Tapping into American Express Membership Rewards points is as easy as tapping your eligible Amex credit card.
Each card comes with its own curated rewards program that optimizes categories like day-to-day expenses and travel.
Once you collect enough American Express Membership Rewards points on your eligible purchases, you can redeem them towards travel, shopping, gifts, or even paying off your bills.
To learn all there is to know about this top-tier loyalty program, keep reading
How do you earn American Express Membership Rewards Points? 🏆
First, let’s address the most obvious question: how do you earn American Express Membership Rewards points?
The best way to rack up Amex rewards is by applying for an American Express credit card that participates in the American Express Membership Rewards Program. These cards come equipped with rewards programs that cater to different types of spenders, whether you’re an everyday shopper or a frequent traveller.
Keep in mind, however, that you’ll want to apply for an American Express credit card that’s issued by the American Express financial institution. American Express is both a network and a financial institution, so you might come across cards that are under the Amex network, but are financed by another financial institution – like, say, Scotiabank – earning you Scene+ points rather than American Express Membership Rewards points.
Once your application for an American Express Membership Rewards credit card is approved, you can start collecting American Express Membership Rewards points on your card’s specialized earn categories.
Below, we’ve rounded up the top American Express Membership Rewards credit cards on the Canadian market. Take a quick look at the following table for a brief overview before we dig into the details.
Get more details about each contender below:
How do you Redeem your American Express Membership Rewards Points? 🤑
Now that you have a better idea of how to start pocketing your American Express Membership Rewards points, it's time to tackle exactly how you can redeem those hard-earned rewards.
Before we unpack each American Express Membership Reward redemption category, take a look at this table for a complete overview of all of your redemption options, organized from most valuable to least valuable, so you know which categories are best to optimize.
Let's look at those redemption categories a little more comprehensively:
So, How Exactly do you Transfer your American Express Membership Rewards Points?
The American Express Membership Rewards point-transferring process is actually fairly simple:
- First, you'll want to browse American Express travel partners directly from the source (the Amex official website).
- Find a partner that you'd like to make a transfer to, then hit the "Transfer my points" button under that option.
- You'll then be prompted to log in to your account and enter the amount of points you'd like to transfer. You may also need to sign up for the partner program in question.
- Once you're enrolled in the respective partner program and you've input your desired transfer amount, review your transfer information and understand that all points transferred are final and cannot be returned. It's also worth noting that once you transfer your points, you forfeit any insurance coverage offered by your Amex card since you are no longer redeeming for travel directly through the American Express Membership Rewards program.
- Lastly, confirm your transfer request by pressing "Transfer my points" for a final time.
Are American Express Membership Rewards Worth it?
Ultimately, American Express Membership Rewards points are the most lucrative for avid travellers who intend on transferring their points to eligible airline or hotel partners. Taking part in the Fixed Points Travel Program is also a valuable way for cardholders to redeem their American Express Membership Rewards points.
Don't get us wrong, using your points to shop is also a decent way to spend your rewards – it just tends to make the most sense to apply for an American Express Membership Rewards card if you intend on optimizing upcoming trips.
How do I Know if I'm Optimizing my American Express Membership Rewards Points to Their Full Potential?
Based on the redemption ranking above, it's clear that redeeming your points towards flights by transferring your American Express Membership Rewards points to airline partners, is the best way to optimize your points.
But how do you know which airline will give you the best deal for the fewest points?
Of course, you can take the more time-consuming route and and frantically search for discounted flight opportunities yourself.
OR
You could trust tried and true cross-search tools that filter through flight deals for you. These tools include search engines like Point.me and Pointhound, which compare different flight deals offered by various airlines.
Check out our How to Optimally Redeem Your Credit Card Points blog post for more on these tools plus general tips for getting the most value out of your points.
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