Amex Business cardholders can sell their Membership Rewards points for 0.9p again

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• Chris says:

  28 Feb28 February 04:36

  Great article! But I have a question – if you’re using Hilton or Marriott points for the most premium hotels only, as such as Conrad Maldives, St. Regis Maldives and etc. don’t you get almost 2.5p per point in value?

  • Harry T says:

    28 Feb28 February 05:18

    2.5p per point is rarely possible but I usually redeem for 1p per point. Some people would say it depends whether you would pay the cash price though, when calculating the value per point.

    • Genghis says:

      28 Feb28 February 06:44

      Replaceable cost. Can’t value at something more than you can buy it for or alternatively get it.

      • Harry T says:

        28 Feb28 February 07:43

        Knew I could rely on you, Genghis!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        28 Feb28 February 10:09

        Isn’t that the value vs an MR conversion rather than the value you are getting out of the points vs cash (either it’s worth or you are willing to pay)

        Bonvoy are also harder to purchase

        • Genghis says:

          28 Feb28 February 11:24

          General accounting for inventory: lower of cost and NRV. IMO the purpose of valuing your points is to compare different options to acquire them. Then any “profit” or indeed loss comes when you effectively sell them vs what would otherwise have paid.

          If it’s not possible to buy all the Marriott points you need, should still value at the next best way to “buy” them, e.g. probably MR conversion.

          Anyway, it’s all theoretical 🙂

• Andrew says:

  28 Feb28 February 06:43

  What a shame it’s not on personal cards. Seems Amex are putting all their energy into business cards with new ongoing benefits, the huge signup bonus and now this MR burn offer.

  • Crafty says:

    28 Feb28 February 08:44

    Agreed, is anybody clear on why such an aggressive focus on the business market right now?

    • Rob says:

      28 Feb28 February 10:13

      Hugely higher fees from shops – since business cards are not covered by the law on interchange fees – could well be a teeny tiny part of it …..

      Amex will probably bank £350 just from the swipe fees on your £10k.

  • Peter K says:

    28 Feb28 February 08:47

    Personal platinum had lots of offers last year.

    The co-brand cards don’t make them as much money.

    Businesses who are spending significant amounts (such as required for the signups at the moment) are likely to be a good long term invoice for Amex.

    • Freddy says:

      28 Feb28 February 08:58

      You’d think they’d increase the earn rate on these cards if it was so lucrative. My business is mainly using the BAPP and Amazon Amex card but I’d jump on the biz gold if the rate was say 1.5% for long term spending

  • Doug M says:

    28 Feb28 February 09:53

    By aiming a business card at someone with no MR earning card presently they may be generating genuine new customers rather than serial churners and his n her referrers.
    When Rob teased of UK points history I was hoping for something spectacular. This may be the largest bonus ever, but the criteria make it fairly niche.

    • Rob says:

      28 Feb28 February 10:07

      If you take our readership as a whole, ie the full 50,000 regular readers, this doesn’t seem to be the case. We sell 3x more Amex Gold cards than all other Amex cards put together. Logically the majority of these people do qualify for the bonus, which means they would also qualify for Amex Business 100k if self-employed.

      • Doug M says:

        28 Feb28 February 10:30

        I’m confused now. The article makes clear, I thought, that a personal MR card means no bonus. You’re stating how many Amex Gold’s you shift each of which would mean no bonus. I called it niche because I’d have thought HfP readers without a MR card would be in a minority.

        • Rob says:

          28 Feb28 February 10:44

          Exactly … but they are not, because if they were in a minority we wouldn’t sell more Amex Gold cards than all other Amex cards put together (x3).

• The Savage Squirrel says:

  28 Feb28 February 08:18

  Statement credit on your business card will reduce your business’s statement balance payable, ultimately increaseding profits. This is then taxable in some form . Spending Nectar points is not. This changes the maths completely. Surely worth a mention to consider this in an article aimed only at business card holders?

