Maximize Your Earn, Part 1: American Express Credit Card Multipliers

We’ve all been there before: you’re in a rush to pay for something, and suddenly, you wonder if you’ve used the right credit card.

By using the right card, you’d be maximizing your earning potential on each and every expense. Many credit cards offer multipliers, or more points, on specific categories of spending, which means that one credit card may offer more points depending on what you’re buying.

In Part 1, we’ll focus on cards issued by American Express, while in Part 2, we’ll take a look at cards issued by other banks.

(For simplicity’s sake, we’ll only focus on Canadian cards that earn airline points currencies or their equivalent, as opposed to cash back cards or other types of points currencies).

Start with Your Goal

Before tackling spend multipliers, one has to consider what kind of points currency or currencies you want to accumulate. If you’re not sure, start by asking yourself these few questions:

• Where do I want to travel?
• Which airline do I wish to travel with?
• Which points currencies can I use to make my redemption happen? 

If you don’t know where to begin, then a website like FlightConnections is a great place to start.

First, choose your destination or origin to see which airlines fly in and out of each. Next, figure out which alliances they are a part of, or which points currencies can be used to redeem for that particular airline.

Once you’ve figured that out, the next questions to ask are:

• Which credit cards earn the point currencies I want?
• Where do I spend my money?
• Is there a card that earns the point currency I want that offers a multiplier for my spend?

Demystifying Spending Categories

Below is a list of the most common categories that credit cards offer multipliers on:

1. Dining, drinks, food delivery. This category includes restaurants, coffee shops, Uber Eats, and DoorDash.
2. Groceries. Who doesn’t spend money on groceries? Take note that some cards include grocery stores as a part of eats and drinks, while others do not.
3. Travel. This category includes flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and even tours.
4. Transportation and gas. Some cards offer multipliers on gas only, while others offer multipliers for use of rideshare services, buses, taxis, and public transportation.
5. Office supplies and electronics. These include spend on stores such as, but not limited to,…