As the coronavirus pandemic stretches into the fall, you may be looking more closely at your travel rewards credit cards, not to mention all of your credit card rewards points balances. If you’re not planning to travel anywhere for a while—and you’re sitting on a large points balance—you may be thinking other ways to spend them.
Maybe you’re using an Amazon Prime account to secure the necessities and shop less in-person. (If you don’t have a subscription, but want one—here are the ways to get a free account.) If so, wen you reach the payment page during Amazon’s checkout process, you may notice a Shop with Points option for linked credit cards. While it may be tempting to score a quick discount on your order—you should consider your other options first. Here’s why: Depending on your rewards credit card, using your points in this way may not offer the best redemption value.
As NerdWallet reports, Amazon cards, Discover and Capital One cash back offer the highest redemption value—at 1 cent per rewards point. For Amazon co-branded credit cards, using your points to shop probably makes sense, but while Discover and Capital One cash back also offer 1:1 redemption, you could just take the points back in cash or apply them to another offer that may be richer than Amazon’s.
Rewards credit cards like Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Citi ThankYou Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and Hilton Honors, meanwhile, all offer less than 1 cent per point. This makes them less attractive option for Shop with Points—and you would be better off taking those points for cash back.
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Of course, you can do better than 1:1 redemption with your travel rewards credit cards: Many rewards programs offer travel redemptions for 1 to 2 cents or more per point. (There’s a handy chart for some of the most popular programs here.)
So if you’re planning a big post-pandemic trip, you may want to skip Shop with Points. But if you’re struggling to cover the basics, it may be worth it to use Shop with Points—or take your rewards points as cash back, depending on your credit card.
