American Express Membership Rewards - US Bank Account Promotion for 5K MR Points

I noticed a 5K MR Points promotion from AMEX with a 2,500 USD checking account set-up.

http://home3.americanexpress.com/rewards/explore/earn_points.asp

Does anyone know of a better deal?

Edited to add URL and change amount.

[This message has been edited by moremilesandpoints (edited 04-02-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by moremilesandpoints:
I noticed a 5K MR Points promotion from AMEX with a 2,000 USD checking account set-up.

Does anyone know of a better deal?</font>


Do you have a link for this? I'm unable to find it, thanx!

The links above work fine... just follow them. Ive read the fine print, and it seems like if you can afford to have a $5000 float with Amex Centurion Bank for 6 months, these 5000 Amex reward points are a freebie. This means you will have to open both a Money Market accout and an interest checking account. With that balance, you will get the account maintenance fees waived. My only doubt is if there will be some fee for issuance of checks or something... I will call Amex and investigate.

------------------
Gaucho100K

To do this for the 5000 MR points, its probably best to open the checking account for and then do a 6 month CD to lock in a higher APR (its almost double what the checking/savigs is offering).

Has anybody actually done this?

Earn 10,000 Membership Rewards® bonus points by opening a brokerage account for $5,000.

http://finance.americanexpress.com/sif/cda/page/0,1641,6782,00.asp?brsource=daa032&brpos=link

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ChaseTheMiles:
Earn 10,000 Membership Rewards® bonus points by opening a brokerage account for $5,000.

http://finance.americanexpress.com/sif/cda/page/0,1641,6782,00.asp?brsource=daa03 2&brpos=link (http://finance.americanexpress.com/sif/cda/page/0,1641,6782,00.asp?brsource=daa032&brpos=link)

</font>

I just got my 10k MR points for this one. I had to remind AMEX about the 6-8 week timeframe to award the points but they were posted three days after receiving my friendly reminder email. Now I can let my $5k earn a nice 1% or so interest for another four months and withdraw the funds.

I'm looking at the fine print, and it says, "The bonus you receive is subject to income tax." If the bonus is the MR points (is there any other bonus), at what value are they placing on them?
Also, the commission and fee schedule page seems to indicate there could be a subject to a $10/quarter maintenace fee. Is this correct?

Is there a quick link which lists the interest rate(s) available, I didn't immediately see it.

Jeff

[This message has been edited by jwhite4 (edited 04-09-2002).]

I think Im going for the bank account. I will just place the funds in the account, then go online and place a 6-month CD to cover the minimum period Amex wants the money there to let you keep the points. I didnt see the $10 maintenance fee... where was that? Im going to call Amex and ask.

The 10K for the brokerage account is very interesting. Does anybody know if you can earn both bonuses for a total of 15K?

Just got off the phone with Amex. They have no clue. They told me that I should figure out with my accountant what the value of those MR points I would receive as bonus would/should be.

I guess the bottom line question is, should these bonus MR points considered income?

I tried to get an indirect answer by asking where Amex would report the income if I were not to choose the 10,000 MR points but instead wanted the $75 credit. The agent mentiones that this would go in the 1099INT form (which makes sense). Then I asked him where Amex would report the 10K MR points, and there he had no idea... he first said it may be the 1099B, and then said maybe it was also on the 1099INT - but he wasnt sure. I mentioned that either way Amex would have to put a value to those points, to which he agreed, but didnt know how much it would be.... I think the latter is what you need to know to determine what the potential tax liability for the bonus offer is.

In any event, if I have to tax MR points, why dont I have to tax the air miles & hotel points...?????

[This message has been edited by Gaucho100K (edited 04-13-2002).]

I've earned 10k from AMEX, and well over 200,000 airlines miles from various promos for bank accounts and brokerage accounts. I've never had to pay any taxes. As a matter of fact I recall a thread recently that mentioned no income taxes on airline points. A search might find that thread.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Gaucho100K:
I guess the bottom line question is, should these bonus MR points considered income?</font>

Sure, the points are income. But is their value more than the $600 (or whatever the number is now - I've been away from it for a while) floor for a mandatory 1099? No. It's no different than getting 25,000 miles for opening a brokerage account. In the strictest sense, it's income - but I've never received a 1099 because the miles from opening any one account aren't worth more than the 1099 floor. And no business is going to look to generate more paperwork for itself by issuing more 1099's than it has to.

So, IMHO, the points are income. But no one will claim it because they won't get a 1099 (probably MISC) so the IRS won't know about it.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ChaseTheMiles:
Earn 10,000 Membership Rewards® bonus points by opening a brokerage account for $5,000.

http://finance.americanexpress.com/sif/cda/page/0,1641,6782,00.asp?brsource=daa03 2&brpos=link (http://finance.americanexpress.com/sif/cda/page/0,1641,6782,00.asp?brsource=daa032&brpos=link)</font>

@@ I applied on-line last week, and nothing happened. What's next? How long should I wait for Amex to respond before calling them?

It takes 4-5 weeks for MR points to post from the day your account is approved and funded.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by belle3388:
@@ I applied on-line last week, and nothing happened. What's next? How long should I wait for Amex to respond before calling them?</font>


It will actually take around 8 weeks for the 10k MR points to post. You first need to fund the account, the wait 8 weeks. I waited 9 weeks and politely reminded MR via email that the points were due. I received a reply from an MR CSR and the points posted 4 days later. You must keep the funds in the account for 6 months.

Thanks, but I have not even yet gotten a response from Amex acknowledging my on-line application and directing me where to deposit the $5000.00.

Could my application have gotten lost in the internet superhighway? Should I go sign up for another one?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by belle3388:
Thanks, but I have not even yet gotten a response from Amex acknowledging my on-line application and directing me where to deposit the $5000.00.

Could my application have gotten lost in the internet superhighway? Should I go sign up for another one?</font>


No, the same thing happened to me. Call them, ask if they got the online app, if not apply over the phone. That's what I did.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by phoenixitc:
..Call them, ask if they got the online app....</font>

@@ I just did, and was told that my application did go through, and already I had an account number. Strangely though, I wouldn't have known if I hadn't called, and I wouldn't have called if it weren't for y'all's great advice.

Thanks!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by belle3388:
@@ I just did, and was told that my application did go through, and already I had an account number. Strangely though, I wouldn't have known if I hadn't called, and I wouldn't have called if it weren't for y'all's great advice.

Thanks!</font>

You'll want to followup by verifying that your account was coded with the MR promo for the bonus points. Keep their response handy and wait the 8-week period. If your points don't post, followup again and remind them about the MR points. AMEX has always been efficient in responding but a little "forgetful" in posting the points http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Enjoy!

I don't suppose you can charge this to your AMEX card and get additional points?