If the annual fee just came due for one of your travel rewards cards, you may find it difficult to justify the expense if you’re not getting enough value in return. If you can’t maximize the card’s benefits, earning rates or redemption opportunities, there may be an option besides paying the annual fee, canceling your card or calling to see if you can snag a retention offer. That option is to downgrade your card.
As a result of provisions of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, you’ll generally need to wait until you’ve had your card for a year before you can downgrade it. However, some issuers have different policies, and there are also some other aspects to consider.
Here’s when you can downgrade your credit card account for most major card issuers — and when it might be a good option.
What does it mean to downgrade a card?
Downgrading your card means switching to another credit card offered by the same issuer with a lower annual fee (or none at all). Because you usually aren’t opening a new account, there typically won’t be a new inquiry on your credit report, and your online login information should stay the same.
You’ll receive a new physical card in the mail that may have a new card number, but your account history, credit limit and other major factors that affect your credit score shouldn’t change.
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You can save on annual fees by downgrading your premium cards. However, some issuers base your eligibility for welcome bonuses on which credit cards you’ve had open, not just which cards you’ve earned a bonus on. So be wary that downgrading a card might prevent you from earning a valuable future bonus.
Most issuers only allow you to upgrade or downgrade within a single family of cards. However, issuers may not offer the same downgrade options to all cardholders, and some of your cards may not have any downgrade options. Finally, while issuers may offer bonus points when you upgrade to a new credit card product, it’s unusual for an issuer to provide bonus points to downgrade.
American Express doesn’t publicly state a required waiting period before downgrading a card. However, it’s generally best to wait at least one year, as American Express has historically included language in its card offers warning that customers who cancel or downgrade cards within the first year could lose rewards or even have their accounts closed.
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American Express Centurion Lounge in Seattle. ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
Amex also generally doesn’t allow product changes between personal and business cards, and you typically have to stay within the same card family (such as Delta SkyMiles, Hilton Honors or Marriott Bonvoy). To determine your options and request a downgrade, call the number on the back of your card or log in to your online account and chat with an Amex representative.
American Express has a “one bonus per lifetime” rule. But this rule can be worse than it sounds, as Amex also has some “family” rules that can prohibit you from earning a welcome offer on a card if you hold or have held a higher-tier card in the same family. Hence, it may make sense to downgrade to a card if you wouldn’t be eligible to earn a welcome offer on it anyway.
Chase may allow you to downgrade your card to another card within the same family if the account you want to downgrade has been open for at least one year. Call the number on the back of your credit card to learn your options or request a downgrade.
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Due to Chase’s 5/24 rule, many cardholders prefer to downgrade Chase cards instead of canceling them. But there are other reasons to downgrade a Chase card.
Citi generally requires you to wait at least 12 months after opening an account before downgrading or product changing your card.
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Unlike many issuers, Citi has historically allowed some product changes outside a card’s original family. However, available downgrade options can vary over time and differ from one account to another. Specifically, some recent reports suggest that cross-family conversions may not be available for Citi / AAdvantage and ThankYou Rewards points-earning cards.
To determine your current options, call the number on the back of your card and ask a Citi representative about eligible product changes.
Capital One doesn’t appear to have a hard-and-fast rule about how long your account must be open before you can downgrade a card. However, it’s generally best to wait at least one year before requesting a product change.
Capital One’s downgrade and upgrade options are often account-specific, so call the number on the back of your card or check your online account to see what offers are available.
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You generally can’t earn a new welcome bonus on most Capital One cards if you’ve earned a bonus on that card within the last 48 months. Capital One sometimes extends this restriction to other cards within the same card family. So, downgrading your card may let you reduce the annual fees you’re paying until you become eligible for a new welcome bonus.
Other issuers may allow you to downgrade your card, although some smaller issuers may not offer product changes. A good rule of thumb is to wait until your annual fee posts and then call the number on the back of your card to ask about your downgrade options.
If you’re not getting your money’s worth from one of the rewards cards in your wallet, downgrading to a no-annual-fee card can be an excellent way to keep your card’s credit line open while avoiding the annual fee. When in doubt, call the customer service line on the back of your card to learn about your options.
With an American Express card that earns Amex Membership Rewards points, cardholders can redeem points through American Express Travel for hotels (including vacation rentals), car rentals, cruises and flights, or opt to use their points for statement credits, gift cards and more.
Here’s how to redeem points, maximize Amex benefits and find the best Amex cards for earning Membership Rewards points.
What are Amex Membership Rewards points?
Membership Rewards points are the rewards currency of American Express. If you have an Amex card that earns Membership Rewards points, you will earn them for everyday spending, just as you would earn airline miles with an airline-branded card or hotel points with a hotel-branded card. Plus, depending on your Amex card, you can also earn bonus points in certain spending categories.
In the world of points and miles, American Express Membership Rewards points are considered some of the most valuable and useful points you can earn because of their flexibility. Per TPG’s April 2026 valuations, Amex points are worth 2 cents apiece.
