One of the most annoying parts of having an American Express card is the lack of clarity in regards to credit card reward points (membership reward points and even cash back). Unlike every other issuer, American Express waits two statements before they issue the reward points. Imagine going through statements from two months ago to figure out where you went and if you should have been earning points at a certain place and didn’t.
Not to mention, if you made some very rewarding purchases recently, and needed to use your points to book some travel, you may have to wait two months before you had enough points, even if you just made the purchase.
The Change
American Express is finally doing it! They are joining the rest of the credit card world! Amex has started issuing membership reward points at the end of the statement! Unfortunately, for those cards that earn cashback, an additional statement is needed before you are awarded your cashback. We’ll report back if American Express changes this to include cashback.
Final Thoughts
Outside of American Express splitting up all of the credits on their credit cards into monthly/semiannual portions, this was my second biggest gripe with them. There really is no reason for any credit card issuer to take months to give you your rewards, at least not nowadays. Everything is automated anyway, so really they get nothing by postponing it a extra month, it’s not like they are checking each transaction and then giving you the points.
That’s what the RAT team is for, to make sure they aren’t issuing more points than they need. Either way, if American Express is able to issue points as soon as possible, lets hope they also update the cash back credit cards as well!
Are you excited to finally get your rewards as soon as possible? Let us know below!