American Express MRCC Card Benefits and Optimal Usage

[coolguy1]

You're wondering if an Amex card is even worth it?

Or thinking of getting a new credit card that offers you free hotel stays?

Amex is often disregarded as the luxury card or one with the expensive yearly fees but your opinions are about to change.

Everyone's dream card is the Black Card, also known as the Centurion card.
It comes with a whooping ₹11,00,000 joining fees(yes, you read that right! 11L is the joining fees and 3L annual fees)

But we're not going to discuss that today, we're normal people so let's discuss a card for normal people.
That's where the American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card comes in.

Why should you get MRCC?

1. INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS

Want to buy that item in the Black Friday sale? Amex works.
Want to buy something exclusive from Amazon.com? Amex works.
Want to buy that VPN to watch the Korean/French series on Netflix? Amex works.

Where nothing works, Amex has stayed with me and surprisingly worked smoothly.
Read this post, I blindly suggested Amex and it didn't let me down.


2. DISPUTE RESOLUTIONS

Did you buy something and feel the seller scammed you?
You have two options, run to the bank, complain about how UPI is bad and the reversal methods are crap!
Or swipe your Amex and remain stress-free always. Call the support, share your reason and the money is back in your account.

I have tried this on different merchants, swiped at shady places and entered on websites I shouldn't have.
The customer care always had my back and prevented me from embarrassing stories!

3. REWARDS

How can we forget the most important point? If it's not rewarding, it's not worth it.
With MRCC, you just need to spend ₹6000 to get 1000 MR points which offers an insane 16.67% returns*.
Spend more and hit ₹20,000 and get 2000 bonus MR points(10% returns*)

Not to forget these are just bonus points, you get an additional points for 1 MR point for every ₹50 that you spend on the card.
If you spend smartly and get vouchers, you can even get 2 MR points for every ₹50!
(Use the Amex Gyftr multiplier page to buy vouchers with multiplier rewards)

That's 1240 points for every ₹6,000 spent which is 20.66% returns, one of the highest in the credit cards industry.

OR 2800 points for every ₹20,000 spent which is 14% returns, still pretty amazing.

And how much does it cost?

FREE for the first year!
₹1500 for the second year(can be negotiated with CC based on your spends)

Optimal Usage Guide for Amex MRCC:

To get the most points, you need to hit a minimum of ₹6,000 per month.
You can do that by buying 1500 x 4 Amazon vouchers, this balance can be used to pay your bills, recharges and shopping.

There are 30+ brand vouchers that you can buy from! You don't need to buy them in advance.
Let's say if you're shopping at Reliance Trends, instead of paying with your card there, just buy the voucher online instantly and pay with those instead.

This will get you 2x rewards instead of the usual swiping benefits.

Or just swipe them anywhere to hit the 20k milestone, any and all transactions are counted towards this.

These rewards sound great, but where do I redeem them?

I'm glad you asked!

The percentages* that I have mentioned above are considering you love to travel and wander the country in your free time!
You can claim 1 MR point = 1 Marriott Bonvoy point which can be redeemed at ₹1 at several of their properties.
(Even at ₹2 or more if you travel internationally and spot the right deal)

To sweeten it further, Amex runs a yearly offer(valid right now) where you get a 30% bonus on redeeming it for MB points.
If you make a booking in Maldives Marriott right now, the room costs ₹1,81,000 or 100K points to book for a night.

With the current Amex offer, you need 80k MR points to redeem that night!
That's ₹2.26 in value for every point!
But honestly, how many of us will travel to Maldives and stay in that luxury resort?
Let's just say even if you redeem them in India for 10k-15k properties, you should still get ₹1 value per point.

Don't like Marriott? You can redeem them for Taj vouchers at ₹0.5 per point.
Don't like Taj? You can redeem them for slightly lower at Shoppers Stop, Tanishq or even Amazon/Flipkart.

But I see a lot of people complaining - Amex is for the rich, no rewards, why so?
A lot of people say Tesla is bad, they probably haven't even seen one.
A lot of people say SRK is bad, they probably haven't met him.
A lot of people say a lot of things, you decide for yourself.

Apply for Amex MRCC Card for free using the link in my signature!
DM me if you have any questions.

If you can spend 4L a year, you can get the Platinum Travel variant!
(Offers you even higher rewards - 40K points + Taj voucher on 4L annual purchases)

 

[drsel]

I would not trust unknown startups.
who knows when they will go out of business?

This is a general comment.
I am not casting aspersions on any particular app

 

[drsel]

So instead of paying the renewal fee for the second year, can the MRCC or Gold charge credit card holder just convert all the points, then close the card before it comes for renewal and after sometime apply again using a referral from another member to get a free card for the second year also?

