American Express has just announced a major change to its Membership Rewards cardmembers.

Now you can enjoy the same redemption rate when redeeming points towards all purchases charged to your Card. That means you enjoy a redemption rate of 1,000 points for a $10 statement credit towards any Card purchase.

Previously, this rate was only available for travel purchases. Other purchases had a rate of 1,000 points for a $7 statement credit.

Last year, a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic began and travel was paused, American Express allowed its cardmembers to redeem their points at that 1,000 points to $10 ratio. And according to our sources – and the feedback in the Milesopedia Facebook group – this promotion was a big hit.

So American Express decided to simplify things and offer this rate for any purchase, including travel. Here are the cards affected by this change:

This means, for example, that the American Express Cobalt™ Card Welcome Offer of up to 30,000 points is equivalent to a $300 statement credit towards any purchase. Whether it’s travel or groceries!

This card was already one of the best credit cards in Canada. But with this change, it also becomes the best cash back credit card in Canada offering 5% cash back on groceries, restaurants, bars, food delivery, convenience store purchases (think gift cards).

It was already the case for Small Business Cards offering a rate of 1,000 points for a $10 statement credit towards all purchases: