AMEX Membership Rewards (MR) Card Lineup Guide

About the Membership Rewards lineup

AMEX’s Membership Rewards (MR) credit card lineup is quite different. Unlike Citi and Chase, it doesn’t really separate cards into no-annual-fee and annual-fee versions. Almost all cards that earn MR can transfer points to hotel points and airline miles, which means each card can stand on its own. Within each category, there are also different tiers, mainly reflected in the MR earning multiplier, annual fee, perks, and so on. Some card benefits even conflict with one another.

• No annual fee: Everyday, Blue Business Plus
• Annual fee: Everyday Preferred, Green, Gold, Platinum, Platinum for Ameriprise, Platinum for Schwab, Platinum for Morgan Stanley, Business Green, Business Gold, Business Platinum

The only card with an MR bonus is Business Platinum. With this card, you can use MR in AMEX Travel and get 35% back, up to 500,000 points per year. Normally, MR has a fixed value of 1 cent/point. After the 35% rebate, the effective value of MR becomes 1.54 cents/point. However, one of the following two conditions must be met:

• Buy first-class or business-class tickets through AMEX Travel
• For economy class, the airline must be one that is eligible for the $250 airline incidental fee credit

In addition, Platinum for Schwab can redeem MR into an investment account at a value of 1.25c/p, and then you can transfer the money from that account to a bank account.

Overall, I personally feel AMEX’s lineup is not especially well defined, and the cards are not closely connected to one another, so it’s hard to say there’s a truly ideal card combo. Also, the bonus-earning cards like Platinum Business and Platinum Schwab aren’t easy to maximize when it comes to reimbursements, so they’re not really worth keeping long term. That said, there are a lot of cards in the lineup, so you can go through each one and earn quite a few welcome bonuses.

Recommended combinations

AMEX Green, AMEX Gold, Platinum Schwab

Together, these cards basically cover most everyday spending categories. AMEX Green offers 3x on travel; Gold offers 3x on dining and groceries; Platinum offers 5x on airfare and premium travel perks. In addition, the reimbursements are also fairly travel-related: Green offers Clear and LoungeBuddy credits; Gold offers a $100 airline incidental fee credit and a $120 dining credit; Platinum offers a $200 airline incidental fee credit, Uber credits, and Saks credits. If you can fully use these reimbursements, the annual fees of $95 + $250 + $550 can still be worth it. From the MR usage perspective, if you don’t want to deal with the hassle, cashing out through Schwab at 1.25c/p is very convenient. That said, since all three cards can transfer to airline miles, it is a little wasteful.

In fact, you can also choose between Green and Gold based on your everyday spending. If you travel more, choose Green; if you spend more on dining and groceries, Gold is a solid choice.

Everyday Preferred, Green

If most of your spending is on everyday categories, holding this card setup is also a pretty good fit. For a $95 annual fee, you get 4.5x on groceries, 3x on gas, and 1.5x on everything else. The downside is that you need 30 transactions, but if this is your only card, that should not be too hard to achieve. Pair it with Green’s 3x on dining and travel, and it becomes a very complete setup.

Everyday

This is the only no-annual-fee personal card in the lineup. If you already have a lot of MR cards and don’t want to keep one long term, just open Everyday.

Business card choices

Business cards each have their own strengths. If you have a lot of non-bonus spending, choose Blue Business Plus for 2x. If your business spending is high, Gold Business is a good option. If you like redeeming points directly for airfare or business-class tickets, just get Business Platinum.

Summary

As you can see, AMEX doesn’t really have a highly complementary card combo; in most cases, each card can pretty much stand on its own.

Application strategy

AMEX applications have two main features:

• One bonus per lifetime: In general, each AMEX card bonus can only be earned once in a lifetime (lifetime restriction)
• Incognito-mode bonus hunting: Opening the application link in browser incognito mode (or after clearing cookies) and switching IPs may help you find a link with a higher welcome bonus

To sum up, the application strategy is simple: there are a lot of cards in the MR lineup. Just apply for each one when the bonus is at its highest.

Points system overview

• Points Value: The average value is 1.5c/p, so 100 MR = $1.5 (Points Value & Analysis)
• Direct Redemption: Redeem travel through amextravel.com at 1c/p (without a premium card); redeem eligible flights through amextravel.com at 1.54c/p (with Business Platinum); redeem for cash in an investment account at 1.1c/p (with Schwab Platinum).
• Points Transfers: Transfer 1:1 to ANA miles (good for round-trip US-China flights and round-the-world tickets); transfer 1:1 to British Airways miles (good for China-Japan routes and short-haul domestic US redemptions); transfer 1:1 to Air Canada miles (good for US-China business class awards and infant tickets); transfer 1:1 to Delta (good for business class, and can also redeem any Delta flight at 1c/p).
• Points Features: All MR points earned by one person are pooled into a single account and can be used directly. As long as you still have at least one MR-earning card open, all MR points will remain valid; be sure to use them up before closing all of your cards. Nearly all MR-earning cards allow you to transfer MR points to airline miles or hotel points. MR points can be transferred to airline or hotel accounts in an authorized user's name.
• My Take: The most common use of MR is transferring to airline miles, mainly ANA, Air Canada, Delta, and British Airways. Delta can help cover SkyTeam options; ANA and AC can selectively cover Star Alliance options; BA can be used for some oneworld awards. Among these, ANA is especially valuable for US-China economy, business, and first class awards. AC and Delta are also good for covering domestic US flights, while BA is best for nonstop domestic US flights. Hotel transfers are a weak spot for MR, and none are really worth transferring to. As for booking hotels or flights directly through AMEX Travel, you usually only get 1 cent per point in value, so I generally do not recommend it. Cash back and gift cards also max out at only 1 cent per point. Therefore, the final valuation is 1.7c, mainly considering the broad airline partner coverage, mostly instant transfer times (ANA takes 2-3 days; others are instant), and the value of these airline miles. The weaknesses are that MR is not very useful for hotel redemptions, and direct airfare bookings do not provide strong value either.
• Detailed Analysis: Membership Rewards Guide >>

Cards in the lineup

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