AMEX gives 1.5 points

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arun

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As you know, some co-branded AMEX cards (AMP AMEX, CPA AMEX) give 1.5 points per dollar for a limited time.
Now a new tier is added to their Ascent rewards program for any AMEX card where when you pay $24 extra , you get 1.5 ponts per dollar.

I am not sure how it will affect the CPA AMEX holders as we do not pay any annual fees or rewards fees. We will be getting 1.5 up to end August in the earlier promotion. Not sure if we need to pay $24 to get the 1.5 points in the future.
 
Amex ran half page ads in 'Sun Herald' here on weekend that I totally ignored reading as they looked like standard new business ads.

When reading them more carefully and pointed out it was for a new program called "Accelerator".

You need to PRE-REGISTER for it on oz 1-300-650-655

You pay a flat $29 fee.

THEN every $A you spend on Amex from September 8 to March 15 gets you 1.5 MR miles. i.e. 50% more than usual.

This offer only applies to personal cards NOT corporate Amex cards.

The maximum spend on this is $A40,000 i.e. max extra miles you can get is 20,000 MR points, no matter what you spend.

I personally value each MR mile at a minimum of oz3¢. Others have their own thoughts on this, but in my experience that is VERY conservative valuing, as to move them to QF or Starwood for awards always yields me a lot better than 3c a point.

A few weeks ago we took a Biz class round trip to Port Moresby for 45,000 miles each. The cost to BUY that even in discount coach ran to $A1000, and biz was of course way higher, so the 3c a point value can be readily seen in such examples. i.e. using the miles for unusual destinations for which there is no price competition.

I will easily spend $40,000 in the period and my math is those 20,000 MR points will have cost me only $A29 - or .145 cents a point.
i.e. they are "worth" to ME, over 20 times more than they cost me. :)

------------------
~ Glen ~
 
Good Analysis Ozstamps.

This 1.5 points for Accelerator is for 6 months only. When I called the customer care asked why do we pay $29 per annum extra for accelarator which gives 0.5 extra only for 6 months, the operator said that they will re-evaluate after 6 months based on the popularity. I could see the logic, but not sure how they can stop giving extra points after 6 months (after having charged an annual fee), if they want to.
 
Correct.

I asked why only 6 months and answer was "to see how it goes".

Code for "See if we make money on it" of course!
 
Rewards Maximiser Card now available

Looks like they found a way to make lots more money...

"With the Rewards Maximiser Credit Card you will earn a guaranteed 1.5 points per dollar – not just on selective purchases, but every time you spend. There’s no cap and no limit on the amount of points you can earn and the Rewards Maximiser Card membership fee is only $12 per month"

That's right, for only $144 per year you too can earn 1.5 points per dollar!
They charitably waive the $59 ascent rewards fee though!

Wish I had joined up in Sept for the 6 months for only $29! I wonder if you can join for a month (ie Christmas, big purchase time etc), then ditch the card after you use it? Fast-churn credit!
 
144???????
Is there a annual card fee in addition to the rewards fee? Or is it included in the $12 per month? If it is included, then this is still better than ANZ. But I will be happy with my CPA AMEX where I don't pay a cent and get 1 point per dollar.
 
No, the annual fee is included/waived in the $12/month.

The standard ascent fee is $59/year; I assume that most people would get the $70/yr annual fee waived by spending over $9500/yr so that's $85 extra for the extra 0.5 points/$.

I value my points at about 30k=$500 (PER to east coast without taxes as you pay them anyway with a points redemption) or 1.67c/point. So for $85 you'd want to get at least 5100 points extra, which is $10200 spending, or only $850 per month.

So actually it may not be that bad... but still would prefer being able to get the bonus 0.5 points for $29/6 months!
 
Just went to the site and had a look at the AMEX Rewards Maximiser deal.

This looks interesting and may be a better option then my current ANZ Diners card which I will be getting rid of in August 2004 (to not pay the AU$150 annual fee which was waived in my first year).

I am only in it for the points and I always pay up on my cards on time (or quite often before if the internet banking site is good enough).

I will be flying back to either Hong Kong or Canberra for work and I want to maximise those points I get from my hotel stays, ticket purchases and taxis.

I think that it might still be better to use my Gold Qantas ANZ Visa for my AU$4,500 plane ticket to HK even though I go over the AU$2,500 limit as I get 1 for 1 bonus on that (max of 8,000 (2500 + (2000*0.5) + 4,500) FF points for that alone) but then I think I'll use the AMEX for all my hotel bills and so forth.

One thing I am curious about is if I can only have the card for a few months and then cancel it.

Regards and sorry for the long post.

Daniel
 
the only problem is that amex requires 50% more points than other cards on redemptions other than ff points.
 
It seems now Amex is waiving the $15month fee for the first year on this card ( saving $144), do the popularity of it must be suffering a little.

AND, they're now offering 5,000 bonus FF points to register by end of September.
 
Do you happen to have a link to this offer? I cannot seem to find it on the website.

Regards
Daniel
 
I don't know about the offer directly form Amex, but some of the co-branded Amex credit cards have been offerring initial year fee waiver and bonus points at signup for quite some time.

My RACQ co-branded Amex Gold Credit Card came with no fee annual card for the first year, and if I spend more than $9500 each year the annual fee is waived for the subsequent year. I still pay the optional Membership Rewards fee, of course.

And the RACQ co-branded card also had a signup bonus offer of MR points based on you RACQ membership level. I am a Silver member (>15 years membership) and received a lump of bonus points - can't remember now if it was 5000 or 8000 points. They also offered 1.5 points/$ for 6 months for RACQ Silver members.

So if you are interested in an Amex card to take advantage of the 1.5 points/$ offer, look around for some of the co-branded options rather than just the plain Amex cards. The co-branding does not get in the way of the regular Amex functions, including internet banking. Just puts their logo on the face of the card.
 
I recently received in the mail, an offer from AMEX for a GOLD CARD, with 5,000 points and NO ANNULAR FEE .... EVER! Plus, 5.99%pa for six months on balance transfers.

I do have to pay the $59. for the REWARDS program, so I can send my points to QFF.

I'll be doing a balance transfer, and playing around with sending funds here and there... and racking up those QFF points.

Last six months, I've received close to 100,000 points from balance transfers... sure, It's cost me a few $ here and there in interest... but I think I've gotten the better deal in the long run.

regards,
 
I got the same thing a few weeks ago (I think it comes in about once a year). From memory they gave me two weeks to decide on if I want to get the card. I don't remember the 5,000 bonus though.

I ended up not getting it because:
1. If I was going to get an AmEx it will be the rewards maximizer one
2. Diners has given me double points for 3 months after I told them I wanted to cancel it. Got about 4 weeks left.
3. I'm hoping to pressure Diners to give me double rewards again for another period of time if they want to keep me as a customer.

Regards
Daniel

PS: I've got a separate thread about the double points on Diners. I also just recently got a 60inch LG Plasma monitor for AU$17,500 so getting double points on that was a good thing. Took Diners security 10 minutes to call me about the purchase though. Expected faster response but they called my home number first and had to get my mobile from my fiance. :)
 
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