AmEx Gold Rewards Bonus Followup

16 Responses to “AmEx Gold Rewards Bonus Followup”

1. 1
   Xias Says:
   October 12th, 2007 at 11:00 am

   Wow this sounds like a great offer, I may just apply for it!

2. 2
   Doc Says:
   October 12th, 2007 at 11:09 am

   Sounds like a great offer except for the $125 annual fee after the first year.

   I suppose you could always cancel the card after the first year, but what’s the point in even messing with it in the first place?

3. 3
   Pat Says:
   October 12th, 2007 at 12:36 pm

   Applied late Monday, got the card yesterday, used it yesterday, put it in the drawer, awaiting my bonus deciding what to do with it. I’ve been eyeing a new computer at Dell, this would give me 250 off it.

4. 4
   rocketc Says:
   October 12th, 2007 at 1:44 pm

   I turned mine into a round trip flight on Southwest. I do like the card for my business, but the annual fee could be a deal breaker in 12 months. . .

5. 5
   Patrick Says:
   October 12th, 2007 at 3:54 pm

   I plan on signing up for it myself. A free airline ticket is too good to pass up. Especially when my wife can get a card as well, and we can each get a free airline ticket. (I just have to verify which airlines the offer is good for, otherwise I may have to et gift cards).

6. 6
   Jennifer Says:
   October 12th, 2007 at 8:08 pm

   Nickel, thanks for posting about these great offers! I used the gift cards from AmX to start my Christmas shopping today!

   I also just applied for the CitiBusiness PremierPass to get another $150. I’ll let you know how it goes!

7. 7
   bonnie Says:
   October 13th, 2007 at 11:59 am

   “lots of stores to choose from.” Would you mind naming a few? Thanks!

8. 8
   Robert Says:
   October 13th, 2007 at 12:00 pm

   Be advised that 25,000 rewards points CANNOT be converted to $250.00 in gift cards. Amex today says that rewards points can ONLY be applied to airline ticket and certain other items (rental car, etc.) with both on-line and phone offers but NOT gift cards (per Abhinav at AMEX).

9. 9
   Robert Says:
   October 13th, 2007 at 12:15 pm

   Please disregard prior post (#9). AMEX nows says the points CAN be converted to gift card (per Sarab). I broke my own rule about cross-checking every offer at least three times before signing up. Quite frequently the reps have no idea what they’re talking about. Apologies for the confusion.

10. 10
    nickel Says:
    October 13th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

    Yeah, the points can definitely be converted into gift cards. If you’re interested in some of the stores for which you can get gift cards, click through to Finding Financial Peace and see what she selected. There are a lot of others, as well, but I don’t have an exhaustive list.

11. 11
    Zak Says:
    October 14th, 2007 at 4:33 am

    Thanks for the info on the great offer!

    My question is regarding applying the rewards points to American Express Gift Cards. Are there any fees associated with redeeming the points for the Amex gift cards or additional fees when using the gift cards to purchase something?

12. 12
    nickel Says:
    October 14th, 2007 at 7:41 am

    Zak: No, it’s a straightup exchange of points for gift cards, and the cards have no additional fees. The only possible fees (aside from the annual fee if you keep the card for more than a year) is that some stores have inactivity fees on their gift cards if you don’t use them within a prescribed period of time (usually on the order of a year or two).

13. 13
    Jennifer Says:
    October 14th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    Here is a link showing the stores you can get gift cards to: http://www.membershiprewards.com/catalog/shopping/. Just to point out, these are store gift cards, not American Express gift cards. You can get American Express gift checks that you can use at any store but it will cost you 5,000 points for a $25 gift check – totally not worth it since 5,000 points will get you a $50 gift card at most of the other stores.

14. 14
    mit kaese Says:
    October 25th, 2007 at 7:58 pm

    Just a note to anyone who signed up for this: if you currently have a personal card from Amex that you access through their website — DO NOT simply add another card to your login, as I did. There’s $10 ‘linkage’ fee that I was unable to get reversed without loosing the 25,000 bonus miles on the business card.

15. 15
    Zak Says:
    October 26th, 2007 at 3:05 am

    Ugh, wish I would have known that sooner. I already did that. Oh well.

16. 16
    nickel Says:
    October 26th, 2007 at 8:37 am

    mit: Yes, I’ve written about the linkage fee in the past. See here.