American Express Membership Rewards - SPG vs Gold MR - Points Posting Observation

MR points are always at least 30 days behind the current billing period before they post. The SPG Amex card I got a month ago posted the points to SPG 3 days after the billing period closed.

Hmmmmmmmm?!?

I think the difference is because one is a credit card product (SPG Amex) and the other is tied to a charge card product (MR). With MR, points are awarded after you pay your bill not when it's issued. If your payment is late, you forfeit the points. That's why there's a lag between when the statement is issued and when the points become available. Current statement spending show up as pending points. Once payment is received, you can call MR and have the pending points "accelerated" if you need to use them. OTOH MR to airline transfers have been very quick in my experience. I made two transfers to DL recently and both times the Skymiles appeared in my DL account on the same day I requested the transfer. How long is the typical SPG to airline transfer?

Just one more reason why the Starwood AMEX is the best card out there. The points are actually posted and available for use BEFORE you pay the bill!

PhilC Great analysis... makes perfect sense! Even though I knew the difference between the 2 cards, I was only thinking about it from an Amex processing POV.

I agree on the MR xfer speed... when I wanted to max out my WN points to get a CP, they were there the next day!