises and flights or decide to make use of their factors for assertion credit, present playing cards and extra.
Whether or not you are a factors professional or not, you may also maximize your Membership Rewards points by transferring them to Amex’s 21 airline and hotel partners. With many choices to redeem and maximize your hard-earned factors, your Membership Rewards factors are extraordinarily useful.
Maintain studying to be taught extra about how one can redeem factors, maximize Amex advantages and the perfect Amex playing cards to earn Membership Rewards factors.
What are Amex Membership Rewards factors?
Membership Rewards factors are the rewards foreign money of American Categorical. When you 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 lodge factors with a hotel-branded card. Plus, relying in your Amex card, you may also 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 March 2025 valuations, Amex factors are value 2 cents per level. Since Membership Rewards factors are a type of transferable foreign money — Amex presently has 18 airline and three lodge companions — there are numerous methods to get essentially the most worth out of your factors if you switch them to companions.
Associated: How (and why) you should earn transferable credit card points in 2025
How do I earn Amex Membership Rewards factors?
The simplest solution to earn many Membership Rewards factors is by making use of for a Membership Rewards points-earning American Categorical card. Amex presents 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 every day spending.
Incomes Membership Rewards factors from playing cards
Here is a have a look at the welcome provide, bonus-category construction, annual payment and advantages for every of the six most dear Membership Rewards playing cards that can assist you select the perfect Amex card.
| Card | Welcome provide | Bonus classes | Annual payment | Perks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Platinum Card® from American Express | Earn 80,000 factors after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases throughout the first six months of account opening. | Earn 5 factors per greenback spent on flights booked instantly with airways or with American Categorical Journey (on as much as $500,000 per calendar yr, then 1 level per greenback) and pay as you go lodges booked with American Categorical Journey. | $695 (see rates and fees) |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages. |
| The Business Platinum Card® from American Express | Earn 150,000 factors after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases throughout the first three months of card membership. | Earn 5 factors per greenback spent on flights and pay as you go lodges on Amex Journey and 1.5 factors per greenback spent 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 card account per calendar yr, then 1 level per greenback). | $695 (see rates and fees) |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages. |
| American Express® Gold Card | Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases in your first six months of card membership.
|
Earn 4 factors per greenback spent on purchases at eating places worldwide (as much as $50,000 in purchases per calendar yr, then 1 level per greenback), 4 factors per greenback spent at U.S. supermarkets (on as much as $25,000 per calendar yr in purchases, then 1 level per greenback), 3 factors per greenback spent on flights booked instantly with airways or on American Categorical Journey and a pair of factors per greenback spent on pay as you go lodges and different eligible purchases booked on amextravel.com. | $325 (see rates and fees) |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages. |
| American Express® Business Gold Card | Earn 100,000 bonus factors after spending $15,000 on purchases within the first three months of card membership. | Earn 4 factors per greenback spent on the highest two eligible classes (from six 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 yr, then 1 level per greenback), 3 factors per greenback spent on flights and pay as you go lodges when booked on Amex Journey and 1 level per greenback spent on different purchases. | $375 (see rates and fees) |
Enrollment is required for choose advantages. |
| American Express® Green Card | Earn 40,000 factors after you spend $3,000 on eligible purchases within the first six months of card membership. | Earn 3 factors per greenback spent on eating places worldwide, journey and transit and 1 level per greenback spent on different purchases. | $150 |
Enrollment is required. |
| The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express | Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards factors after you make $3,000 in eligible purchases on the cardboard inside your first three months of card membership.
|
Earn 2 factors per greenback spent on on a regular basis enterprise purchases (on as much as $50,000 every calendar yr, then 1 level per greenback) and 1 level per greenback spent on different purchases. | $0 (see rates and fees) |
*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 data 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 further choices for incomes Amex factors. The primary is leveraging Rakuten, considered one of TPG’s favourite on-line procuring portals. Previously generally known as Ebates, the positioning as soon as supplied money again to consumers 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 can sign up and revel in a one-time bonus of $30 if you spend at the very least $30 inside 90 days of turning into a member.
Do Amex factors expire?
Membership Rewards factors don’t expire, offered you retain at the very least one card open that earns them.
