Dieuwer

You got me

exmike

NH has a great distance based chart for star alliance which surely beats uniteds gutted chart, and SQ suites or even biz is a great redemption.

nall

Anyone done any estimations on how much it'll take to break even on the fee on Preferred?

silver6054

Very basic math once you tell us your valuation of MR points. Lets say an MR point is worth x cents. You need to make up $95, so you need to earn 9500/x MR. This takes 4.5*Supermarket + 3*Gas + 1.5*Other where you can plug in your numbers, maybe just taking away 27000 if you can max out supermarkets

This is breakeven if you have no other cards. In reality, if you have a no AF card, that will earn rewards as well, and you will need to earn that + $95 to break even.

nall

I meant compared to the No AF version, which earns (potentially?) 2.4*Supermarket + 1.2*Other.

silver6054

Let's look at maxing out the supermarket. We are still trying to get 9,500/x extra MR points. Maxing out on the preferred gives us 27,000, on the everyday just 14,400, so that bit alone gives us 12,600. And that is greater than 9600/x even if we value MR at just 1c.

So maxing out groceries is enough. That is the most extreme example. At the other end, if everything is Other, Preferred has a 0.3 advantage. So then the spend has to be around 32,000/x

So $32K spend on everyday earns 38,400 MR, 48,000 on preferred. If you value MR at 1c, that difference makes up for the $95 fee. If you value them at 2c, you need $16K in other spending.

GetawaysRus

I'll do the math another way. I'll use supermarket spend alone, since this is the category with the best bonus.

The Everyday card maxes at 2.4 points per dollar on supermarket spend if you hit the 20 swipes per cycle. The Preferred maxes at 4.5 on supermarket spend if you hit 30 swipes per cycle. That is a difference of 2.1 points per dollar spend.

(1) Let's be conservative and value MR points at a penny each (.01), then 2.1 x .01 = .021
Next: 95 / .021 = $4523.81 in supermarket spend to make up the $95 fee

Now let's double check our work:
4523.81 dollars x 2.4 points per dollar = 10857 points
4523.81 dollars x 4.5 points per dollar = 20357 points
20357 - 10857 = 9500 points difference
9500 points x 1 cent per point = 9500 cents = the $95 fee

If I did that right (Will someone please verify my math. Is there a math professor in the house?), then:

(2) If you value MR points at 1.5 cents
2.1 x .015 = .0315
95 / .0315 = $3015.87 in supermarket spend to make up the $95 fee

(3) If you value MR points at 2 cents
2.1 x .02 = .042
95 / .042 = $2261.90 in supermarket spend to make up the $95 fee

Happy

My only concern on this card is, would having the card preclude you from getting the sign up bonus of a PRG, for example? Because the language on the 12 months clause of PRG, includes all the Membership Reward earning cards.

Otherwise, the Everyday card is a good card to warehouse MR points which you do not want to transfer out just yet.

Happy

Why do you think this way?

You can simply break up your grocery purchases into several groups and tell the cashier you want to pay them in different transactions.

I have a Chase Premium business checking which I opened with 25K CO miles a few years back. The account requires $5K? minimum balance to keep it free from monthly fee. Yet, 5 swipes of the debit card also achieve that. Further more, anything links to this Premium business checking, also avoid any monthly fee without the need to maintain a monthly balance.

The 5 swipes per month essentially get free banking of both a Premium business checking and a personal checking with Chase.

I generally achieve the 5 swipes x 2 (we have 2 such accounts) on one to two trips to the grocery store. Go at some non-busy time and just buy 5 items pay 5 times. Done in 3 minutes.

nall

This image was posted on an Amex forum:

mia

The current Gold and Platinum card offers mentions "charge cards", not all cards which participate in Membership Rewards. The Everyday products are credit cards. There are already some credit cards which participate in full Membership Rewards. We have no way of knowing how American Express will alter the terms of future offers.

mia

This press release mentions the ability to transfer points, earned with the free card, to airlines. This confirms that the free card participates in standard Membership Rewards. This makes the card valuable because it can preserve a Membership Rewards balance earned by churning Gold or Platinum cards. However, Happy raises a good point about the possibility that holding either of these cards could disqualify the cardholder from bonus offers on other cards if the terms are changed slightly.


Also explicitly confirmed in this Bloomberg article

JustinTI

That was my concern with this as well. I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. I'll definitely convert another Amex to the no annual fee MR rewards card if it doesn't preclude sign up bonuses.

bobby21

Some of us, at least myself, have got the welcome bonuses for PRG, Plat, MB Plat and Business gold. So my understading is that Amex will not give me another bonus since I am an existing Amex cardholder, even after 12 months of canceling the older cards. So I have nothing to lose in getting this card?

mia

This is incorrect. You need to read the terms of the specific offer to understand which cards might disqualify you from obtaining a bonus, but in general if you have not held the same card, or any personal card linked to the same rewards program, for a year you are eligible. There are nuanced exceptions which make it possible to obtain some cards sooner, and there are strategies for alternating between personal and business cards.