If you spend $50,000 you would earn 50,000 points plus the AAdmirals club membersip. The membership costs $250 to $450 depending on status. If we assume the typical Merrill+ user will have at least Gold status (due to status match), the value is $400 (first year) or 0.8%, but the 50,000 points are worth at least another $500 or 50,000 BA Miles which can be redeemed for travel on AA.
I only use Merrill+ only for foreign transactions because my account still has no currency fee. The AA status match is no benefit to me. The AAdmirals Club membership would be nice, but there is a hidden cost of forgoing spending on Diners Club which is better for BA miles (although Merill+ did also offer a BA promotion in 2006.) Also, I do not like Merill's refusal to offer customer service by email, and their failure to publish new terms and conditions BEFORE the start of the calendar year.
Merrill+2:
- AA status match is difficult to value.
- Of course this has no value if (a) you never fly AA or (b) you already have AA status
- I fly AA occassionally, so this has value to me.
Merrill+3: Frankly I am impressed by the value (after doing the math)
- If you spend $50k on Merrill+ your benefits are 50,000 points plus $250 to $500 for the AA or DL club membership.
- This equates to a minimum of benefit of 1.5% to 2.0% per $. If you get some value out of the other benefits, this is higher.
- If you focus on the incremental value between Merrill+2 and Merrill+3, you earn 1.83% to 2.67% including just the 30,000 points and club membership. If you get other value from Merrill+3, this is higher.
- This may be devalued if: (a) you have a Priority Pass Membership and fly DL/CO/NW, (b) you have a AMEX Platinum Card and fly DL/CO/NW (c) you travel on airlines that make DL or AA club access useless, (d) you always fly first class, etc.
Beyond Merrill+3:
- Other cards can beat the 1pt per $ offered by Merrill+ hands down.
BTW...Merrill is running a promotion. Open a CD with $25k AND a new Merrill+ account, they with give you 15,000 points. See the link for terms and conditions:
http://askmerrill.ml.com/pp3/cd_land...s&cpag=149x106