American Express
On $1,000 a month of spending, split evenly across restaurants, travel, groceries and everything else: yes.
36,000 points a year at 1.00¢ = $360, $220 of credits you'd actually use, minus the $325 annual fee = $255 a year. The 60,000-point welcome bonus adds $600 in year one. A targeted offer of up to 100,000 exists but not everyone gets it, so it isn't in the figure above.
That is a worked example, not a figure about you — we have no idea what you spend. Put your own numbers in and the same arithmetic runs on those.
| On | Rate | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and takeaway | 4× Amex Membership Rewards | $50,000 a year, then 1× |
| Flights, hotels and transport | 3× Amex Membership Rewards | none |
| Groceries | 4× Amex Membership Rewards | $25,000 a year, then 1× |
| Everything else | 1× Amex Membership Rewards | none |
4x at restaurants worldwide up to $50,000 a year, 4x at US supermarkets up to $25,000, 3x on flights booked direct or through Amex Travel.
Amex Membership Rewards points are worth about 1.00 cents each on our published table, our own. What Amex Membership Rewards points are worth →
60,000 Amex Membership Rewards — about $600 — after $8,000 of spending in 6 months. The example spending above does not clear that, so it is left out of the sum.
A targeted offer of 100,000 exists but lands in some people's accounts and not others, so it is shown as upside and never counted in the sum.
Targeted; the public offer is usually 60,000-75,000.
Credits count for $220 in the sum above — what a typical holder actually redeems, not the sticker value of every credit on the page. $100 Resy credit in two halves and $120 a year in monthly dining credits at named brands. Both need enrolling.
We may earn a commission if you apply through us, and it does not change the arithmetic above — a card that pays us nothing is scored identically. How we make money. Card terms as of 2026-09-18; check the issuer's page before applying.