The easiest way to earn many Membership Rewards points is to apply for a Membership Rewards-earning American Express card.
Earning Membership Rewards points from cards
Here’s a look at the welcome offer, bonus-category structure, annual fee and benefits for each of the six most valuable Membership Rewards cards to help you choose the best Amex card.
Card
Welcome offer
Earning rates
Annual fee
Notable perks
Find out your offer and see if you’re eligible for as high as 175,000 bonus points after spending $12,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Earn 5 points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (on up to $500,000 each calendar year, then 1 point per dollar spent) and prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel
Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Receive up to $400 in statement credits each calendar year (up to $100 per quarter) when you dine at U.S. Resy restaurants or make other eligible purchases with Resy. No reservation required.
Receive up to $300 in statement credits per calendar year (up to $75 per quarter) for eligible purchases at U.S. Lululemon retail stores (excluding outlets) and online.
Receive up to $200 in statement credits each calendar year for incidental fees charged by one airline you select.
Receive up to $600 in hotel statement credits every calendar year (up to $300 biannually) on prepaid Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings with Amex Travel when you pay with your card (Hotel Collection stays require a two-night minimum).
Find out your offer and see if you’re eligible for as high as 300,000 bonus points after spending $20,000 on purchases in the first three months of card membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Earn 5 points per dollar spent on flights and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com
Earn 2 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases in select business categories and eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (on up to $2 million in combined purchases each calendar year, then 1 point per dollar spent)
Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Receive up to $150 in statement credits on U.S. purchases made directly at Dell and an additional $1,000 statement credit after spending $5,000 or more at Dell per calendar year.
Receive a $250 Adobe statement credit after spending $600 or more on U.S. purchases made directly at Adobe each calendar year.
Receive up to a $209 Clear+ statement credit each calendar year (subject to auto-renewal).
Get up to $120 in statement credits every calendar year for purchases made directly with any U.S. wireless telephone provider (up to $10 per month).
After spending $250,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year, unlock up to $1,200 in Amex Travel online flight statement credits and up to $2,400 in One AP statement credits for use in the next calendar year (subject to auto-renewal).
Find out your offer and see if you’re eligible for as high as 100,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Earn 4 points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar spent)
Earn 4 points per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1 point per dollar spent)
Earn 3 points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
Earn 2 points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on amextravel.com
Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Receive up to $120 in Uber Cash each calendar year, valid on Uber rides and Uber Eats orders in the U.S. (up to $10 each month; add your Amex Gold to your Uber account and pay with any Amex card).
Receive up to a $120 dining statement credit each calendar year (up to $10 each month) to use at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com and Five Guys.
Receive up to a $100 Resy statement credit each calendar year at U.S. Resy restaurants (up to $50 biannually). No reservation required.
Get up to $84 in Dunkin’ Donuts statement credits each calendar year at U.S. Dunkin’ locations (up to $7 each month).
Enrollment is required for select benefits.
Find out your offer and see if you’re eligible for as high as 200,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 on purchases in the first three months of card membership. Welcome offers vary, and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Earn 4 points per dollar spent on the top two eligible categories (from six categories) where you spend the most each billing cycle (on up to $150,000 in combined purchases from these two categories each calendar year, then 1 point per dollar spent)
Earn 3 points per dollar spent on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com or the Amex Travel App™
Earn 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Receive up to a $240 statement credit each calendar year (up to $20 each month) for eligible U.S. purchases at FedEx, Grubhub and office supply stores.
Earn up to $155 in statement credits per calendar year (up to $12.95 per month, plus applicable taxes) for a monthly Walmart+ membership (subject to automatic renewal; Plus Ups excluded).
Enrollment is required for select benefits.
Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first six months of card membership.
Earn 3 points per dollar spent on restaurants worldwide, travel and transit
Earn 1 point per dollar spent on other purchases
$150
Receive up to a $209 Clear+ statement credit each calendar year (subject to automatic renewal).
Enrollment is required.
Earn 15,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months of card membership.
Earn 2 points per dollar spent (on up to $50,000 each calendar year, then 1 point per dollar spent)
Earn 1 point per dollar spent on other purchases
*Eligibility and benefit level vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by Amex Assurance Company.
The information for the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
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Other ways to earn Membership Rewards points
Once you have one (or more) of the above cards, there are additional options for earning Amex points. The first is leveraging Rakuten, one of TPG’s favorite online shopping portals. Through Rakuten, you can opt to earn cash back or Membership Rewards points.
If you don’t have an account, you can sign up and enjoy a standard one-time bonus of $30 when you spend at least $30 within 90 days of becoming a member.
You can also earn Amex Membership Rewards points through referral bonuses. You’ll receive a set number of points when someone uses your referral link and is approved. Keep in mind that rewards earned through referral bonuses are taxable.
Amex Membership Rewards transfer partners
Since you can transfer Membership Rewards points to 17 airline and three hotel transfer partners, you can search for award travel on almost every major route and city worldwide.
