American Express has been expanding the ambit of the card acceptance over time in India. They have clearly started the year 2019 with a bang, announcing promotions to offer double points for Educational Institution Spends, giving away free cards, giving bonus points for Supplementary Card issuance and statement credit on Hyatt Hotel stays. Now, there is another one on offer, the Amex Insurance Offer for those payments coming up towards insurance this quarter.
Amex Insurance Offer: 10X Membership Rewards Points
To promote their reach in the insurance segment, there is a new Amex Insurance Offer, offering bonus Membership Rewards points for paying Insurance expenses on their proprietary Credit Cards and Charge Cards between January 14, 2019, and March 31, 2019. Only the following cards, issued in India, are eligible for this offer:
- American Express Centurion Card (10 MR/INR 100)
- American Express Platinum Card (10 MR/INR 100)
- American Express Gold Card (10 MR/INR 100)
- American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card (10 MR/INR 100)
- American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card (10 MR/INR 100)
- American Express Gold Credit Card (10 MR/INR 100)
- American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card (10 MR/INR 100)
The promotion seems to be targetted and wants cardmembers to enrol for the offer with this link. The interesting part is, Amex does not offer Membership Rewards points for insurance spends since 2014, but they will offer it this quarter. The minimum spend is 100 INR to get the offer. The maximum spends for the cards which earn 10 MR/INR 100 and hence this promotion seems to be capped at INR 50,000.
Membership Rewards points are being given under this offer and will not earn any regular points, and after the offer ends Cardmembers will stop getting any Membership Rewards Points on Insurance spends. The Bonus Membership Rewards Points will get credited to Cardmember’s account by June 30, 2019.
Bottomline
It is fantastic when you can earn miles for stuff that you are already going to have to do, such as paying insurance. But when you are going to get 10X points to do that, it is all the more reason to do so. Amex is really out there to get members to get used to using their cards for more categories this year, and this seems just the start.
Which American Express Card are you going to use this quarter to pay for your insurance?
I did spend on PMVVY scheme from LIC (LIC is the only vendor). This is NOT an insurance buy. Will this be counted under insurance for MR or will I get MR points based on the spend?
Hi,
If we make payment from Paytm etc will it work and be counted for 10X? I don’t want to use LIC Portal. Tried AmEx Epay and doesn’t allow Instapay for LIC.
@Gagan only payments which directly show as Insurance on the Amex account will count for 10X. So the only way to earn that is paying via the LIC portal.
Hi, i think this offer is only for select customers. I checked it with @AmericanExpress and they declined me the offer saying, this offer is not for all customers and since i have not received any email from them, i am not eligible. Sheer Discrimination!!!
It is a very good offer and have enrolled both my MRCC and Platinum Travel card though I got email only for the MRCC card.
BTW, it think it should be 10 MR/Rs100 (5X) not 10X offer.
@Ashwin, when you got nothing, and now you get 10/INR 100, then it is 10X not 5X. Also, Plat Travel Card was not invited then it does not get the benefits perhaps.
@Ajay,
I received a acknowledgement from Amex only for the MRCC so going to use this card for my annual life insurance premium payment.
Would the 50000 cap be per month, per billing cycle or total during the offer period?
@Kushal it is 5000 MR for the whole offer.
Too bad! Just used my prestige to pay my premium. Had checked with amex (they usually do not have MRs for fuel and insurance.
Btw Ajay, do you receive these emails from amex directly? I am massively pissed that I don’t get any such emails for my plat charge. Their conceirge sucks too. There is possibly zero incremental benefit of holding the card. Would love to know your thoughts on it. Thanks
Same with me. Missing many offers because I never get any email from them and can’t find any way to subscribe.
Well this is not 10X, just 10MRs per Rs 100. That is because X here is 0.
One of the T& C is:
“The offer is applicable for only select American Express Cardmembers. A Cardmember is eligible for this offer only if he/she has received an offer communication directly from American Express through any of its channels. In case a Cardmember did not receive any direct offer communication from American Express but enrolls his/her Card account for the offer, the Card account will not be
eligible for the offer”
I checked my account but there is no such communication.
Which insurance companies are covered in this offer? Is india post insurance also covered?