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How quickly do Rakuten points transfer to

American Express?

In 2019, Rakuten and Amex teamed up and gave members the option: earn cashback or Amex Membership Rewards on your purchases. I’ve prioritized Rakuten over every other cashback portal since that occurred. Why? I value Amex points at over 2 cents a pop – meaning if Saks is offering 10% cashback or 10x Amex points I’m going to take the Amex points since I value them twice as high.  If you’re unfamiliar, you can Learn more about the Rakuten and Amex relationship by reading this article.

You can earn a bonus by using our Rakuten link.

Note…Rakuten just finished a $30 promo so keep an eye out for higher offers.

My 2nd quarter ( April to June ) total was due to transfer August 13th. It hit my account same day.

Long and short of it….you accumulate points over a 3 month period, and then 6 weeks after the close of that period, on the 15th of month, you’ll be credited. My period from April to June closed, and I was due to be credited August 13th, roughly 6 weeks later, and as you can see below….it hit same day. That is fantastic.

Why I choose Amex Membership Rewards over Rakuten Cashback.

Personally, I value Amex points at nearly 2 cents, which means whatever the published cashback rate is, I’m earning double that number purely by choosing Membership Rewards.

• Rakuten offers 10% cashback which means I earn 10x American Express points
• $100 purchase would earn 1000 Membership rewards which I value at roughly $20, or an effect 20% off.

Not everyone is going to agree with my valuation, but in the past, I’ve used my points to transfer to partners and redeem at values far higher than 2 cents. Worst case, I can redeem at 1.55c on premium travel because of my Amex Business Platinum.

One example…transferring Amex to Aeroplan and redeeming 70k points for Lufthansa First Class

Here’s how it works with our site and Amex referrals:

Referrals are how I make upwards of 500k points a year, but it’s also how I can help you out. Since I’m constantly trying to use points on my travel for the site, I cycle through my referrals first, and usually very quickly I max out. I then work my friends and family through the site, and finally, I start adding your links that you leave below. I leave them up for a few weeks and then cycle in another one.

You can also leave referrals for the Amex Green, Amex Aspire, Amex Platinum, Amex Biz Platinum, and Amex Biz Gold. I would note that you get more action when the referral is correlated to the article.

Recap

Rakuten points populate the same day as they’re scheduled to transfer.  For our future travel purposes, earning Amex points is extremely advantageous, but certainly weigh the pros and cons, and make a decision that best suits your needs.  Cashbackmonitor is a great resource to use if you’re purely interested in getting the highest cashback rate.