So now that I’ve justified my annual fee for my Amex Platinum, now I’m working on trying to maximize my Membership Rewards AKA points. Overall, the Amex Platinum aside from 5X points on travel (which doesn’t have to be booked through their portal), the Membership Rewards point category is pretty dismal. I understand why people refer to Amex Platinum as a “perks” card because it is really the perks but not about the Membership Rewards categories for spending on this card, but those airport lounges can be pretty bougie!
At the time of writing this, NOTHING else has a multiplier on the spending. So, the challenge I was wrapping my brain around is…how am I going to rack up more Membership Rewards if I’m only going to get 1 point per dollar. Boo! That was not a good return on investment, even if The Points Guy says they are worth 0.02 per point at minimum.
Enter Rakuten.com (yes that is my referral link, hey…don’t you want $30, cause I do!) which I have used for years to get cash back on all my online spending. Its one of my favorite ways to get cash back on stuff I was planning to buy. Amex launched a program with Rakuten.com to allow you to earn Membership Rewards in lieu of cash back, call me intrigued!
It was very easy to set up, just log into my account, go to my account settings and change my payment type from PayPal to American Express and voila Membership Rewards here I come!
Now I can stack them too, if I use my Amex to purchase items and I earn cash back. Its almost like I’m 2X, 3X, etc. on the spending category. Double bonus points, if I also happen to have one of those nifty Amex Offers that gives me a statement credit for my purchase. Here’s looking at you Saks $50 statement credit. Maybe it’s not the best example but I did do pretty good on this one considering I was not sure what the heck I could buy for $50 at Saks. Turns out I found reusable makeup remover pads and washcloth kit for $25. I bought two, one for me and one for a gift to give to my sister. Now I don’t have worry about staining those hotel towels to remove my mascara, heck yeah!
Reusable Makeup Remover pads $25 x 2 = $50 + taxes.
Total spent $53 plus free shipping. After my statement credit $50 posted, my total purchase was $1.5 each. Plus 50 membership points for using my Amex and 50 x 2 for purchasing through Rakuten for a total of 150 membership rewards all for the grand total of $3 out of pocket. Not bad for a days worth of work, if I do say so myself.
