(Update 9/29/24: The 1 million points limit will go into effect soon on October 1st.)
The American Express Platinum Schwab version card offers 1.1 cents per points cashout option. After October 1, 2024, they will be limiting us to one million points per calendar year on the 1.1 cents cashout.
For redemptions made before October 1, 2024: A Basic Card Member may redeem Membership Rewards® points for deposits to their eligible account at a rate of 10,000 points for a $110 deposit.
For redemptions made on or between October 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024: A Basic Card Member may redeem Membership Rewards® points for deposits to their eligible account at a rate of 10,000 points for a $110 deposit for up to 1,000,000 points, after which they may continue to redeem points at a rate of 10,000 points for an $80 deposit through December 31, 2024.
For redemptions made on or after January 1, 2025: A Basic Card Member may redeem Membership Rewards® points for deposits to their eligible account at a rate of 10,000 points for a $110 deposit for up to 1,000,000 points per calendar year, after which they may continue to redeem points at a rate of 10,000 points for an $80 deposit for the remainder of that calendar year.
A Basic Card Member may redeem up to 4 million Membership Rewards® points every 7 calendar days for this reward.
After redeeming one million points for cash, you’ll get just .8 cents per points. Another option is to open the Business Checking account from Amex and then you can get 1 cents per point cash out on up to one million points cash out if you also have the Amex Business Platinum card.
Hat tip to DDG
Indirectly, this new limit casts a spotlight on the shortcomings of the BBP, BBC, EDP, Cash Magnet, etc. Supposedly high earning “all other spending” cards. These cards have become non-competitive and irrelevant. For those with bona fide spending, a person can get uncapped 2.625 percent with the BofA Premium Rewards or uncapped 2X on the Citi Double Cash (just to name two obvious alternatives). For some, the limiting factor is credit limit. I’ll put business expenses on a separate Citi Double Cash over an Amex card every single time.
Speaking of non-competitive and irrelevant Amex cards, compare the Delta Reserve and the Citi AA Executive cards. Limited Delta lounge access versus unlimited AA lounge access. 1X on Delta’s hotel/rental car portal versus 10X on AA’s hotels/rental car portal. It’s rather pathetic.
the 6% blue preferred still has a good spot for groceries
Yep. Up to $6k. But, that’s small potatoes. No pun intended.
Again, I’m talking about otherwise unbonused spending. “All other” spending. Whether someone is a business owner or just a high spender in otherwise unbonused spending, Amex’s earn rates and spending caps make its cards “also ran” cards. Even the Business Platinum’s 1.5X on large purchases is subpar if someone is seeking cash back.
Dare I say that the Chase Ink Premier’s 2.5 percent cash back (and non-transferable points) looks better for those seeking Cash back.
With my albeit limited interactions with high spenders, very few seem to be concerned about maximizing credit card rewards. They’ll just put all unbonused spend on their Plat and call it a day. They have other things to worry about.
Not the huge spenders I k is and I know many. They still want to get the best return on spend. They actually gravitate a lot do cash based rewards as not all know the best ways to book premium travel. I am talking about people with millions in organic spend via business and personal.
The CITI sears card is a better option because there is no monthly fee.
BBP is capped at $50K/yr anyways so you’re not hitting $1M points per year from that. But if you’re spending on a BBP, you’re probably not planning to cash out the points
Re: Delta v AA – I agree on your point. I’m in a Delta hub so it works out better for me I guess. AA in our airport gets the very early AM flights or very late in the day times. I’ve been up at 3 AM for a 5 AM Dallas flight several times – and it sucks. I do like AA’s service better – better seats for sure. Personnel is good in both airlines. Food is a bit better on Delta, at least to my taste.
yeah but how many people actually go for transcontinental meals? USA carriers generally underperform in the food department compared to international rivals
Even with the terrible fee schedule for the investment accounts the US Bank Smartly card is going to probably be the best all around single cash back card for people that can park $100K of their less liquid portion of their portfolio (even then, you still get 50 free trades a year).
Multiple apps at the time using multiple browser windows. Employees cards and power fluz spend was too much for Amex.
Thanks Carl
Thanks Maurice
I’ve been getting the following error when trying to redeem my amex points to my schwab account – This Card isn’t eligible to Invest with Rewards
me too. its been stuck for months. any updates on how to fix it?
You have to chat with a rep. No known fix.
I cashed out 4M points a month ago.
I know many big business owners who will be impacted by this. They dont MS or anything like that. I know when these topics come up the assumption is all that hold huge amounts are MSing or something like that. I know some guys who generate 6 million a year merely at 4X spend.
Oh no! How will they survive?
Those people are unprofitable for Amex at 4.4% or 2.2% net, with annual fees a rounding error at that volume. Reducing it to 3.4/1.7% cuts losses.
They will dash those points out right now unlimited, then clear a million by yr end . In 2025 they seek more cash back based cards like capital one of BOA rewards. one guy I know of spends at least 300-400k a month on capital one cash back.
Whew! I am happy to know they found another way. Had me worried there for a second!
Dr Evil “one MILLION points“
This seems like a measure that protects the rate for the majority of users by limiting a costly minority. You’d see no impact if you spend $16,666 per month on airfare or $27,083/mo Gold+BGR+BBP. So business owners redeeming to a personal account or heavy MSers. Even churning: if you’re hitting eight 125k NLLs a year, pop-up jail will catch you before this.
This was never a great card and keeps getting worse (the annual fee increased by about $150 a few years ago, the redemption rate dropped, and now this). Schwab needs to abandon Amex and find a better credit card partner.
AMEX fits their custoemr profile. I see AMEX pushing toward a 995 fee on Plat.
It was a phenomenal card if you were able to take advantage of the AF discount via Schwab account value. Now that everyone is at $695 though its pretty hard to justify the AF unless you can still push 1M a year to Schwab.
“Now that everyone is at $695 though its pretty hard to justify the AF unless you can still push 1M a year to Schwab.”
They reimbursed 200 when the fee was 495, And they do the same now. They need to increase the reimbursement.
Well shit. There goes my entire MR plan.
Huge devaluation as a business owner. Please post a reminder before this goes into effect!
Same. I cash out probably 10x that a year. Sad day.
DAMN. How are you generating that many amex points? I want that. LOL.
Better this than not disclosing hidden limits and then blacklisting people when they cash out.
Was that ever a thing? They’ve always had the 4M per 7 days limit posted.