American Express offers, the ultimate guide to take advantage of them and earn money
The credit card market is increasingly competitive, so all the circuits have come up with promotions, collections [...]
The credit card market is becoming increasingly competitive, so all the circuits have come up with promotions, point collections and every other devilry to keep as many cards in our wallets, physical or virtual.
In this article:
In this landscape in Italy, American Express is certainly the most active. Not only because with Membership Rewards program allows you to turn everyday expenses into airline tickets and nights in hotels all over the world, but also and especially for the offers on their app every day that allow holders of the various cards to save money, earn more points or get more privileges.
A small premise. The basis of reward travel does not teach you to spend more or force you to change your habits, rather it is that philosophy that explains how to always try to get at least two birds with one stone.
With this short article, I try to summarize how to try to take advantage of as much as possible the many promotions that are offered to holders.
What are the Offers for you
These are promotions that the holder finds in their personal area on the Amex website or on the official app. There are various types of offers:
- Cashback offers. These are the most popular ones, and they reward the user with a transfer from the card account against a certain expense. The rules change from promotion to promotion; in recent months we have seen cashback offers from €5 to €600
- Le offered in Membership Rewards points. These are the promotions that all serial MR point accumulators should chase: for a given expense or series of expenses, a number of bonus points will be disbursed compared to traditional spending.
- I Membership Rewards point multipliers. They allow the card user to accumulate more points than the standard of 1 MR point per euro spent.
Each paper has its own offerings
The same offer is not necessarily on all cards or with the same terms and conditions. If you are a multiple cardholder, you can take advantage of the same promotion multiple times without any problem.
How American Express offers work for you
To check the list of offers, simply go to the Amex website or the official app. One will be able to click on the offers item and browse the available list.
It will always be possible to see available offers, activated offers and also the total amount of discounts obtained
It is possible to browse through pre-set filters that allow active offers to be categorized by category, expiration date and offer type.
The card must be registered in order to join the promotion, and it is NOT possible to activate it after spending, even if it has not yet been accounted for.
It is always important to carefully read the terms and conditions of each offer, to do so just click on the arrow and open the explanation of the offer. It is important to know that:
- Not all offers apply in all stores. Some offers apply only to a small list of stores, and in this case there is always an attachment with a list of participating locations
- Not all offers apply both online and in the physical store, it may happen that they are only valid online or vice versa. Always best to read the rules so you don't get it wrong.
- Not all purchase types are valid, for example, an offer might exclude merchandise on sale or the purchase of gift cards
To trigger the promotion all you have to do is use the card registered with the store and within a few days you will receive the prize corresponding to the promotion
How much the Offers are worth to you
Impossible to say how much you can save/gain each year with this type of promotion, I personally manage almost every year to double if not triple the annual fee of the individual credit card, then for all intents and purposes to amortize the cost of, for example, a American Express Gold which, without promotions, is 14 euros per month.
How to maximize bid earnings
Let's say my advice is to use your imagination and not give up at the first difficulty, e.g. Offers should be activated as soon as possible to avoid making a transaction and losing the promotion because you had not activated the offer.
That's not to say that the product you need isn't also on sale from an online or physical retailer you might not expect. It doesn't cost anything to have a look; you may find that other products are also on sale on that brand's site.
Trying to make tic-tac-toe by exploiting, in addition to American Express promotions, including those related to the Payback points collection which in turn allows you to accumulate points for every purchase made in participating stores.
In conclusion
These offers are not the core of the reward travel world, But they are one of many building blocks that can make one's goal come true. Making use of them costs nothing, not taking advantage of it instead turns into a loss of money and opportunity.
- Automatic enrollment in Membership Rewards Club, the American Express Loyalty Program that allows you to earn points with your spending. 1€ spent = 1 Membership Rewards point.
- Travel inconvenience and accident insurance: you will be protected in case of delayed baggage delivery or flight delay or cancellation
- Purchase Protection: protection for 90 days up to €1,300 on purchases made with Card (excluding certain merchandise categories), in case of theft or damage to the item