AMEX Prepaid Card: 5X Points and Free $25 AMEX Gift Card

While the $25 is nice, the key other benefit to getting the AMEX prepaid card is that, if you have the Ink Bold and can buy reloads from an Office Depot, with the AMEX prepaid card you're getting 5X everywhere.  (Ok, we rounded up–to be precise, 4.6X if you value Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents each). This is actually the best current deal, since with the Visa gift cards you're getting an effective 4.5X, see our chart:

 

 

 

• Load up to $2500 per month: that allows you to make larger purchases using the card, without having to use multiple gift cards. If you load $1000/month using the Ink Bold to buy reload cards at Office Depot, that would be 5000 Ultimate Rewards points per month, and 60,000 points per year

• Use it anywhere AMEX is accepted

• No foreign transaction fees

• No credit pull when getting the card

• No fees (except the $3.95 per $500 reload fee)

• 1 free ATM withdrawal per month (subsequent withdrawals are $2 each; note that the ATM provider may also charge an ATM fee)

• Purchase protection: covers theft or accidental damage of eligible purchases made with the AMEX prepaid card from 90 days from date of purchase. Limited to $1000 per occurrence and up to $50,000 per Card User account per caldnear year. To file a claim call Customer Service at 866-207-7970

 

• Cannot be used for car rental reservations or casinos

• Maximum ATM withdrawal per day is $400

• Only first monthly ATM withdrawal is free; subsequent withdrawals are $2 each

• Foreign transactions are converted at “(a) the highest official conversion rate published by a government agency, or (b) the highest interbank conversion rate identified by us from customary banking sources on the conversion date or the prior business day.”

 

• 1 free $25 AMEX gift card  per person

• You can apply for 3 AMEX Prepaid Cards, as long as they're for 3 different people

• Each person must be at least 13 years old

• You'll need to have the date of birth, SSN, and funding source (bank account and R&T number) for each person

• If you're getting a new AMEX Prepaid Card, you must fund the card with $200 at the time you sign up, using a checking or savings account

• The AMEX application won't let you use the same funding source (i.e. a joint checking or savings account) if you try applying for yourself and a spouse back to back, due to needing to verify the account. You can either 1) Apply later for your spouse, after AMEX has verified the account; or 2) use a different bank account.

 

Now, this is a better deal if you already had an AMEX Prepaid Card as of 5/31/12 and can use an Ink Bold to buy a reload card at an Office Depot for 5x points. If you get a new prepaid card, you have to fund at the time of application using a checking or savings account, so you won't get 5x points on that, but you can switch your funding source later to use reload cards to get 5x on subsequent reloads. And given the slightly lower cost of reload cards ($3.95 for AMEX instead of $4.95 for Visa cards) the AMEX prepaid card is both a better deal for points earning and more convenient, since you can make larger purchases, get a free ATM withdrawal each month, have purchase protection, and incur no foreign transaction fees.