Amex Membership Rewards Apple Pay Redemption: Convenient but Low Value

Amex Membership Rewards Apple Pay Redemption: Convenient but Low Value American Express launched Pay with Points through Apple Pay today, giving eligible cardholders a way to use Membership Rewards points directly at checkout without navigating to a separate portal or leaving the Apple Pay flow. The mechanics are clean. The redemption rate is another matter. Until now, cardholders who wanted to apply Membership Rewards points to a purchase had to go through Amex's own redemption path. The new integration brings that capability inside Apple Pay itself, so eligible cardholders can redeem Amex Membership Rewards Apple Pay-style during online and in-app checkout on iPhone or iPad without any additional steps. That is the practical change: points redemption now lives where the payment already happens, rather than requiring a detour. Amex values Membership Rewards redeemed through this channel at 0.7 cents per point, meaning 10,000 points offset $70 in purchase cost, according to The Point