American Express Reward Programs

The Membership Rewards is the program you can append to your AMEX card if it doesn’t come with one. It allows you to earn one point for every dollar you spend. These points can be exchanged for retail products, frequent flyer miles, frequent hotel guests, or car rentals. The great thing about this plan is that the points never expire and there is no maximum amount of points you can make. A big downside is the annual fee of forty dollars. To add this feature you can call customer service or log into your account online.

Many cards come with their own specific rewards program that is only available for that card.

With the Blue Cash card, you earn a cash rebate for each dollar you spend. If you spend less than $6,500.00 you get 0.5% cash back on purchases and 1.00% on purchases made at grocery stores, drug stores, and gas stations. If you spend more than $6,500.00 you earn 5% on purchases made at the previous 1% stores; and 1.5% on all other purchases. There is no limit to the amount of cash back you can earn, you will receive your compensation money on your yearly anniversary of opening the account, and there is no annual fee. Read more on the Blue Cash.

A newer credit card from AMEX called the Clear card has a basic reward of one percent cash back on all purchases. You are automatically mailed a $25.00 American Express shopping card that can be used anywhere the card is accepted once you reach 2,500 pts. The greatest feature is the no fees: No annual fee No balance transfer fee No cash advance fee No late fee No over the limit fee

Another is the Blue Sky; its reward program permits you to get one pt. per dollar spent. You can spend your pts. on airline tickets, hotel rentals, cruise tickets, and car rentals. A great feature is that there are no blackout dates. The downside to this card is 7,500 points is equal to $100.00, which might sound good at first but you can only redeem $100.00 at a time so you will never be able to get your tickets for free unless they cost less than a hundred bucks. For additional information on the Blue Sky card, please read our review.

My recommendation is that you find a credit card that offers a reward that you like, and then apply for that card. If you feel like you have too many credit cards and don’t want to open a new one, then you can get the Membership Program added to your account if you think it’s worth the annual fee. Personally, I don’t think it is worth the annual fee. My favorite is the cash back cards; simply because I can spend the cash on anything I want, and there isn't much hassle about getting your reward and spending it before it expires.

With the new credit card reform bill about to be implemented in February some reward cards might take a hit in the rebate you earn. Most of the changes from the bill will cause the banks to charge less for late fees and not able to change interest rates as often. This will cause them to not make as much money as before and will in turn trickle down to the customer in fewer rewards. I have no exact numbers at this time, (I’m sure if you already own a card you will receive an update to the terms of your account via mail) but if you would be earning 1% total cashback after the bill takes affect you might only get 0.5% cashback.