Earn Up to 50,000 Membership Reward Points [Targeted]

American Express must really be in the giving mood, because they just keep rolling out some pretty awesome offers. There was an article about American Express spending more on rewards to keep customers (HT: Doctor of Credit). I just received an offer where I can earn up to 50,000 Membership Reward Points!

Earn Up to 50,000 Membership Reward Points [Targeted]

The Offer

• Earn 40,000 Membership Reward Points after spending $5,000
• Earn an extra 10,000 Membership Reward Point after spending an additional $5,000 points
• No need to enroll, it is applied automatically
• Spending needs to be completed between July 15 to October 15

First,  I’d like to say, American Express I value your business too 😉

American Express is basically offering an extra “sign up bonus” if you will on this card. I have 3 months to complete this spending requirement, I already have plans on how I’ll complete this bonus offer

Terms and Qualifying Purchases

There is plenty of data points showing American Express is cracking down on manufactured spending.

• All Cards under a particular Card Account (including the Basic Card as well as any Additional or Employee Cards) are combined for the purpose of calculating the amount of spending that counts towards the Spend Requirement for each tier. Membership Rewards^® points for this Offer are credited to the Basic Card Member only.
• You will receive a maximum of 50,000 Membership Rewards points under this Offer if you meet the Spend Requirement for both tiers. You will receive a maximum of 40,000 Membership Rewards points under this Offer if you meet the Spend Requirement for only the first tier. Membership Rewards points for each tier will appear on your billing statement 10-12 weeks after you have met the Spend Requirement for that tier.
• Limit one offer per Card Account.
• This offer may not be combined with any other special offer.
• *Qualifying purchases are purchases for goods and services. Qualifying purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents. 

I wouldn’t risk buying gift cards with this offer. There is plenty of data showing American Express clawing back points due when trying that.

My Plan

I plan to only hit the 40,000 point bonus after spending $5,000. I’ll essentially earn 9.5 points per dollar spent with this part of the bonus.

Afterwards, it becomes to 3 points per dollar after you spend another $5,000 to trigger this bonus.

I have other cards, including the American Express Blue for Business where I earn 2x on all purchases. In that respect, there is no advantage to spending an extra $5,000 on my Business Platinum.

I guess my math skills are off, you’ll earn 2 points per dollar on top of the 1x you’d earn regularly, making it 3x, not 2x. Thanks Ben for fixing my math error!

I have a large bill I plan to pay via Plastiq to hit this requirement. Since I plan to make a one time payment of $5,000, I will also trigger the 1.5x multiplier that come with the Business Platinum.

In spending $5,000 in one shot, I will earn a total of 47,500 Membership Rewards. This is a great bonus, especially when you consider the fact there isn’t a hard pull involved.

When using Plastiq, I will be charged a 2.5% fee for this transaction. This comes to $125, but 47,500 Membership Rewards is worth $475 minimum when redeeming for gift cards.

If I use my 50% rebate, it brings this value closer to $950, so my value will fall somewhere in the middle.

After accounting for the fees, I will be ahead a minimum of $350. I call that a win in my book.

Conclusion

It is great to see American Express really try to keep members happy with some huge bonus points offers recently. Check your emails, because this seems to be targeted with no enrollment link.

I don’t think it’ll keep me from canceling my card, but I’ll gladly take the points while I have the card!

If you received a different offer, let us know in the comments!

Were you targeted for this offer? Do you plan to meet both spending tiers?

Don’t forget to Like me on Facebook, or Follow me on Twitter. If you have questions, comments or would like a topic, leave a comment. Thank you for reading!