Using Amex To Pay The Monthly Bills

AnotherPaul

Thank you Zagubov and Gary,


My aim is to get ALL my utilities, rent etc paid by Amex each month - I mean - everything.


I spend "x" amount a month... some of that "x" is on the credit card anyway... I want most of the "X" on the card.



I already have an Amex card where I achieved the initial offer and got 20,000 reward points (which I converted to Avios) And if I spend a certain amount within a 12 month period on the card I'll get another 10,000 reward points. So the more of "x" I pay for each month using the Amex card - the more I'll get towards spending the certain amount which will get me the 10,000 reward points which I'll then convert to Avios. Also - I get double reward points when I book flights on the card (which is not that often - but it all adds up).


It's £1 on the card = 1 reward point = 1 Avios point.



We got to the US every 2 years... and it takes two years to save up the points (plus some cash) to get the limited number of cheap flights which BA put on sale 50 weeks in advance of your departure date.



It's all a matter of planning and hopefully keeping up with where all the good deals for collecting points are.


Thanks again.



Paul

[Deleted User]

Did you use to churn the cards for the signup bonuses?
That’s all changed now and cannot be done either.

But still for the amount of effort (and few utility places that accept Amex) I don’t think it’s worth it in the long run.

AnotherPaul

I did a couple of cards for the sign-up bonus this year.
The Amex card annual bonus is 10,000 points for spending "x" amount of money - so I'm just trying to get as much of "x" on the Amex card in my regular monthly spending.
Put it another way - I'd have to spend an additional £10,000 to get those additional 10,000 Avios points (at £1 = 1 reward point = 1 Avios point).
So it's not about me just obtaining points, it's about spending "x" amount to get an additional 10,000 points.
So it's definitely worth doing. Does that make sense?

[Deleted User]

AnotherPaul wrote: »

I did a couple of cards for the sign-up bonus this year.
The Amex card annual bonus is 10,000 points for spending "x" amount of money - so I'm just trying to get as much of "x" on the Amex card in my regular monthly spending.
Put it another way - I'd have to spend an additional £10,000 to get those additional 10,000 Avios points (at £1 = 1 reward point = 1 Avios point).
So it's not about me just obtaining points, it's about spending "x" amount to get an additional 10,000 points.
So it's definitely worth doing. Does that make sense?

I get it - but it's the spending £1 in return for something worth 0.5p that you really have to justify.

So you're spending £10,000 for the sake of a £50 "reward" return.

Just putting things into perspective...

2ilent8cho

I do all my bills to get Avios.

EDF allow you to pay by Amex, i have a £20 a month DD (£10 for each fuel) then manually pay by Amex in the online my account.

EE Mobile i cancelled the DD and i pay via Amex online

My broadband dont accept Amex but i use my Tesco Credit Card which i can convert clubcard points into Avios.

Council Tax i use bill hop until i hit the £10,000 spend for the 2 for 1 Voucher ( I see it as worth the fee up until that point) then i use my Tesco Mastercard again.

Water i pay off using Billhop

Car Tax i use Amex directly

Car insurance i use do not take Amex so i use my Tesco credit card again and convert clubcard points to Avios.

I've been collecting since July 2016 and i have 702,000 Avios banked and going New York First Class with a friend in August this year for just 160,000 Avios + a 2 for 1 voucher.

I obsess a little over the points though.......

AnotherPaul

Gary - hi. You've lost me altogether....

I get it - but it's the spending £1 in return for something worth 0.5p that you really have to justify.

So you're spending £10,000 for the sake of a £50 "reward" return.

What does that mean? What is 0.5p - where does that come from? I don't understand? £1 = 1 reward point = 1 Avios point... where does 0.5p come into it?


2ilent8cho - very good ideas there - I shall try and implement some of them. I'm with EDF.. the payment options didn't seem to allow for an Amex payment? Do they let you pay a fixed £10 a month via the DD and then pay any balance with Amex?


Paul

2ilent8cho

AnotherPaul wrote: »

2ilent8cho - very good ideas there - I shall try and implement some of them. I'm with EDF.. the payment options didn't seem to allow for an Amex payment? Do they let you pay a fixed £10 a month via the DD and then pay any balance with Amex?
Paul

You can do Amex payment under My Account, Make a Payment, just logged in and my Amex card details are still saved on that screen. I presume they can adjust the DD for you, before i switched to EDF i confirmed how i wanted to pay with them and they just set it up so i could do the £20 DD and then pay by Amex for the rest.

Not sure how new you are to the Avios/Amex point collecting but make sure you have PayPal and link your Amex to it to allow you to buy things online from places that do not take Amex but take PayPal like Papa Johns takeaway, Screwfix or Tassimo. I'm guessing you are already but make sure you use the eStore where possible to boost points even higher.

AnotherPaul

2ilent8cho - ah ha! I see the "Make A Payment" and the option to save the card details. Okay. Cool. I'll get onto them about amending the DD to a small amount and then pay the the rest by Amex (I might try and see if I can get into credit with them by dropping a lot on the Amex card... ha - there's extravagance for you!)
Oh yes - Amex in Paypal, eBay, Amazon and other regular online stores. Yeah, there's not been anything the eStore has to offer each time I look.
And thanks again for the info and help :T
Paul

[Deleted User]

AnotherPaul wrote: »

Gary - hi. You've lost me altogether....
What does that mean? What is 0.5p - where does that come from? I don't understand? £1 = 1 reward point = 1 Avios point... where does 0.5p come into it?
Paul

Each Avios point has a value, and the average is about 0.5p.

If you don't understand how it works and the conversions and the amount you have to spend to get anywhere near decent value then there's little point in spending all this time for the sake of what would be a few quid "reward" back.

AnotherPaul

Gary - hi. Thanks for your detailed and full response - much appreciated.
So if I stop spending on my Amex card ... I won't achieve the "x" amount spent in 12 months to get the additional 10,000 points... I don't think this has anything to do with the value of an Avios point... or does it?

I appreciate that when obtaining/purchasing Avios points in other ways then the value of the deal/points etc makes a difference, but all I'm trying to do is get FREE points by spending as much as I can on my Amex.
If we still both don't understand what we're talking about - then we can agree to remain confused at either.
Paul