And can he/she go repeating this process every year, so that Amex never earns any joining fee or renewal free ever?
@coolguy1

 

[sousnake]

I was trying wallet load and buying voucher. Didn't work. Created a ticket. Phonepe support told Amex can be used on Phonepe for these.

Thanks for the suggestions. Is magicpin and Woohoo reliable? Like will there be transaction failure where the money gets deducted and we don't get what we buy. How has been your experience with these two sites?

I have used magicpin quite a bit and hasn't faced any issues till now.
Not sure about Woohoo.

 

[Maikalal Jaikishan]

So instead of paying the renewal fee for the second year, can the MRCC or Gold charge credit card holder just convert all the points, then close the card before it comes for renewal and after sometime apply again using a referral from another member to get a free card for the second year also?

And can he/she go repeating this process every year, so that Amex never earns any joining fee or renewal free ever?
@coolguy1

Yes, of course. Amex is a dumb company that will never figure out your brilliant plan and will totally not blacklist you.

 

[drsel]

Yes, of course. Amex is a dumb company that will never figure out your brilliant plan and will totally not blacklist you.

You need to exploit / expose any Ponzi scheme

 

[Maikalal Jaikishan]

You need to exploit / expose any Ponzi scheme

Yeah, of course. I'm just saying that Amex is a dumb company full of dumb people that would never have forseen people thinking of doing this, and so they will totally not have any plans already in place to ban or blacklist such brilliant people who think they thought of a totally original plan.

 

[drsel]

Yeah, of course. I'm just saying that Amex is a dumb company full of dumb people that would never have forseen people thinking of doing this, and so they will totally not have any plans already in place to ban or blacklist such brilliant people who think they thought of a totally original plan.

You will be surprised how many techno fino members are actually doing this!

They are not only referring their family members, but they are even referring themselves!! ( for the other two cards of course)
I think they can earn maximum 1.5 lakh points by referrals

 

[coolguy1]

So instead of paying the renewal fee for the second year, can the MRCC or Gold charge credit card holder just convert all the points, then close the card before it comes for renewal and after sometime apply again using a referral from another member to get a free card for the second year also?

And can he/she go repeating this process every year, so that Amex never earns any joining fee or renewal free ever?
@coolguy1

You seem like a smart guy who's able to think of workarounds and loopholes.

The better way is to go around with your spends and politely request them for a fee waiver at the end of the year rather than taking this route.
Hopefully, you will find a kind representative who will get that done for you.

If you spend ₹1,50,000, you already get a 100% fee waiver and if you can't meet that, at ₹90,000, you will get a 50% off waiver.

Now, it's your choice to either pay Rs.750 or close the card, re-apply in a few months, repeat this again and get banned by Amex.

You will be surprised how many techno fino members are actually doing this!

The truth is, we really don't know who's doing it and who's saying it for the sake of sounding cool.

Referring yourself is also against the rules and even if a few people get past it, the rewards are not worth the risk.

Would you accumulate a few thousand points and get banned or play fairly, spend genuinely and accumulate lacs of points over a longer period of time?

 

[drsel]

Personally I would not waste my time in trying to make new members, I only read about it on this forum

 

[100Rabh_negi]

I was trying wallet load and buying voucher. Didn't work. Created a ticket. Phonepe support told Amex can be used on Phonepe for these.

Thanks for the suggestions. Is magicpin and Woohoo reliable? Like will there be transaction failure where the money gets deducted and we don't get what we buy. How has been your experience with these two sites?

I prefer park+,magicpin,wooho in the same order as park+ has max discount on voucher(mostly) followed by magicpin and tthen wooho. PArk+and magicpin are very good, never had an issue with these. Just compare the voucher discount on these 4-5 apps before making final purchase and do read the T&C for these vouchers before buying.

 

[coolguy1]

Personally I would not waste my time in trying to make new members, I only read about it on this forum

That's the smartest way! Playing with borderline illegal tactics just for a few points isn't worth it.

Playing safer and better for the long run can help anyone earn a lot of CC rewards!

 

[Imadumbass]

That's the smartest way! Playing with borderline illegal tactics just for a few points isn't worth it.

Playing safer and better for the long run can help anyone earn a lot of CC rewards!

Hey, I’m not sure if this is the right way to ask this, but can I have a dm if you don’t mind? I have a few queries regarding MRCC/Gold. I don’t have the necessary level to initiate a DM.

PS: Mods, apologies if this isn’t the right way, i noticed a comment on another post that mentioned this, could not find any other way to initiate a dm with a member.

 

[vaibhav111]

Hey, I’m not sure if this is the right way to ask this, but can I have a dm if you don’t mind? I have a few queries regarding MRCC/Gold. I don’t have the necessary level to initiate a DM.

PS: Mods, apologies if this isn’t the right way, i noticed a comment on another post that mentioned this, could not find any other way to initiate a dm with a member.

That ok you can ask other to dm you.