How to Pay Your Amex Bill with Points

As an American Express cardmember, you have access to valuable Membership Rewards points that can be redeemed for gift cards, travel, merchandise and more. One of the most useful ways to redeem Amex points is to cover charges on your monthly American Express card statement. Paying your Amex bill with points allows you to offset purchases, reducing your monthly balance due.

Overview of Paying Amex Bill with Points

American Express offers cardmembers the ability to use Membership Rewards points to pay for charges from the current statement period Here’s a quick rundown of how it works

• You can view eligible charges for the current statement period and select which ones to pay with points. Eligible charges include things like restaurant meals groceries gas, online shopping and more.

• A minimum of 1,000 Membership Rewards points is required to pay with points.

• You can use points to cover the entire amount of a charge, but not a partial amount

• When you redeem points to cover a charge, the points are deducted immediately from your account and a statement credit is applied within 48 hours.

• You are still responsible for paying the remaining statement balance by the due date.

• The Pay with Points option is available to Basic Consumer and OPEN cardmembers only. Additional cardmembers on your account cannot pay with points.

Paying with points is a great way to offset your card charges and reduce your monthly bill. Next, let’s look at how to use the Pay with Points feature.

Step-by-Step Guide to Paying Amex Bill with Points

If you want to redeem American Express points to cover card charges, here are the steps to follow:

1. Log in to your online Amex account at americanexpress.com

2. Go to “Membership Rewards” and click on “Use Points”

3. Select the “Cover Your Card Charges” option

4. On the Cover Card Charges page, view your current statement period’s eligible charges

5. Check the box next to each individual charge you wish to pay with points

6. Verify the point redemption amounts listed

7. Click the “Redeem Now” button

8. Confirm you want to proceed with the redemption

9. The points will be immediately deducted from your Membership Rewards balance

10. Within 48 hours, a statement credit matching the redeemed points total will be applied to your account

And that’s it – you’ve redeemed American Express points to cover card charges! The credited amounts will reduce your overall statement balance due.

Tips for Paying Amex Bill with Points

• You can pay with points as often as you want. As new charges post to your account during the statement period, you may log in and cover them with points.

• To maximize value, use points to pay for charges with bonus category spending, like flights, hotels, restaurants or groceries.

• Don’t forget the Pay with Points option near the statement due date if you’re short on cash but have points available. It’s an easy way to reduce your balance due.

• Consider paying with points to cover large one-time purchases to avoid interest charges if you can’t pay the statement balance in full.

• Many Amex cards offer additional point redemption bonuses like a 25% or 50% points back option. Check your account benefits guide for details.

• You can also transfer points to frequent travel loyalty programs as an alternative redemption method to cover travel purchases.

• Refer friends to eligible American Express cards to earn referral points which can then be redeemed to pay your monthly charges.

Covering Specific Purchase Categories with Amex Points

One of the best aspects of paying your Amex bill with points is the flexibility to offset any eligible charge from your statement. Here are some common categories of spending where using points can come in handy:

Flights

Points cover charges for airline tickets booked directly with the carrier, through Amex Travel or on third-party sites. Pay with points to reduce or eliminate airline purchase costs.

Hotels

Similarly, you can use Membership Rewards to pay for hotel room charges from hotel bookings with American Express Travel, Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, The Hotel Collection and more.

Dining

Restaurant visits can add up quickly. Pay your bill when dining out by applying points to all those meal charges.

Groceries

Supermarket spending is a constant. Redeeming points for grocery store purchases is an easy way to cut down your monthly food costs.

Gas

With gas prices fluctuating, paying for fill ups with points provides savings at the pump. Just make sure to use an American Express card at the gas station.

Shopping

Online retailers, department stores, apparel shops and more all qualify for the Pay with Points option. It’s a simple way to offset your regular retail therapy.

Subscriptions

Monthly subscriptions for music/video streaming, app services, news sites and more are eligible charges that can be covered with points.

Bills

Recurrent monthly bills like cable/internet, cell phone plans, utilities and other services can be paid by redeeming Amex points (as long as they accept American Express cards).

As you can see, American Express makes it easy and convenient to use Membership Rewards points to cover just about any daily purchase by paying your bill with points each month.

Paying Your Amex Bill with Points vs. Statement Credits

In addition to Pay with Points, American Express also offers statement credits you can redeem points for to offset specific categories of purchases or even reduce your balance. Here’s how paying your bill with points and requesting statement credits are different:

• Pay with Points lets you select individual charges from your current statement period to pay with points. Statement credits provide credit for previous statement periods.

• You can cover any eligible charge with Pay with Points. Statement credits apply to certain bonus categories only, like travel.

• Points are deducted and credits applied within 48 hours when you pay your bill with points. Statement credits can take 1-2 billing cycles to process.

• You need a minimum of 1,000 points to pay your bill. Statement credits often require increments of 2,500 points or more.

• Pay with points is available to Basic Consumer and OPEN cardmembers. Statement credits are accessible only for some Platinum and Centurion accounts.

As you can see, paying your Amex bill with points provides faster redemptions applied to current purchases in any spending category. But statement credits can still be useful for erasing older charges in specific bonus categories.

Cover Card Charges is a Valuable Amex Benefit

The ability to use American Express Membership Rewards points to pay your monthly Amex bill for purchases across all everyday spending categories provides cardmembers with an extremely valuable redemption option.

Paying your charges with points allows you to reduce card balances, offset interest costs, save on monthly bills and ultimately get more value from the points you earn. It really is one of the most useful features of the Membership Rewards program.

So check your current Amex statement for eligible charges, pick some purchases to cover with points and start strategically redeeming your rewards balance to pay your bill each month!