Should 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 Amex Membership Rewards switch companions?
By transferring Membership Rewards factors to 18 airline and three lodge switch companions, you possibly can seek for award journey throughout the globe, protecting nearly each main route and metropolis. Thus, incomes Membership Rewards is often extra useful than solely incomes factors in considered one of these airline or lodge loyalty packages. Bear in mind, you aren’t locked into one switch accomplice — you possibly can ship some factors to 1 program after which some to a different.
Under, we have listed all these companions, the switch ratios and the switch instances found in our testing.
If you have not executed so, hyperlink your switch accomplice accounts to your Membership Rewards account. This may stop delays sooner or later when it is advisable to make a fast switch.
The very best methods to redeem Amex Membership Rewards factors
There are limitless methods to make use of these switch companions to get most worth to your Membership Rewards factors. Listed below are only a few of our favourite redemptions:
- Fly to Hawaii on points and miles: Switch your factors to Singapore KrisFlyer and you will 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 based mostly elsewhere within the nation can ebook nonstop or connecting flights on United Airways. You will pay 19,500 KrisFlyer miles for a one-way economic system ticket or 39,000 miles 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, one from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) to Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR) and one other from SIN to 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 KrisFlyer miles plus taxes and costs one-way, a small value for consolation on such a protracted flight.
- Switch your Amex points to Iberia Plus: On off-peak dates, you possibly can fly from JFK and Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) to Spain’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) for simply 17,000 Avios in economic system, 25,500 Avios in premium economic system and 34,000 Avios in enterprise class every approach. This can be a steal — most airways cost at the very least 60,000 factors or miles for a one-way business-class flight to Europe.
- Switch your Amex factors to Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue: Guide business-class flights from North America to Europe ranging from simply 60,000 miles every approach.
- Guide home JetBlue award flights: Following various devaluations from Avios packages in 2024, transferring your Membership Rewards factors to Etihad Visitor could also be a greater possibility. JetBlue flights 500 miles or shorter inside North America price simply 6,000 Etihad Visitor miles.
Simply keep in mind that transfers are irreversible, so it’s best to solely switch your Amex factors as soon as you have confirmed the award house for the flight or lodge you need.
For extra info on maximizing your Amex factors for journey, try our guide on booking business-class flights and extra with Membership Rewards factors.
Moreover, you may also use your factors to ebook nearly any journey by means of the Amex Journey platform. You often obtain a price of 1 cent per Amex level. That is an OK worth however not a spectacular solution to redeem these factors.
Poor-value methods to redeem Membership Rewards factors
Sadly, a number of choices for redeeming your factors signify lower than stellar worth and will usually be prevented if you wish to maximize your hard-earned rewards. These embrace:
- Utilizing factors for expenses: This is sort of a cash-back possibility protecting eligible expenses in your billing assertion. What are eligible expenses? You’ll be able to view the record of eligible expenses out of your present on-line assertion. With this feature, you may solely obtain 0.6 cents per level, so it is not a fantastic return.
- Utilizing Pay with Factors at checkout: After linking your Membership Rewards account with online merchants like Amazon, Finest 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 generally be helpful for promotions, chances are you’ll wish to flip this off to stop unintentional and unauthorized use of your factors.
- Redeeming for taxi rides in New York Metropolis: You’ll be able to redeem factors for New York Metropolis taxi fares at a price of 1 cent per level.
- Redeeming for present playing cards: One of many worst choices is redeeming your factors for present playing cards. Relying on the service provider, these redemptions are value anyplace from 0.5 cents to 1 cent apiece.
Backside line
Due to Amex’s beneficiant card presents, Membership Rewards factors are simple to earn and redeem. They’re additionally simple to make use of with a wide range of switch companions.
Whether or not you select to splurge on a European getaway or use your factors to go to household in one other state, having Membership Rewards factors at your disposal will help prevent cash.
For charges and costs of the Amex Platinum Card, click on here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Gold Card, click on here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Enterprise Gold Card, click on here.
For charges and costs of the Amex Enterprise Platinum Card, click on here.
For charges and costs of the Blue Enterprise Plus Card, please click on here.
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