Best for a wide variety of redemption options
American Express Membership Rewards
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The American Express Membership Rewards program has an impressive variety of redemption options, which include booking travel through the Amex portal, statement credits, gift cards, select merchandise or transferring Amex points to hotel and airline partners.
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- Rewards program basics: American Express features a number of high-value transfer partner options, making Membership Rewards one of the best card rewards programs for travel card aficionados. American Express is also transparent about the value of points for various redemption options, which simplifies how you spend your points.
- How to redeem points: Membership Rewards points open the door to a wide range of redemption options, including travel, transfers to partners, gift cards, paying with points and more.
- Redemption options and value of rewards: Your points value depends on how you redeem your points, but travel redemptions and transfers to travel partners generally net the most value.
Redemption category Value Travel through the Membership Rewards travel portal - Flights: 1 cent each
- Other travel: Usually 0.7 cents each
Statement credit 0.5 to 0.6 cents each depending on the card Gift cards Varies, but up to 1 cent each Pay with points via Amazon.com, Paypal and several other merchants 0.7 cents each Pay for a New York City taxi 1 cent each Transfer to high-value travel partner 2.0 cents each, according to Bankrate’s valuation -
- The American Express® Gold Card is a top credit card for groceries thanks to its 4X points per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 spent annually, then 1X points). It also features impressive earning potential at restaurants and on flights. All those rewards make it possible to offset the $325 annual fee.
- The Platinum Card® from American Express includes an impressive welcome offer of 80,000 points after spending $8,000 within the first 6 months of card membership. Beyond that, this luxury card offers airport lounge access and a slew of potential credits that can help offset its high $695 annual fee.
- The American Express Green Card® comes with elevated earning potential on purchases in categories like travel, restaurants and transit. You can also earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first 6 months of membership, helping to offset the card’s $150 annual fee.
- The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card* is a no-annual-fee option for earning Membership Rewards points. The rewards potential isn’t spectacular, but this is a nice card to keep around to house your Membership Rewards points without paying an annual fee. Unfortunately, this card has been discontinued and is unavailable to new applicants.