Whether you have a card that earns points, miles or cash back, effectively using your rewards can lead to significant savings. But, if it’s hard to redeem your rewards, some of that savings may go to waste.
A minimum redemption is the amount of points, miles or cash back you have to earn on your credit card before you can redeem. If the threshold for redemption is high, you may have to spend a decent amount before you can use your earnings. Because minimum redemptions vary widely across credit card issuers, it’s best to check your card’s requirements to make sure you’ll be able to maximize your card’s value.
Minimum redemption amounts for Amex depend on whether you have a cash back card that earns Rewards Dollars or a travel card that earns Membership Rewards. Amex cash back cards have no minimum redemption threshold. However, you’ll need at least 1,000 Membership Rewards points to make a redemption, unless you’re redeeming for checks or a deposit into a bank account.
| Redemption type | Cash back credit cards minimum redemption amount | Travel credit cards minimum redemption amount |
|---|---|---|
| Statement credit | No minimum | $1 worth of points (~167 points) |
| Deposit into your bank account | N/A | No minimum |
| Travel | N/A | 1,000 Membership Rewards points |
| Check | N/A | N/A |
| Gift cards | N/A | 1,000 Membership Rewards points |
| Amazon.com | No minimum | 1,000 Membership Rewards points |
There’s also a minimum amount of points required for some Pay with Points rewards. Pay with Points allows you to use your points when you shop at a list of online retailers. The minimum redemption is 5,000 points.
Transferring points to loyalty programs can often provide you with the highest redemption value. In most cases, you must transfer a minimum of 1,000 points and only in multiples of 1,000 points.
Most American Express transfer partners have a transfer ratio of 1:1 or 1,000 American Express points to 1,000 miles/points. But, there are a few rewards programs that offer a different transfer ratio:
The American Express Membership Rewards program is one of the best options if you’re a frequent traveler because of the ability to transfer rewards at a higher rate to a long list of transfer partners. But, if you normally prefer cash back over travel, your redemption options are limited compared to other programs.
Bank of America differs from other issuers because redemption values vary by card type. Travel rewards credit cards have higher minimum requirements than cash back cards. Redemption minimums for gift cards are also different depending on the card. You’ll need at least $25 or 2,500 points (worth around $25) for most redemption options.
| Redemption type | Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card | Bank of America® Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards Mastercard® credit card | Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card | Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card | Bank of America® Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard® credit card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statement credit | No minimum | No minimum | 2,500 points | 2,500 points | 2,500 points |
| Deposit into your bank account | No minimum | No minimum | 2,500 points | 2,500 points | 2,500 points |
| Travel | N/A | N/A | 2,500 points | 2,500 points | 2,500 points |
| Check | $25 | $25 | 2,500 points | 2,500 points | 2,500 points |
| Gift cards | N/A | N/A | 2,500 points | 3,125 points | 3,500 points |
With the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card, you can set up automatic redemptions into an eligible Bank of America, Merrill account starting at $25. Note, statement credits, checks and contributions into a qualifying 529 account are not eligible for automatic redemption enrollment.
Bank of America has a longer list of redemption requirements than other issuers. Most Bank of America travel cards require a minimum of 2,500 points for redemption, which is easy to maintain. You’d have to spend about $25 to hit that minimum.
Capital One doesn’t have minimum thresholds for most redemption options, including statement credit, travel, a check or at Amazon.com. This applies to both their cash back and travel cards. Gift cards are an exception to the rule — redemptions start at $25.
| Redemption type | Minimum redemption amount |
|---|---|
| Statement credit | No minimum |
| Deposit into your bank account | N/A |
| Travel | No minimum |
| Check | No minimum |
| Gift cards | $25 |
| Amazon.com | No minimum |
Capital One rewards can be transferred to more than 15 hotel and airline partners. You’ll need a minimum of 1,000 Capital One miles to transfer.
Your miles will convert at one of three transfer ratios, depending on the rewards program:
Capital One offers some of the most flexible cash back and travel rewards of any rewards program. There’s a long list of redemption options and no minimums for redeeming rewards. Plus, the ability to transfer your rewards to travel partners will get you additional value.
