These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser.
Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser.
It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
Its not like Chase reserve. Only selected hotels (may be not even enough for 2 day stay) and airline credit is only for extra fees.
The hotel credit only works on hotels in the Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) and The Hotel Collection programs.
The first one you can do a single night stay if you wish, the second program requires a minimum 2 night stay. You'll get $200 total credited back with either.
Both programs also give you additional perks for booking through them including generally another $100 property credit (usable for food or any other amenities like spas or whatever they might offer).
We used it recently at an excellent 5-star hotel in Charleston that I'd never had paid full price for, but got to enjoy the stay (incl. some food and drinks) for the out of pocket cost of a cheap chain hotel.
The airline credit can be used for many things other than extra fees. Including straight up airline credit usable on ticket bookings (though only with certain airlines-- you can look around on flyertalk for details about which things work for which airline).
I agree neither is as flexible as the Chase (or Prestige, or US Bank Reserve) travel credits... but they're certainly things you can get pretty decent value out of.
There's also the $200 Uber credit- this is very easy to use (for both uber and uber eats)
The $240 digital entertainment credit (which recent got a lot easier to use as it covers more services)
A $100 Saks credit (also easy to use, $50 per calendar half-year, we usually grab a couple of Reidel glasses or something)
A $100 GE/Precheck credit- though honestly I've had like 10 cards with that so meh...
A $179 CLEAR credit- which you can stack with the United discount to include a family member-- it's not amazing, but it's a nice to have for free
And a $300 equinox credit which is pretty garbage unless you just happen to already be using that specific, very expensive, gym.
Quote
from kobwan
:
Any hints on how to actually cash out with the MS card? I have an MS Platinum and no clue how to redeem for cash at 1c per mile
Ack, sorry- bad typo... I've gone back and edited my original post to correct it-- it's the Schwab Amex Platinum that lets you cash out-- at 1.1 cents per point... (used to be 1.25 cents a point until Sept 2021 when they cut it to 1.1)
Which is still pretty poor compared to what you can get with airline point transfers, but if you never travel it's the best option.
You can cash out with MS Platinum too (1 cent per points.). You can also waive annual fee with account that needs $25K balance, and you can add one free authorized user.
Been meaning to switch from personal to business and this looks like the perfect time. Just got approved and said 150k. Now I will have to contact the personal card and see if they give me a bonus worth staying with it as well or not.
I'm seeing 125k for $6k in 6 months, which isn't a bad deal at all, vs something like $6k in 3 months, which is unreasonable unless it's time to pay insurances and buy a new laptop or something.
Might try to get in on this if I can get the 150k offer to show up with the same $6k/6mo.
The below comment is correct. HD and Zappos gift cards are worth 1 cent per point. Most others pay about .82 cent per point. By using gift cards, you lose credit card protection., and you lose the points you would have accrued by using a credit card for that HD purchase. Using them for statement credits they are worth .50 cents, the worst deal around.
I don't use my Amex Gold for groceries as I consider the 3 cents per dollar on the free Blue Cash more valuable to me. I use my AMEX Gold credit for Uber Eats which I pick up. For those that don't know, ordering with Uber Eats is a much more limited menu and their menu prices are marked up. You are not eligible for special deals offered to direct order customers.
Why do I even keep my Gold? Great insurance protection, up to $ 10,000 per claim on damage or loss within 90 days. I use it exclusively for online purchases, other than my Amazon purchases. I also use the $ 10 month dining credit.
Quote
from CrimsonSnake3523
:
Far from ideal, but an easy way to use them is $1500 in home depot GCs
If I cancel the card after the first year without redeeming all my points will my points disappear or will I still be able to use them? I don't have any other Amex cards with the same points type.
If I cancel the card after the first year without redeeming all my points will my points disappear or will I still be able to use them? I don't have any other Amex cards with the same points type.
They'll disappear (you might have like 60 or 90 days to use em, can't recall).
Which means if you don't intend to use them up by then sometime before your year is up you'll want to also do a signup bonus for one of the Amex MR point cards without an annual fee. As long as you have ANY MR card, you keep all the points (they pool into a single pool-- rather than being "on" a particular card like Chase)
273 Comments
Your comment cannot be blank.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
https://frequentmiler.c
The hotel credit only works on hotels in the Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) and The Hotel Collection programs.
The first one you can do a single night stay if you wish, the second program requires a minimum 2 night stay. You'll get $200 total credited back with either.
Both programs also give you additional perks for booking through them including generally another $100 property credit (usable for food or any other amenities like spas or whatever they might offer).
We used it recently at an excellent 5-star hotel in Charleston that I'd never had paid full price for, but got to enjoy the stay (incl. some food and drinks) for the out of pocket cost of a cheap chain hotel.
The airline credit can be used for many things other than extra fees. Including straight up airline credit usable on ticket bookings (though only with certain airlines-- you can look around on flyertalk for details about which things work for which airline).
I agree neither is as flexible as the Chase (or Prestige, or US Bank Reserve) travel credits... but they're certainly things you can get pretty decent value out of.
There's also the $200 Uber credit- this is very easy to use (for both uber and uber eats)
The $240 digital entertainment credit (which recent got a lot easier to use as it covers more services)
A $100 Saks credit (also easy to use, $50 per calendar half-year, we usually grab a couple of Reidel glasses or something)
A $100 GE/Precheck credit- though honestly I've had like 10 cards with that so meh...
A $179 CLEAR credit- which you can stack with the United discount to include a family member-- it's not amazing, but it's a nice to have for free
And a $300 equinox credit which is pretty garbage unless you just happen to already be using that specific, very expensive, gym.
Which is still pretty poor compared to what you can get with airline point transfers, but if you never travel it's the best option.
Might try to get in on this if I can get the 150k offer to show up with the same $6k/6mo.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Can you cash out Amex points straight to cash via a check or direct deposit?
I don't use my Amex Gold for groceries as I consider the 3 cents per dollar on the free Blue Cash more valuable to me. I use my AMEX Gold credit for Uber Eats which I pick up. For those that don't know, ordering with Uber Eats is a much more limited menu and their menu prices are marked up. You are not eligible for special deals offered to direct order customers.
Why do I even keep my Gold? Great insurance protection, up to $ 10,000 per claim on damage or loss within 90 days. I use it exclusively for online purchases, other than my Amazon purchases. I also use the $ 10 month dining credit.
But yeah, there's many other ways to use them
try a different browser (edge/chrome) in Private/incognito mode; you might get lucky. In my case it went from 100K to 125K.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
They'll disappear (you might have like 60 or 90 days to use em, can't recall).
Which means if you don't intend to use them up by then sometime before your year is up you'll want to also do a signup bonus for one of the Amex MR point cards without an annual fee. As long as you have ANY MR card, you keep all the points (they pool into a single pool-- rather than being "on" a particular card like Chase)