How Do I Use My American Express Rewards Points to Pay My Current Bill?

Using your American Express rewards points to make payments is pretty straightforward once you link your card to your PayPal wallet. The reward points can be used to pay for any eligible purchases at any merchants that accept PayPal payments. However, not all transactions can be covered by the rewards points. The American Express customer service can provide you with more information on the same.

May 4, 2021

If you want to make the most out of your American Express membership rewards, you need to understand the process. The option that allows you to pay card charges with the points gives you the option to pay for any item included on your card statement using the reward points. The reward points can be redeemed to pay for anything ranging from grocery charges to hygiene essentials and health bills.

However, the process of redeeming the reward points is not as easy as most people would expect. There are a lot of criteria involved before the reward points are available for redemption. It is always possible to contact the American Express customer service for more information on how to redeem your points.

How to Use Your Amex Rewards Points to Pay Bills

It is easier to redeem your reward points through the PayPal wallet whenever you make a purchase or pay a charge. To facilitate this, you first have to link your card to PayPal. This can be done by following the procedure below:

  1. Log into PayPal and navigate to the wallet
  2. Select the card you want to register for rewards
  3. Select the "link membership reward points" option
  4. Click on "agree and link"

After adding the membership reward points, the available reward balance will be displayed on the screen. You will also see the option that allows you to pay for eligible purchases using your rewards every time you check out with your PayPal account.

Where Can the Reward Points Be Used When Paying Through PayPal?

Through the American Express and PayPal partnership, it is possible to use the membership reward points to pay for any purchase from the millions of merchants that accept PayPal payments. However, there may be restrictions for some merchants put in place by American Express.

If you cannot find the pay using membership reward points option when using PayPal, it could be due to several reasons.

  1. The "Pay Using Reward Points" service may not yet be available for the merchant or type of payment you are trying to initiate. Some of the payments that do not support the "Pay Using Reward Points" service include sending money, billing agreements, recurring payments, and in-store transactions.
  2. You may have no reward points left on your card. If this is the reason, you will be able to pay using your reward points after accumulating enough.
  3. You could have unlinked your account from the pay with membership reward points service. Confirm the linking status from your wallet. If you have opted out of the service, you can follow the steps provided above to relink your card. If there is an option to link your card, try removing it and then adding it again. You can also contact customer service for further assistance.

If you do not have sufficient membership reward points to pay for your order, any extra amount will be deducted from the American Express card from which the membership rewards were applied. It is impossible to select a different payment option or use the different rewards program membership points to pay for a transaction.

Further questions?

Ask a followup or related question and we will try to provide an answer in seconds.
Adam has been tirelessly trying to help customers find the best tips and tricks to get through phone trees and writing many guides for prickly customer service problems. He's been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inside Edition and Bloomberg.

Why does GetHuman Write How-to Guides for American Express Problems?

GetHuman has been working for over 10 years on sourcing information about big organizations like American Express in order to help customers resolve customer service issues faster. We started with contact information and fastest ways to reach a human at big companies. Particularly ones with slow or complicated IVR or phone menu systems. Or companies that have self-serve help forums instead of a customer service department. From there, we realized that consumers still needed more detailed help solving the most common problems, so we expanded to this set of guides, which grows every day. And if you spot any issues with our How Do I Use My American Express Rewards Points to Pay My Current Bill? guide, please let us know by sending us feedback. We want to be as helpful as possible. If you appreciated this guide, please share it with your favorite people. Our free information and tools is powered by you, the customer. The more people that use it, the better it gets.

American Express

Asked 3 years ago
Updated 3 years ago
Viewed 1,051,981 times
American Express
How to Use Your Amex Rewards Points to Pay Bills
How do I Use My American Express Rewards Points to Pay my Current Bill?
Was this page helpful?
Thank you and please share!
Thank you and please share!
Needs work
Sharing is what powers GetHuman's free customer service contact information and tools. You can help!