American Express offers SA cardmembers more choice on how they use their Membership Rewards Points

American Express South Africa is launching a new American Express Membership Rewards Card; a rewards redemption companion card offering its Green, Gold, Platinum and Centurion Cardmembers choice on how they utilise their points.

With the new Membership Rewards Card, American Express will be converting points to cash, and putting that money back in the hands of existing individual and business American Express Cardmembers. Now, Cardmembers can use their points in new ways – with the options to use the Membership Rewards Card to pay with points at any American Express-accepting merchant around the world, with points converted to the local currency at the point of sale, or even withdraw as cash at any ATM, as the card immediately turns Membership Rewards points into a rand-based balance.

According to Chris Wood, Executive Card Issuing and Payments at Nedbank, including American Express, the Membership Rewards Card adds to the already extensive range of valuable benefits that American Express provides to its personal, business and corporate cardmembers. These include access to exclusive offers, discounts and travel upgrades, to local seasonal benefits, and offers from an array of dining, retail and online partners. “The addition of this Membership Rewards Card now allows cardmembers to easily spend their rewards points locally or globally, or to literally put cash in their pockets – and the best part is that the points never expire,” he says.

“With this, we are adding another layer of value to the Cardmember experience that sets it apart from other rewards programmes. It’s incredibly exciting to be able to give our Cardmembers cash back on this companion card, especially after such a challenging and unprecedented time brought on by the global pandemic. Many of our top customers with high points balances will already have been automatically issued their new Membership Rewards Card with the full value of their points loaded. Spending, and earning, on your American Express Card has never been so rewarding,” he adds.

“Once you’ve earned the points, we believe you should be able to use them how you want,” says Wood. “Most rewards programmes require members to redeem their points for a limited selection of goods from approved programme partners, but the American Express Membership Rewards Card does away with these limitations and instead of restricting Cardmembers in terms of their rewards points spend, it encourages them to spend their points at all global retailers that accept American Express Cards or withdraw as cash,” he explains.

What’s more, the purchasing power of the new American Express Membership Rewards Card is not limited to inside the borders of South Africa. “Cardmembers can pay with their points for local and international travel bookings, lifestyle experiences, fuel and even overseas shopping and cash withdrawals, once we are all able to travel overseas again,” Wood adds.

A complimentary American Express Membership Rewards Card is available to existing American Express individual, business and corporate Cardmembers who are already part of the programme, and any points they have accumulated through membership of their current Membership Rewards programme will transfer to their Membership Rewards Card.

To find out more about the Membership Rewards Programme, view terms and conditions, or apply for an American Express Personal, Business or Corporate Card, visit Americanexpress.co.za or Nedbank.co.za, the exclusive issuer of American Express in South Africa.