Episode 44: All About Amex (in 10 minutes)

Today we're doing 10 minutes on the podcast All About Amex. This post is a companion piece to that audio.

The goal here is to describe the "quirks and features" (as Doug DeMuro would say) of American Express credit cards and their Membership Rewards program.

Amex may not be as straightforward to interact with as Chase but if you take time to familiarize yourself with Amex it can prove to be a very valuable relationship.

Card Limits

Amex limits the number of active cards we can have with them. The number has changed over the years, but the current limits are:

• 4 credit
• 10 charge

Charge cards are the green, gold, platinum and plum cards (of which there are many varieties) that need to be paid off each month and have "no pre-set spending limit." Everything else is a credit card.

This includes personal and business cards, but does not include authorized user cards.

It's possible to have more than these limits if the cards were opened when limits were higher.

Universal Referral

Amex has the most generous referral program in the credit card space.

See: All About Amex Referrals

• If you have an active Amex card you can refer friends and family for Amex cards. You'll earn a bonus for the referral if your friend is approved, and your friend can also get a welcome bonus for the card. To start the process visit: americanexpress.com/refer
• You can even refer friends for Amex cards you yourself don't have.
• The referral bonus depends on the card you're referring from. The welcome bonus your friend gets depends on the card they apply for. This creates some interesting opportunities since you can get a lucrative referral credit even if your friend applies for a lowly no annual fee card.
• Referral offers can sometimes be inferior to public or affiliate offers so be sure to verify you're referring for the best possible option.
• Through 10/28/2020 Amex is running an amazing promotion whereby qualifying referrals will get not only the referral bonus, but will earn an additional 3 points for spend on the card they refer from for three months: Three For All Promo

Offers Vary

Amex is known to display different welcome offers depending on location, cookies, whether you're on mobile or desktop, or whether you're browsing incognito. We call this the Amex Random Number Generator.

As with referral offers, you'll want to make sure you're catching a welcome bonus that's the best currently available so if you don't see what others are reporting - keep trying until you do.

Transfer Partners

Amex Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to a variety of airlines and hotel partners, most notably:

• Aeroplan
• Delta SkyMiles
• ANA
• Asia Miles
• Aviaca LifeMiles
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• Qantas
• British Airways Avios
• Etihad
• Virgin Atlantic
• Hilton

Chase's Ultimate Rewards program is perhaps more user-friendly with familiar US transfer partners like Southwest, United, and Hyatt. But Amex's partners can be quite valuable both for domestic travel and international premium cabins.

Notable Redemptions

Unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards can not be cashed out directly for a penny a piece.

You can use points to "Cover Your Card Charges" for 0.6 cents a piece (a very bad value). You can redeem