Get 500 free American Express Membership Rewards points

If you have an Amex Membership Rewards account, and are opted in to emails (and if not, you should be), you should have received an email yesterday which looks, on the face of it, like a piece of junk.  

It was called ‘Glittering festive gift ideas from Membership Rewards’, an invitation to hit the Delete key if ever there was one.

However, this email contains a very attractive promotion:

Redeem online between 1 October and 31 December 2012 and receive a bonus of 500 Membership Rewards points on your first redemption

Amex has run this promotion every year for the last 3-4 years and the bonus points always post.  Note, though, that you won’t get your 500 bonus points until close to the back-stop date of 10 February 2013.

Now, as far as I’m concerned, you should try to do the smallest possible redemption that you can.  Why bother moving 1,000 points to Avios?  If there is a 100% bonus on Avios transfers next year, you will actually be worse off if you move 1,000 points now that you don’t need.  At the same time, you should obviously do a transfer to a programme where you can use the points.

What do I suggest?  Club Carlson has a minimum transfer requirement of 3 points.  Jumeirah Sirius is 15 points.  BA / Virgin / BMI all need 1,000, so I would ignore those.  

The winner, I think is Nectar (assuming you have an active Nectar card) where the minimum transfer is just 1 point.  That leaves you 499 points up.

Personally, I will probably do Club Carlson (although I will need to ring them to change the card number linked to my MR account).  If I can’t be bothered, I will move 15 into my dormant Jumeirah account – although as we are at one of their properties in December, it won’t be dormant for long.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review