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Thus, earning Membership Rewards points is usually more lucrative than earning miles or points in a single airline or hotel loyalty program. Remember, you are not locked into one transfer partner — you can send some points to one program and then some to another.
Below, we’ve listed all those partners, the transfer ratios and the transfer times discovered in our testing.
If you haven’t done so, link your transfer partner accounts to your Membership Rewards account now. This will prevent future delays when you need to make a quick transfer.
The best ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards points
To get the most value from your points, you will want to transfer them to partners.
Here are just a few of our favorite redemptions:
Fly to Hawaii on points and miles: Transfer your Membership Rewards points to Delta SkyMiles, and you’ll pay as little as 18,200 SkyMiles for a one-way flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL).
Save on business-class award flights: Singapore Airlines operates two of the world’s longest flights, one from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and another from SIN to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). You won’t want to spend 18 hours in an uncomfortable seat, so transfer your Membership Rewards points to the Singapore KrisFlyer program to book business-class flights. Both routes cost 117,000 KrisFlyer miles plus taxes and fees one-way, a small price for comfort on such a long flight.
Transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points to Iberia Club: On off-peak dates, you can fly from JFK and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Spain’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) for just 16,000 Iberia Club Avios in economy, 29,500 Avios in premium economy and 40,500 Avios in business class each way.
Transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points to Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue program: Book business-class flights from North America to Europe starting at just 60,000 Flying Blue miles each way.
Book domestic JetBlue award flights: Transferring your Membership Rewards points to Etihad Guest can be a good option. JetBlue flights 500 miles or shorter within North America cost just 6,000 Etihad Guest miles (transfers from Amex to Etihad end on June 30).
Just remember that transfers are irreversible, so you should transfer your Amex points only after you’ve confirmed the award space for the flight or hotel you want.
For more information on maximizing your Amex points for travel, check out our guide to sweet spots and more with Membership Rewards points.
Additionally, you can also use your points to book virtually any travel through the Amex Travel platform. You usually receive 1 cent per Amex point. This is an OK value, but not a spectacular way to redeem your points. It’s still better than the redemptions we’re about to get into, however.
Poor-value ways to redeem Membership Rewards points
Unfortunately, several options for redeeming your points represent less-than-stellar value and should typically be avoided if you want to maximize your hard-earned Amex Membership Rewards.
ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY
Some of these options include:
Using points for charges: This is like a cash-back option covering eligible charges on your billing statement. You can view the list of eligible charges on your current online statement. With this option, you’ll only receive 0.6 cents per point.
Using Pay with Points at checkout: After linking your Membership Rewards account with online merchants like Amazon, Best Buy and Grubhub, you can pay for your purchases at a slightly better (but still poor) value of 0.7 cents per point. Although this option can sometimes be useful for promotions, you may want to turn this off to prevent accidental use of your points.
Redeeming for taxi rides in New York City: You can redeem points for certain New York City taxi fares at a value of 1 cent per point.
Redeeming for gift cards: Depending on the merchant, these redemptions offer a value between 0.5 cents and 1 cent per point.
Frequently asked questions
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions we’ve seen about Amex Membership Rewards.
How do I transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to airlines?
To transfer Membership Rewards points, follow these steps:
Log in to your Amex account.
Go to the rewards section.
Go to the transfer section under rewards.
Ensure the loyalty program you want to transfer your points to is linked.
Select the partner you want to transfer to and initiate the transfer.
It’s important to note that once you make a transfer, you cannot reverse it.
Are there fees or taxes when I use Amex Membership Rewards points?
While there are no fees to use Amex Membership Rewards points, there is an excise tax offset fee of $0.0006 per point, with a maximum of $99. This fee only applies when transferring points to one of Amex’s U.S.-based airline partners, like Delta SkyMiles and JetBlue TrueBlue.
Can you pool or share Amex points?
If you have multiple Membership Rewards points-earning cards, the points will all be pooled in your Amex account. However, Amex doesn’t allow you to transfer points between accounts, even if it’s between family members. Amex also doesn’t allow you to transfer your points to a partner program in someone else’s name, except for an authorized user on your Membership Rewards account who has been on the account for at least 90 days.
Do Membership Rewards points expire?
Membership Rewards points do not expire, provided you keep at least one card open that earns them. If you cancel all of your Amex Membership Rewards cards, you must redeem or transfer your points before closing the last card. Otherwise, you will forfeit the points.
Bottom line
Thanks to Amex’s generous card offers, Membership Rewards points are easy to earn and redeem. They’re also easy to use with a variety of transfer partners.
Whether you choose to splurge on a European getaway or use your points to visit family in another state, having Membership Rewards points at your disposal can help you save money.
For rates and fees of the Amex Platinum Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Amex Gold Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Amex Business Gold Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum Card, click here. For rates and fees of the Blue Business Plus Card, click here.
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