American Express Rewards Programs Review

These values are approximate and intended for illustrative purposes only. Actual point values may vary based on redemption method and individual usage. The estimates provided do not represent fixed or guaranteed values and may differ from the experience of typical cardholders.

American Express has two credit card rewards programs, which offer different reward currencies, earning rates and redemption options. These rewards programs are Amex Membership Rewards® and Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars. In order to rate American Express credit card rewards programs in general, WalletHub's editors evaluated both programs individually and then averaged the two scores, with each program weighted equally.

American Express Credit Card Rewards Program Overview

 

Below, you can find more information about how the American Express credit card rewards programs work, as well as what ratings they receive from WalletHub’s editors.

Offers information was collected on June 6, 2025, and is likely to have changed since.

Summary: American Express Rewards Scores by Review Category

How to Earn American Express Rewards

Category Rating: 74% (22/30)

The credit cards within each American Express rewards program offer different earning rates, though you will receive at least 1 point per $1 spent or 1% cash back on all purchases.

Earning Rates by Program

• Amex Membership Rewards: 1 to 5 points per $1 spent
• Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars: 1% to 6% cash back

Earning Restrictions

The American Express credit card rewards programs (and specific cards within those programs) may place restrictions on the rewards you can earn. For example, some cards in Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars limit the amount of bonus cash back you can earn on supermarket purchases by placing a yearly spending cap.

You can learn more about these restrictions by checking out WalletHub’s individual reviews of the rewards programs.

How to Redeem American Express Rewards

Category Rating: 56% (11/20)

he best way to redeem American Express rewards is for cash back with Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars or travel with Amex Membership Rewards, as these options give the highest value within their respective programs. Below, you can see all the redemption options for each program.

Cash Back

Both Amex Membership Rewards and Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars allow you to redeem rewards for cash back. In both cases, the only way to redeem for cash back is as a statement credit.

Travel

The Amex Membership Rewards program lets you redeem points for travel purchases like airfare, hotel stays, car rentals and cruises. You can redeem points for travel by applying them to purchases you’ve already made, booking a new trip through amextravel.com or transferring your points into the loyalty program of one of the American Express transfer partners.

Gift Cards

With Amex Membership Rewards, you can trade your points for gift cards from various merchants, such as Barnes & Noble, Macy’s and Target. You can also get American Express gift cards that you can use anywhere.

Merchandise

Amex Membership Rewards lets cardholders redeem points for various types of merchandise from major retailers. You can also use your points directly at checkout with certain merchants, such as Amazon, Best Buy, Dell, Grubhub, PayPal, Staples and Walmart.

Transfer Partners:

Amex Membership Rewards lets you transfer your points to various companies’ loyalty programs. Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars has no transfer partners.

Amex Membership Rewards Transfer Partners

Redemption Restrictions:

Both American Express credit card rewards programs place certain restrictions on how you can redeem your rewards. For example, Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars' only redemption option is cash back in the form of a statement credit, and Membership Rewards only lets you redeem points for travel when that travel is booked through Amex.

You can learn more about these restrictions, as well as see a full list of the different ways to redeem, by checking out WalletHub’s individual reviews of the rewards programs.

American Express Rewards Value

Category Rating: 100% (30/30)

• Amex Membership Rewards: 0.72 cents per point
• Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars: $1 in rewards = $1 USD

 

Overall, Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars offers more rewards value for every dollar you spend. However, the best rewards program for you depends on your individual spending habits and what you want to redeem your rewards for.

American Express Eligibility & Transparency

Category Rating: 88% (18/20)

Each of the American Express credit card rewards programs has a different set of cards that participate in it. Choosing any of the cards in a program will subject you to the same basic rules.

Participating Cards by American Express Rewards Program

* The card may no longer be available to new applicants and all the info about the card has been collected by WalletHub.

Miscellaneous Details

There are a few other key things that you should know about each of the American Express credit card rewards programs. You can find highlights below. For the full details, check out WalletHub’s individual reviews of the programs.

Key Things to Know About Amex Membership Rewards

• Points never expire as long as your account stays open and in good standing.

• Certain cards may offer bonus points on travel only when that travel is booked through Amex.

• You cannot transfer points to any other Amex credit card.

Key Things to Know About Amex Blue Cash Reward Dollars

• The only redemption option is cash back in the form of a statement credit.

• Reward Dollars never expire as long as the account stays open and in good standing.

American Express Rewards Programs vs. Other Popular Options

Summary: American Express Rewards Program Ratings by Category

 

Methodology

This review of American Express Rewards is based on the same methodology as WalletHub’s annual study on the Best Credit Card Rewards Programs.

Editor’s ratings reflect the sum of each program’s scores across the study’s five major categories, adjusted to a 5-point scale to create a representative distribution of ratings. The four major categories considered were: Earning Policies, Redemption Policies, Rewards Value per $1 Spent and Eligibility & Transparency.

WalletHub calculated American Express Membership Rewards point values by comparing the dollar value of redemption items against the number of points needed for each.