Last week I received a piece of mail that made me aware of some changes to the Amex Business Platinum credit card. On July 1, 2015, you will no longer get a 20% points rebate when you redeem your Membership Rewards points through American Express’s travel portal with the “Pay With Points” option.
This means that for the next few months you can still get the 20% rebate where you are essentially getting 1.25 cents per point instead of 1 cent per point after this date. This is only relevant for those that like to redeem their points with American Express directly. If you typically transfer your points to a partner hotel or airline, this will not affect you at all.
This is a pretty decent devaluation of the card and was one of the reasons I rated the business version of the Platinum card over the personal version. I personally cancelled my Amex Business Platinum card last week (a few days prior to receiving this notice) as the annual fee of is just way to expensive and I am not getting my moneys worth. It was a great card for the initial sign up bonus, the Global Entry Fee reimbursement, and getting the $200 incidental credit twice within the first year of having the card, but I am just not utilizing the benefits as much anymore. I decided to instead go with the Amex EveryDay card (no annual fee version) to keep my points in tact and still earn and redeem with the premier Membership Reward points. Related blog post
I am sad to see this benefit go away, although I am not surprised. If you play on using the “Pay with Points” feature, just make sure to do so by June 30, 2015 to ensure you maximize your points to the fullest.
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So much for American Express keeping up with Chase UR points. 🙁