American Express Membership Rewards - When you redeem 1.6 million MR points for gift cards, prepare to be taxed!

I had approx. 1,682,724 MR points last week and completely cashed out/redeemed all my points for for 25 x $500 Home Depo Gift cards , 4 x $1000 Saks Fifth Ave gift cards, 3 x $100 Bloomingdale gift cards and 1 x $10 GAP gift card. Total of $16,810 value


I got my giftcards today and did not foresee the taxes involved with getting so many gift cards. This kind of taxing puts the IRS to shame!

I was audited by agent W.I.F.E and agent D.A.D.

LOL

This is what remains after gift card taxes..

http://i29.tinypic.com/of841l.jpg

I'm not sure whether to laugh at your joke ;) (and you're lucky agent W.I.F.E. left 3 x Saks) or to cry at the redemption value.:eek:

My head is spinning at the number of MR points! That's alot of AMEX spend!

I'm not sure whether to laugh at your joke ;) (and you're lucky agent W.I.F.E. left 3 x Saks) or to cry at the redemption value.:eek:

She didn't mind because she knows they are for her anyways. She came home with another Louis Vuitton bag to add to her collection.

My head is spinning at the number of MR points! That's alot of AMEX spend!

not bad considering it took 3 years of exclusive use of AMEX.

...cry at the redemption value.:eek:

You should smile :D because it's these penny-a-point redemptions which keep American Express's average redemption cost low enough to continue to offer 1:1 airline mile transfers.

I had approx. 1,682,724 MR points last week and completely cashed out/redeemed all my points for for 25 x $500 Home Depo Gift cards , 4 x $1000 Saks Fifth Ave gift cards, 3 x $100 Bloomingdale gift cards and 1 x $10 GAP gift card. Total of $16,810 value


I got my giftcards today and did not foresee the taxes involved with getting so many gift cards. This kind of taxing puts the IRS to shame!

I was audited by agent W.I.F.E and agent D.A.D.

LOL

This is what remains after gift card taxes..

http://i29.tinypic.com/of841l.jpg

Ouch. I would have used the 1.6 million points for International First Class tickets to very nice destinations. To each his own I guess.

Ouch. I would have used the 1.6 million points for International First Class tickets to very nice destinations. To each his own I guess.

Same here. The redemption value would have been A LOT higher than 1 cent.:eek:

I'm not sure whether to laugh at your joke ;) (and you're lucky agent W.I.F.E. left 3 x Saks) or to cry at the redemption value.:eek:


I'm crying. Like Scott, I am mystified why you wasted those points on such a poor conversion rate. Converted to FF miles that would have bought at least 10 international First Class tickets valued at upwards of $15K per ticket, and a few domestic ones as change. I think you really got taken but good on that conversion!

I'm crying. Like Scott, I am mystified why you wasted those points on such a poor conversion rate. Converted to FF miles that would have bought at least 10 international First Class tickets valued at upwards of $15K per ticket, and a few domestic ones as change. I think you really got taken but good on that conversion!

Totally agree. Next time anyone wants to redeem 100,000 points for a $1,000 gift certificate... :p then again, if everyone got a good redemption value, there would be too much competition for the good rewards! (F/J)

You should smile :D because it's these penny-a-point redemptions which keep American Express's average redemption cost low enough to continue to offer 1:1 airline mile transfers.

excellent. :cool:

whats with the surprise people? it almost seems like the majority of people in the credit card forums redeem for gift cards...

heresy for FT, but its nothing new. :p

That is the worst redemption I have ever seen. And the taxes suck as well.

I'm crying. Like Scott, I am mystified why you wasted those points on such a poor conversion rate. Converted to FF miles that would have bought at least 10 international First Class tickets valued at upwards of $15K per ticket, and a few domestic ones as change. I think you really got taken but good on that conversion!

I would value the $$ amount as the amount the OP would spend on the tkt themselves not what a FC Intl goes for. Since I have Never purchased for $$ an Intl tkt in Biz or 1st, I would value it at what the coach tkt costs me.

I flew so far this yr 7 Intl flights only 1 was in Biz used miles to Upgrade to HKG. The price of the reg Biz was 10k, coach was $725 had I used 100k for the tkt the value would have been the higher coach fare of $1500 that I paid in order to Up to Biz. I never said I was saving 10k but rather that I spent an extra $750 for a higher coach tkt in order to save the $1k it would have cost to upgrade from a lower fare basis for the copay.

that said if the OP has more miles then they know what to do with, GCs arent a bad idea as in their case thats $16k that will stay in their pocket.

I tend to use my pts or miles per that program, so Hotel pts for Hotel stays and Miles for free tkts.But I do know some people who charge a few million every yr (not me:mad:) and sell the MR pts to others at 2 cents per pt. But although its 2x the value, he says its a big pain, so could be the OP isnt so bad off , no hassles or trying to unload the pts and hoping that the person who buys them doesnt mess up everything when using them.

I know what a terrible redemption it looks, especially here on FT. I had to cash out quickly due to an unfortunate incident that resulted in AMEX canceling all my business/personal cards even centurion. I already have plenty of FF miles for FC tickets and have already flown FC a few times on CX where a majority of my miles are accumulated with. It was nice, but not really worth it in my opinion. I also do not fly as much as I used to since the birth of my son.

I use my points like craz does. Hotel points for hotel, Air miles for flights but mainly use the points for upgrades rather than free stays or flights. I really hate the hassle of trying to redeem award tickets since it feels like every time I try they are never available.

Redeeming for these GC's aren't so bad since I can use them as a bonus for employees at the end of the year or as in incentive for those in my sales dept.

If you had used the AmEx PLUM card you would have gotten double the value in CASH and your wife would never had known........

I had approx. 1,682,724 MR points last week

Approximately?

She came home with another Louis Vuitton bag to add to her collection.

Making it an even worse redemption...

That is the worst redemption I have ever seen. And the taxes suck as well.I've seen worse, a coworker of mine with more miles and points than sense recently redeemed some AMEX MR points for pans from the catalog, I told him next time he wanted something from the catalog to let me know and he could give me the points and I'll buy him the item myself.

I've seen worse, a coworker of mine with more miles and points than sense recently redeemed some AMEX MR points for pans from the catalog, I told him next time he wanted something from the catalog to let me know and he could give me the points and I'll buy him the item myself.

Pans?!?!? PANS!?!?! Using AMEX points for that stuff kills me. I know a few people who have used their Marriot points for stuff from the catalog, which seems to have decent redemption rates for people who don't want to use their points to travel, however AMEX rates are atrocious and the items are overpriced.

Stuff like this kills me.

With my recent relocation, we cashed out 160,000 points for GC at Pottery Barn to furnish our new place. Granted, the monetary value of a FC seat would be much greater, but a sofa in the living room is more valuable for the moment. :D