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Amex Reward Dollars

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Mailak
Frequent Contributor

Amex Reward Dollars

What's the best use for Amex Reward Dollars - can their value be enhanced through gift cards or something else? I know I have seen that with Discover but not on Amex. Just wanted to check if I had missed something - not sure I found anything on the forum either.

If I use them as statement credit, will they apply immediately? Will it count towards the montly payment? I only have a $75 payment due, which is the Annual Fee in its entirety - was wondering if it was safe to take a $75 statement credit and if that'll cancel out the entire payment for sure.

PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards (19.5k), Amex BCE (9k), Chase Sapphire Reserve (30k), Chase Freedom Unlimited (14.5k), Chase Marriott Premier (19k), Discover More (10k)
Message 1 of 24
23 REPLIES 23
HiLine
Blogger

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

I know that you can buy gift cards for more than $1 worth of value per reward dollar. Not sure if that includes any popular store.

Message 2 of 24
Mailak
Frequent Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

Hmm, yeah, I wasn't able to easily find anything on Amex's site.... not that options on Discover are attractive to me. If anybody has any suggestions, I'd love to hear. Otherwise, I guess statement credit it is.

PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards (19.5k), Amex BCE (9k), Chase Sapphire Reserve (30k), Chase Freedom Unlimited (14.5k), Chase Marriott Premier (19k), Discover More (10k)
Message 3 of 24
Open123
Super Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

For the Blue cash cards?

 

Statement credits!  If you wanted GCs, you can use the statement credit to buy a GC at a lesser price from cardpool etc...

Message 4 of 24
Mailak
Frequent Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

Nah, I wasn't looking for gift cards in particular. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't forgoing some extraordinary value by taking a statement credit. Btw, yes, mine is for BCP.

PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards (19.5k), Amex BCE (9k), Chase Sapphire Reserve (30k), Chase Freedom Unlimited (14.5k), Chase Marriott Premier (19k), Discover More (10k)
Message 5 of 24
withaspark
Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars


@Open123 wrote:

For the Blue cash cards?

 

Statement credits!  If you wanted GCs, you can use the statement credit to buy a GC at a lesser price from cardpool etc...


+1

 

Occassionally they have gift cards on sale (i.e., 5% or 10% off of 1 reward dollar = $1). From the gift card page there will be a red-orange button in the right column "All Sale Items"--this will show you the only "good" deals (right now there are none, at least for me--don't know if it's targeted).

 

Open123 is right; take the cash as there are many better ways to generate a better discount than the 5% or so they give you off--and all those will give you points/miles/cash rewards again when you purchase the gift cards as well--not to mention you aren't limited to getting a card from a retailer that doesn't have the best price on what you want but you're stuck.

Message 6 of 24
SnackTrader
Valued Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

The statement credits will not count towards your minimum payments.

Has anyone out there used their BCP/BCE rewards for anything other than statement credit?

In My Wallet: Amex BCP (12/12) $50,000, Chase Freedom (12/12) $16,500, Cap1 Quicksilver (6/12) $14,000, Barclaycard Rewards (5/13) $10,500, Citi Prestige (4/16) $30,000

Last App: June 27, 2015
Message 7 of 24
koalablue
Frequent Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

SnackTrader, I thought you could apply the BCP reward dollars to your bill regardless of what was on it. Not sure what you mean when you say the statement credits won't count toward your minimum payments.
Message 8 of 24
SnackTrader
Valued Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

OP asked if the statement credit would count toward a monthly payment, and the answer is no.

If your minimum payment is $25 on your card, and you redeem $150 in statement credit, then you still need to make a payment of $25 from your bank account.

In My Wallet: Amex BCP (12/12) $50,000, Chase Freedom (12/12) $16,500, Cap1 Quicksilver (6/12) $14,000, Barclaycard Rewards (5/13) $10,500, Citi Prestige (4/16) $30,000

Last App: June 27, 2015
Message 9 of 24
youngandcreditwrthy
Senior Contributor

Re: Amex Reward Dollars

Cashback is way to go on BCE! I love it
Marriott PR$25k | BCE $24.5K |BankAmericard Visa $25k| BOA Better Bal $17.5k |Wmt Discover $12.5k | BR Visa $17.5k | Amex Delta Gold $10k | Discover IT $10k | Paypal Extras MC $15k | Amazon Store $10k|Smile Gen $7.25k | Dillard's $10k | West Elm $4k| Express $3.05K | Mypoints.com Visa $4.5k | Freedom Visa $1k| Amex Surpass $1k
Message 10 of 24
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