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Don’t use the American Express Membership Rewards Auto-Redeem feature

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American Express Membership Rewards has a new feature – Auto-Redeem. 

Don’t use it.

It is just a gimmick, and a poor value gimmick at that.

This is how it works.  You click on the ‘Use Points for Purchases’ link on the statement page of your Gold or Platinum account.  You will then see a further link for Auto-Redeem.

You can then select from three potential recurring payments that you may have – Netflix, Naked Wines and Spotify.  No other companies are included

If you turn on Auto-Redeem, American Express will automatically look for charges from these three merchants on your statement.  When it sees one, it redeems enough Membership Rewards points to pay the bill and adds a statement credit to your account.  It is meant to happen within three days of the original charge appearing.  This effectively nullifies your subscription payment.

Here’s the snag.  You only receive £4.50 of statement credit for every 1,000 Membership Rewards points.

You should be looking to get around 1p per Membership Rewards point on a good day.  1 point = 1 Avios, for instance, and you should be able to get 1p per Avios when you redeem.

This is my article explaining the best value Membership Rewards redemptions.  You can see from this how poor 0.45p per point is.

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earns points from credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Category

American Express Membership Rewards

Comments (93)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Crafty says:
    27 Aug27 August 09:39

    My employer has booked a Flybe flight for me and given my Avios (rather than BAEC) number to earn miles on.

    Is this the right thing to have done, given the impending closure? Will the miles go into a black hole?

  • Rash says:
    27 Aug27 August 10:09

    O/T: I want to do the Hilton Diamond status challenge (currently Gold) but need a top tier status from another hotel for this… which I currently don’t have. As I have an Amex Plat, does this come with any top tier statuses which I can match across? Hope that makes sense!

  • Jason says:
    27 Aug27 August 10:23

    Is it possible to book an open jaw in difference classes using your 2 for 1 voucher Ie out in y and back j…I can vaguely remember this isn’t possible but have got it to work on a non open jaw ticket thanks

    • Genghis says:
      27 Aug27 August 10:27

      Yes of course. We do it quite often mixing F and J.

      • Roger says:
        27 Aug27 August 13:59

        As you cannot book OJ online, I assume the only option is to book by Phone.

        • BJ says:
          27 Aug27 August 15:35

          If you have sufficient points book both as one way then call to have voucher applied and points refunded etc.

  • The Original Nick says:
    27 Aug27 August 11:03

    I know I’m not the only one waiting for the new IHG accelerate promotion but does anyone know if I book a room at a IHG property today for a stay mid September would it trigger if and when the promotion starts or would I need to book once I get my offer?

    • Kinkell says:
      27 Aug27 August 11:50

      Usually t&cs state ‘book and stay’ . I’ve got 12 bookings for our road trip in USA during Sept, booked ages ago, mostly on points, So I may have to do some jiggery pokery if it is to my advantage . The recent points break was of no use at all for any of our locations. In fact , I thought it was a rubbish deal.

      • The Original Nick says:
        27 Aug27 August 12:24

        Thanks Kinkell. I’m going to book a refundable stay and see what happens with the promotion.

    • Rob says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:23

      Only app targets tend to require booking during the promo period.

  • BJ says:
    27 Aug27 August 11:08

    Don’t forget you also need a recent stay at the chain you match from.

    • BJ says:
      27 Aug27 August 11:11

      That was meant to be a reply to Rash but I see others have already mentioned it.

  • Lumma says:
    27 Aug27 August 12:38

    No problem. Just need to not have any membership rewards earning cards for the 6 month break

  • BJ says:
    27 Aug27 August 13:11

    OT: Amazon Prime £59pa until 30/8. Thought it might be useful to somebody.

  • Munch says:
    27 Aug27 August 13:19

    Anyone know when the new points from the SPG Amex will start to post. I’ve 56K points on my statement on the close date of the 19th Aug. It summarises at the bottom, points earned since 13th July as 56K points but nothing has posted to my SPG account or linked Marriott account. On the chat they explain they will be posted at the next statement date – is this correct?

    • Louise says:
      27 Aug27 August 13:55

      I’m waiting for my points from 13th Aug statement. I want to cancel spg too but not risking it until points have gone in

      • Munch says:
        27 Aug27 August 13:56

        Any luck with an explanation on the chat?

      • Crafty says:
        27 Aug27 August 15:57

        On the phone with Amex was explicitly told I was fine to cancel and the points will still definitely come across. They even specifically told me BA is “the exception” and this is the only card where orphaned points are sacrificed on cancellation.

        • Genghis says:
          27 Aug27 August 16:04

          A handful of points transferred across on normal monthly date after I last cancelled SPG Amex.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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