  • LK says:

    28 Feb28 February 08:24

    That’s not right as you’d still have the underlying expenditure to offset against profit.
    Depending on your arrangement with the business it could actually work out better. If points are seen as personal (which they should be as they aren’t taxed as a benefit in kind) then you’ve effectively introduced your own money to repay a business debt. This increases the amount the business owes you and can be subsequently withdrawn tax fee. (All dependent on your specific arrangements)

  • memesweeper says:

    28 Feb28 February 09:08

    Correct. The benefit of the reduced bill flows to the company , assuming you run the card through the company and pay the annual fee with the company’s funds. If your business is in profit bear that in mind. I don’t think there’s anything to stop you holding a business card and paying all fees, and collecting all benefits, personally, but there may be a T or a C I’ve missed.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Feb28 February 10:11

    You would expense the invoice not your Amex bill.

    The statement credit could, and I think should, be treated as additional revenue. You’d have to get your accountants advice though.

    • Genghis says:

      28 Feb28 February 12:43

      Ultimately it’s what HMRC think initially (and then the courts) think.

      I’d argue that when you make the initial purchase in the Ltd co’s books, it’s Dr expense, Cr payable. Then when you sell MR points against a specific purchase, it’s Dr payable, Cr expense (i.e. a rebate), which has the effect of increasing taxable income and therefore tax paid.

      Yes, normally points are outside the scope of tax, but here, spending points directly to get what is a rebate against a business purchase and then treating the amount saved as personal is asking for trouble.

      YMMV, I guess. Chartered Accountant but don’t work in tax.

      • Rob says:

        28 Feb28 February 16:12

        I think you over-think. The best thing to do is ignore it and, in the literally 1000:1 chance that HMRC decides to investigate you at random, claim ignorance (indeed, I doubt even in an HMRC investigation it would come up) and then if they really insist, pay the tax – you wouldn’t get a penalty I’m sure.

        We settled some very aggressive, bordering on dodgy, failed tax planning in my private equity days and the agreement was that we would settle as long as no interest or penalties were applied. HMRC agreed with this.

      • Ryan says:

        28 Feb28 February 17:19

        Agree with Genghis in the black and white of it, in theory…

        99.9% will go unnoticed if you just treat the rewards as a Dr’s capital introduced / loan and Cr the DLA with the £ amount, even then as you say, will need to go to court.

        Will the HMRC’s staff of two men and a dog waste their time? Probably not

      • Ryan says:

        28 Feb28 February 17:23

        Howard, we’re not talking about if there’s any personal tax to pay (Income tax etc) but if the reward increase Corporation Tax
        BIK re value of benefit of rewards and benefit for Ltd are two separate taxes

• Joe Green says:

  28 Feb28 February 15:11

  I have business platinum but didn’t get the email and not seeing the new rate in my account. I did use the offer last time so not sure if that makes a difference.

  Do you know how we can check if eligible or when it is meant to update?

  • Rob says:

    28 Feb28 February 16:13

    25th was the stated start date.

    If you a dummy transaction, what rate comes up? I don’t have any money outstanding on my card so I can’t test it unfortunately.

  • James P says:

    28 Feb28 February 16:27

    Same query from me. Amex business gold who did use the offer last time – still showing £0.0045 per point.
    Nearly 2m mr points so it would make a sizeable difference!

• Stephen says:

  28 Feb28 February 16:48

  Unfortunately, not appearing on my Business Gold card either, just the usual 1000 Points = £4.50

  • Rob says:

    28 Feb28 February 17:00

    Mine shows that and I have the email saying I’m getting £9. As I have no active transactions, I can’t select one to see what actually comes up unfortunately.

    • Stephen says:

      28 Feb28 February 20:00

      Oh I thought they allowed you to go back 90 days worth of transactions

      • Rob says:

        28 Feb28 February 22:23

        Only if you haven’t settled them already.

• J says:

  28 Feb28 February 16:52

  What’s you’re general take on current acceptance criteria for Sole Traders? Given CoT have closed applications entirely, does there seem to be a much tighter restrictions for Amex too?

  • Rob says:

    28 Feb28 February 16:59

    Amex don’t care, because the cards have PERSONAL liability. It doesn’t matter where you apply on behalf of a sole trader, partnership or Ltd company – if the business fails, you are on the hook to pay Amex.

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