Like Capital One, Chase doesn’t have a minimum threshold for most of its redemption options. Whether you have a cash back or a travel card, you can redeem any number of points at any time. Again, gift cards are an exception — redemptions start at around $25 (though sometimes can be lower).
| Redemption type | Minimum redemption amount |
|---|---|
| Statement credit | No minimum |
| Deposit into your bank account | No minimum |
| Travel | No minimum |
| Check | N/A |
| Gift cards | ~$25 (can be lower) |
| Amazon.com | No minimum |
Like Capital One, Chase offers some of the most flexible redemption options including 1:1 point transfer to more than 10 airline and hotel partners. You must transfer points in increments of 1,000 to airline and hotel partners. You can typically get the highest point value (around 2 cents per point) by transferring to Chase Ultimate Rewards to partners.
Chase offers excellent redemption options. This is part of what makes it one of the most popular credit card rewards programs. There are no redemption minimums, except for gift cards. Plus, Chase offers the ability to combine rewards if you have multiple Chase credit cards. Points are worth around 0.8 cents to 2 cents per point depending on how you redeem.
Minimum redemption amounts for Citi are the same whether you have a cash back or travel card. Rewards are easy to redeem because there are no minimums, unless you’re redeeming rewards for a check or gift card — redemptions start at only $5 for checks and usually $10 for gift cards.
| Redemption type | Minimum redemption amount |
|---|---|
| Statement credit | No minimum |
| Deposit into your bank account | No minimum |
| Travel | No minimum |
| Check | $5 |
| Gift cards | ~$10 |
| Amazon.com | No minimum |
Citi has more than 15 airline and hotel transfer partners. Points must be transferred in 1,000-point increments with a minimum of 1,000 points and a maximum of 500,000 points.
Citi offers solid redemption options with no minimums on how much you can redeem. ThankYou® Points are extremely flexible and the ability to transfer points to travel partners offers a high value of around 1.8 cents per point.
Discover is another issuer that doesn’t impose a minimum redemption amount for most redemption options. That includes statement credits, a deposit into your bank account, travel, Amazon.com purchases or PayPal transactions. You’ll just need $5 to be able to redeem for a gift card.
| Redemption type | Minimum redemption amount |
|---|---|
| Statement credit | No minimum |
| Deposit into your bank account | No minimum |
| Travel | No minimum |
| Check | N/A |
| Gift cards | $5 |
| Amazon.com | No minimum (You can also use rewards with PayPal) |
Discover makes redemption easy with no minimum threshold for most redemption options. Discover also matches all of your cashback at the end of your first year of owning your card, helping you rack up rewards even faster.
Wells Fargo, on other hand, does have a minimum threshold for many redemption options. Luckily, the threshold is low for cash back redemptions — you’ll only need $1 or 100 points for a statement credit or deposit into a bank account. Also, there’s no minimum requirement to redeem your cash back or points for travel through Wells Fargo’s travel portal. However, gift cards require at least $25 or 2,500 points. You’ll also need $25 or 2,500 points to redeem rewards for a check.
| Redemption type | Minimum redemption amount |
|---|---|
| Statement credit | $1/100 points |
| Deposit into your bank account | $1/100 points |
| Travel | No minimum |
| Check | $25/2,500 points |
| Gift cards | No minimum but many gift cards require $25/2,500 point increments |
| Amazon.com | N/A (You can pay with rewards at PayPal with a minimum redemption amount of $1/100 points) |
If you’re looking for a simple way to redeem rewards, Wells Fargo provides just that. But, when it comes to redeeming rewards for travel you’ll only get a value of 1 cent per point. Many other travel programs, including Amex, Chase and Citi, allow you to transfer points, enabling you to increase their value. However, the minimum redemption amounts for Wells Fargo rewards are low for most options, so it shouldn’t create much of an obstacle for redeeming rewards.
While minimum redemptions on credit cards may not be a deal breaker, they can impact the usefulness of your rewards. For example, if you earn 2% cash back on a card with a minimum redemption of $25, you won’t be able to cash in your rewards until you spend $1,250. If you’re earning that same 2% with no minimum, you can redeem rewards whenever it’s convenient for you.
If you tend to put a lot of spending on your card this might not be an issue. But if you don’t plan to use your card on many big purchases, the card may be less valuable because it could take a while to reach the redemption threshold.
The main difference between cash back and points and miles lies in how you can redeem your rewards. Cash back cards are typically more straightforward and offer fewer choices for redemption. Points and miles cards generally come with more redemption options. You can often maximize the value of points and miles rather than getting a fixed value for cash back.
The information related to the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.
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