American Express India has launched a new promotion to encourage people to redeem their American Express Membership Rewards points for various purposes, such as covering shopping charges on the card. This promotion looks similar to the 2023 promotion, where Amex encouraged people to use their points for travel bookings, and the 2021 promotion, which encouraged people to use Pay with Points.

Amex launches 30% MR back promotion.

American Express has launched a new Pay with Points promotion. They promise to return 30% of your Membership Rewards points if you use them to shop online and pay with points, cover your card charges, shop at stores and use points, or use them for travel bookings made with Amex Travel.

The offer runs between September 24, 2024, and October 31, 2024, for the following cardmembers:

• American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card
• American Express Gold Card
• American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card
• American Express SmartEarn Card

The offer runs between September 25, 2024, and October 31, 2024, for the following cardmembers:

• American Express Centurion Card
• American Express Platinum Card

For general use purposes, American Express offers a value of 25 paise (INR 0.25) per Membership Rewards point when paid with points. For instance, I picked up the option on a random ticket from the website.

Usually, I wouldn’t advise using Membership Rewards points to swap for cash since American Express has some great partnerships where you can transfer the points instead. However, if you do so, you get 30% points back, increasing the value per MR point to 35 paise (INR 0.35) from 25 paise (INR 0.25).

Per Amex, you should have received a message (email) from American Express to qualify for the promotion. Cardmembers will get 30% Membership Reward Points back for redemptions done via the following channels only:

• SafeKey Transactions: While making payment(s) to any of American Express’ online merchants, a ‘SafeKey’ screen appears where you may select the ‘Use Pay with Points’ option to pay for your charges.
• Select & Redeem (Cover Your Card Charges): This allows you to pay for almost any item on your Card statement with your Points.
• American Express Travel website (Flight and Hotel bookings only): Cardmembers may select the ‘Use Pay with Points’ option to pay for their charges and/or via American Express Travel & Lifestyle Services (for Centurion and Platinum
  Cardmembers).
• Pay with Points at retail stores.
• Pay with Points via Customer Service

A minimum of 1,000 points need to be redeemed for the redemption process. Cardmembers can earn up to 100,000 Membership Rewards Points during the offer period. This translates to a maximum redemption of 333,333 Membership Rewards Points, which would be eligible for offer benefit (333,333 * 30% = 100,000 Points). Eligible Membership Rewards Points as Points Back (offer benefit) will be credited by January 31, 2025.