IF it is true that the free version of this card participates in standard Membership Rewards rather than Membership Rewards Express this card is valuable, even if seldom used, because it can preserve a points balance accumulated by churning the Gold and Platinum charge cards, without paying an annual fee or (temporarily) losing the ability to transfer to airline and hotel programs.

The only way to reliably achieve more than $0.01 per point is to transfer to an airline frequent flyer program, and then the valuation depends on how you redeem miles.