Amex Membership Rewards, 20% Discount on Select Gift Cards
American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred to travel partners, or cash out for up to 1.25 cents each if you have the Schwab Amex Platinum card. The Morgan Stanley Amex Platinum card will also let you cash out points at 1 cent each. But if you don’t have either of those cards, then that rate goes down to 0.6 cents per points. So gift cards could be a decent option when there are discount.
Right now you can save 20% on several gift card brands. These redemptions will give you a value of about 1.06 cents per point. Check your account and you might see the discount for the following brands: Apple, Walmart, Staples, Bath and Body Work, and Marshall’s/TJ MAX. Here are the gift card options:
- $50 card is about 4700 points (normal price is 5,882 points)
- $100 card is about 9400 points (normal price is 11,765 points)
- $500 card is about 47,000 points (normal price is 58,824 points)
Guru’s Wrap-up
Not the best use of Membership Rewards points, but it’s an option if you don’t have many other avenues to cash them out, or don’t plan to travel.
