I came across a new Amex offer today for a company called Intermedia, and it’s very interesting: 20,000 bonus points for $200+ in spending. That basically means you could buy 20,000 points for a penny each, and I consider that a good deal. If you have a Business Platinum card, you’re already going to come out ahead after the 50% (or 35%) rebate on points redeemed for first class airfare, and it’s pretty cheap for transferrable points as well.
I’m not sure if I’ll take advantage of it right now – I’m not super flush with cash at the moment, and Amex points are fairly easy to earn without having to buy them. Also, Intermedia is a cloud email provider, so you can’t just buy $200 worth of trinkets and be done with it – you have to go to the trouble of setting up a bunch of email accounts. If you do 24 accounts on the basic monthly plan, you’ll pay just over $200 per month – enough to trigger the bonus. Since I haven’t been through the process, however, I can’t report back on how easy it is to cancel, how much work it takes to set up, or anything else.
Anyone else get this offer or have experience with Intermedia? Am I crazy for going to all this trouble in order to buy points that are fairly easy to earn in the first place?
Windbag Miles 
My offer says “statement credit” instead of membership rewards – does that mean the same thing? Since MR can be redeemed for credit?
I don’t think it’s crazt at all! MR points are getting harder to come by because of the once-in-a-lifetime rule. 20K is a pretty chunk!
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Amex has been doing this a lot, offering some people points and other people statement credits. The cash is a good idea if you actually need Intermedia’s services, since you’ll save money, but it wouldn’t make sense otherwise. The statement credit just comes off your normal statement, so you couldn’t cash it in for points.
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Where do you see this exactly on the Amex website?
Under “Benefits”?? And if so, then where?
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It’s under your list of recent transactions on the home screen once you log in to your account.
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If you have Schwab Plat seems like a no brainer
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I saw this yesterday but couldn’t figure out how to maximize either, and I have this on two of my biz cards. Still, you got closer to $200 than I did. Leaving it on the table for now, though I could really use the MR points.
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Buy 10 “Security and Compliance” accounts – according to their billing FAQ, you can cancel your account from the portal page either immediately or at the end of the current billing period (don’t buy the annual plan!). Easy 20k MR for $200!
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where an i find that?
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Has anyone received a confirmation from AMEX for the bonus?
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I don’t know if anyone has actually tried it yet, but the points should post within a couple days. I don’t know why Amex wouldn’t honor it – it doesn’t seem like a mistake or anything. They often have “free” deals for statement credits (ie spend $200+ and get $200 back). Also, some offers will offer cash back to some accounts and points to the other (usually at the rate of 1 cent per point). The Verizon offer last winter was like this – I got the offer for 2500 points after $100+ in spending, but others go $25 off $100+. This is the first time I’ve seen this many points for this little spending, but it’s a pretty niche company, so even among churning enthusiasts, I doubt that many folks will redeem it. I’d add it to your account right away, though, since they might pull it after a certain number of people claim it.
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I don’t think you see the bonus until after June 1st – I see a $1 pre-auth on my Amex account and as a “monthly” user, my current month shows up as 5/31 to 5/31.
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Did you signup on intermedia.net/Amex-offer or just signed up their website? My charges was still pending for days, I wonder if this makes a difference.
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Great info, thanks.
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Right Kevin, I have $1 pending charge but no acknowledgment from Intermedia about my order. Perhaps they have a huge backload of pending orders or they realize the marketing department made too big of a promise with 20,000 AMEX points.
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Data point –
Got a charge today for $209.90 from Intermedia on my Amex PLT, and a “Great news, you just used your Amex offer” email from Amex. Just waiting on the points now. 🙂
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Did you signup on intermedia.net/Amex-offer or just signup whatever service on their main website?
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20k points posted to my Amex Plat Account today.
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Aren’t you buying points for $0.005? You get 20,000 with the $200 purchase and then get another 20,000 as a bonus.
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You’d only get 200 points with the purchase (or however many you’d normally earn through whatever card is attached to the offer). The bonus is for 20,000 points after spending $200+.
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Note the offer ask you to sign up using their link, which shows an advisor code “OEKKRDLMVB” after you select a product and check out. I personally signed up did NOT use the link, for a total a little over $200. Currently, I see three of $1 pending, I will report the final posted transaction and if I receive 20k points.
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My pending charge dropped off. No response by email. Nothing.
Has anyone successfully signed up and received notification?
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Signed up a week ago and still no charge on my account…
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Call in and ask them to charge and they will.
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Thank you for this! Called in and ask the rep charge my card. Immediately received email from amex saying offer redeemed.
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