topic Re: Amex Mr points in Credit Cards

Amex Mr points

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 14 May 2017 13:41:18 GMT

Morning fellow ficoers. Just a quick question, please dont make me go hide under a rock for asking. I never chase bonus's but getting back in with Amex recently i was able to fulfill the basic 1000k spe d for 10k MR points. Just curious as to what can you get for 10k MR points, currently have 11k plus. Thanks great day

Re: Amex Mr points

Anonymous — Sun, 14 May 2017 13:53:33 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Morning fellow ficoers. Just a quick question, please dont make me go hide under a rock for asking. I never chase bonus's but getting back in with Amex recently i was able to fulfill the basic 1000k spe d for 10k MR points. Just curious as to what can you get for 10k MR points, currently have 11k plus. Thanks great day

If you are not going to use them to transfer to travel partners where you will get your best redemption value (still not a whole lot you can do with 11K miles/hotel points) then redeem them for a gift card. You'll be able to get a $100 gift card for 10K points at various retailers.

Re: Amex Mr points

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 14 May 2017 14:04:25 GMT

Ok thanks Irish, yeah i think a gift card is my best route. $100 bucks is still $100

Re: Amex Mr points

Anonymous — Sun, 14 May 2017 16:50:17 GMT

I did gift cards. i had about 90k in MR's before I cashed out bc I was closing my cards. I got $300 for Target, $200 for Bonefish, $100 for Chili's, and $100 for Macy's I believe? Something like that! I did it a few months ago at this point.

Re: Amex Mr points

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 14 May 2017 17:19:20 GMT

Thanks SMC Was checking them out was kinda hoping to see one for Amazon but a couple more points i may go for the $100 Macys

Re: Amex Mr points

mongstradamus — Sun, 14 May 2017 17:30:15 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Thanks SMC Was checking them out was kinda hoping to see one for Amazon but a couple more points i may go for the $100 Macys

you can technically get .7 cpp value using MR amazon but thats proably one of the wrorst valuesyou can get with MR.

Re: Amex Mr points

wasCB14 — Sun, 14 May 2017 17:57:33 GMT

You have limited travel options, but...

You have 11k+ MRs. You could transfer 9500 MRs to British Airways. At 250:200 you'd get 7600 Avios.

With 7500 Avios plus $5.60 in taxes and about $6 in fees to Amex (assuming you book at least 3 weeks in advance and there is MileSAAver award availability) you could fly one-way from JFK (New York) to ORD (Chicago) on an AA-operated flight.

Or transfer MRs to Delta. 11k MRs plus about $6 in Amex fees and either $5.60 or $11.20 in taxes (depending on the flights, not sure why the taxes vary) can also get you from LAX to SFO round trip on a Delta flight with ideal award availability and no three-week requirement.

Re: Amex Mr points

Anonymous — Sun, 14 May 2017 23:17:19 GMT

If you intend to get gift cards with your MR points you should consider applying for the blue cash cards instead before you get too deep into the MR program. For pretty much any earning category (except restaurants on the golf cards), you are going to get more rewards for every dollar you spend on the blue cash cards. For example, the 6% cash back on groceries with the BCP is 33% higher than the value of MR points you get on the EDP when you redeem for gift cards. (If you don't meet the 30 purchases minimum it's even more of a divide: the BCP rewards are higher by 100%). The no-fee cards are similar. The only time you come out even is with the everyday purchase that earn one MR point or 1% cash back.

If you signed up for the card for the signup bonus, then no big deal. 10,000 points is great for travel if you're building up for something. However, it's not going to get you very far on its own. If you just want to take the $100 gift card and run, a person could do worse. But do keep your options open going forward.

Re: Amex Mr points

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 14 May 2017 23:23:39 GMT

Thanks will do. I never travel but i really need to take a vacation. Perhaps ill hold awhile. Its just i dont envision spending so much that ill be earning alot of MR points. Last month i actually reached 20 + purchases but that was me pushing it. One reason id recommend not getting so many cards ,lol, is where to focus your spend. I have about 5 more months in my first year with Discover so im bouncing back and forth. If i get at least one more 3x cli with Amex ill be truely happy. Thanks everyone for your input on MR points

Re: Amex Mr points

wasCB14 — Mon, 15 May 2017 02:36:43 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Thanks will do. I never travel but i really need to take a vacation. Perhaps ill hold awhile. Its just i dont envision spending so much that ill be earning alot of MR points. Last month i actually reached 20 + purchases but that was me pushing it. One reason id recommend not getting so many cards ,lol, is where to focus your spend. I have about 5 more months in my first year with Discover so im bouncing back and forth. If i get at least one more 3x cli with Amex ill be truely happy. Thanks everyone for your input on MR points

With travel points in general, it's easier to get a decent value when you travel a lot. Knowing codeshare partners and the best parts of award charts is good, but it really helps to just have a lot of potential opportunities to use points.

Re: Amex Mr points

Anonymous — Mon, 15 May 2017 03:14:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you intend to get gift cards with your MR points you should consider applying for the blue cash cards instead before you get too deep into the MR program. For pretty much any earning category (except restaurants on the golf cards), you are going to get more rewards for every dollar you spend on the blue cash cards. For example, the 6% cash back on groceries with the BCP is 33% higher than the value of MR points you get on the EDP when you redeem for gift cards. (If you don't meet the 30 purchases minimum it's even more of a divide: the BCP rewards are higher by 100%). The no-fee cards are similar. The only time you come out even is with the everyday purchase that earn one MR point or 1% cash back.

If you signed up for the card for the signup bonus, then no big deal. 10,000 points is great for travel if you're building up for something. However, it's not going to get you very far on its own. If you just want to take the $100 gift card and run, a person could do worse. But do keep your options open going forward.

Yes, with the caveat that if you do 20+ transactions a month, on non-category the ED will give you 1.2 MR vs 1c on the BCE. But if you are doing cashback in makes little sense to do either when 1.5% or 2% cards are common.

The other thing about gift cards: with flights, people computing cents per point compare to the cheapest available cash cost. There is a huge market for discount gift cards, so in that sense getting a $100 for 10K MR isn't really 1c per MR, as it's likely you could get the same $100 gift card for about $90 (depending which gift card it is)