Questions and Answers

Hi All! Need some advice on spending MR points at a decent value before closing my Amex Gold card, which is my only MR-earning card. I got the Amex Gold with the goal of using the points for more aspirational travel but short of a great retention offer I’m going to close the card for the following reasons:

1. Annual fee doesn’t justify the marginal difference in earning rates over my CSR (doubly true if Chase ever re-adds groceries as bonus spend).
2. Uncertainty of which merchants will code as “Restaurants” with Amex. Had many issues with places that are ostensibly restaurants (full menus, table service, etc.) but instead code as cafes, bars/taverns, hotels, concessions, etc. at 1x points.
3. Difficulty finding awards space with transfer partners at values more than a penny per point in addition to whatever changes will happen in the travel industry due to COVID.

With few redemptions and a balance of still over 100k MR points, I could use some help for where to redeem before I close the card. Thanks for the help!

Downgrade to an AmEx Everyday (or better still apply for a new one with a sign up bonus) before closing your Gold. Your points will stay active and available for future use.

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 70764, member: 79″]Downgrade to an AmEx Everyday (or better still apply for a new one with a sign up bonus) before closing your Gold. Your points will stay active and available for future use.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply. Thought about it, but there’s no way to downgrade (because Amex Gold is a “charge card” instead of a “credit card”). I’d have to open a new card just to preserve points. BUT I have a Blue Cash card that is just sitting in a drawer as it is… might as well use it to get cash back on groceries and gas, which is otherwise unbonused on my other cards.

I could have sworn that I’ve been offered the everyday as a downgrade option on a charge card but might be mistaken. I would say for those many MR points, I personally wouldn’t mind opening a no-fee ED card. At worst it’ll just help your credit score long term. It does also have groceries as a bonus category that seems to be important for you.

I agree with Gaurav. 100k points is a significant amount of points, so I would go and open a no fee card to keep those points. The other alternative if you really don’t want to open another card is to transfer them to an airline that you are using frequently and know you can use points for.