VISA or American Express - which is the better reward program?

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading ...

Posted by Jim on Sep 17, 2008 133 views

What is the best credit card rewards program? Is a VISA card better then an American Express card? Let’s run the numbers and see what we get. I am not talking about credit card airline rewards programsd or credit card hotel rewards programs. Just the programs you get with your cards. In this case, Wachovia vs. American Express. And Wachovia debit cards and Wachovi credit cards.

Let’s set the stage - I am going on a trip and will charge $5500.00 on purchases.

Wachovia debit card using PIN - 0 points per dollar spent - using your debit card gets you no reward points

Wachovia debit card signing - 1 point per dollar spent - 5500 points using the debt card as a Wachovia Visa card

Wachovia Platinum Visa card - 4 point per dollar spent - 22000 points

At Wachovia Possibilities, 5,500 points gets you a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble. There are other options, but I took this as a common point. And a Barnes and Noble gift card is something you can use for yourself, give as a Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas gift over the next 3 months.

How much would our rewards be after claiming them?
Wachovia debit card using PIN - $00.00
Wachovia debit card as VISA - $10.00
Wachovia Platinum VISA - $40.00

At American Express, our $5,500.00 shopping spree would earn us 5500 points. 1 point per dollar charged.

American Express lets you claim Barnes and Noble gift cards for 2500 points each. That means we would $50.00 in Barnes and Nobles gift cards and some left over.

What about American Express gift cards? AmEx gift cards are 5,000 points for a $25 AmEx gift card. That means we could get $50.00 at Barnes and Noble or $25.00 in in AmEx gift cards. Clearly the benefit with American Express is to use their partners.

For our $5,500.00 shopping spree, the best value would be to charge on an American Express, having $50.00 to give or shop.