Originally Posted by seawolf
I've noticed this on my last two statements for both my spouse's and my AMEX starwood accounts. The amount of Starpoints awarded is one less than my balance for the both. ie. $516.23 net charged. 515 awarded. $7719.40 net charged, 7718 awarded.
Anybody else seeing this on their accounts?
It must be because of this quirk Gary pointed out on his (very useful) website:
American Express awards Starpoints for purchases on each individual purchase. They round to the nearest dollar for each purchase, then award the points for that purchase. This means that the number of points you receive on any one statement may not equal the total number of dollars of new purchases. Other miles credit cards award the miles based on the total dollars of new purchases per statement. So what, you say. Well - if you are going for the 5,000 mile bonus for conversion of 20,000 points to miles, you must count each dollar spent as receiving 1.25 miles. I won't bore you with the math, but this means that on any purchase between $1.26 and $1.49, inclusive, you are better off using a miles card. If you are not going to use the bonus (WHY NOT?!), you are better off using a miles card for any purchase ending in 1 to 49 cents, inclusive. (Yes, I really am addicted to this stuff.)
http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm
[In the free cards section]
***
Mine worked out exactly the same last time so I didn't think this was true. I think you are offering further proof that it is...