What Is The Amex Trifecta? – Forbes Advisor

Searching for the best travel rewards credit card can be a daunting task. After all, each card has unique benefits and bonus spending categories. It’s rare to find a single card that will let you reach your full earning potential for travel rewards.

But, you can maximize your earnings by using more than one card. Today we’ll consider the trifecta strategy. With this strategy, you’ll use three cards that offer a variety of bonus categories and benefits, but earn the same type of points. Some cards might offer extra bonus points when spending on flights and hotels, while others might offer bonus points for groceries and restaurants.

Maximizing each card’s bonus category ensures you earn the most points on your purchases. There are various Trifecta strategies, but in this guide we’ll consider a trifecta strategy that uses three American Express cards.

What Is the Amex Trifecta?

The Amex trifecta is a strategy in which you use a combination of three Amex cards to maximize the amount of American Express Membership Rewards points you earn on your purchases. By using all three cards strategically, you can benefit from three sets of bonus spending categories.

In particular, the Amex Trifecta combines the generous bonus categories from The Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply. See rates & fees), American Express® Gold Card (Terms apply. See rates & fees), and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (Terms apply. See rates & fees).

Bonus Categories Using the Amex Trifecta

The Amex Trifecta can significantly increase your earning rates on purchases you make every day. By using these three cards strategically, you can earn:

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: 5 Membership Rewards Points per dollar for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel on up to $500,000 per calendar year, 5 points per dollar on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases
• American Express® Gold Card: 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at restaurants, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S., 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1 point per dollar), 3 Membership Rewards® points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express travel and 1 point per dollar on other eligible purchases
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express: 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar on everyday business purchases such as office supplies or client dinners up to the first $50,000 in purchases per year, then 1 point per dollar on all other purchases

The Amex Trifecta also unlocks a vast amount of credits, protections and benefits. Enrollment is required for many of these perks, though. Here are some you can enjoy when you hold these three cards:

• Up to $300 in Uber Cash per year once you combine the up to $10 per month from the Amex Gold Card and the up to $15 per month (up to $35 in December) from the Amex Platinum Card
• Up to a $240 digital entertainment credit, provided as up to $20 statement credits per calendar month, for eligible purchases with Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Peacock, The New York Times, Audible and SiriusXM when you use your Amex Platinum Card
• Up to a $200 hotel credit per calendar year for prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection bookings made through American Express Travel with your Amex Platinum Card
• Up to a $200 annual airline fee credit each calendar year for incidental airline fees paid for with your selected airline via the Amex Platinum Card
• Up to $189 CLEAR credit per calendar year when you use your Amex Platinum Card to pay for your annual CLEAR® Plus membership
• Monthly Walmart+ credit when you use your Amex Platinum Card to pay for your monthly Walmart+ membership fee ($12.95 plus applicable taxes)
• Up to $120 in dining credits each year, provided as up to $10 in statement credits each month for purchases at Grubhub (including Seamless), The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations when you use your Amex Gold Card
• Application fee credit every four years Global Entry or every 4.5 years for TSA PreCheck when you use your Amex Platinum Card
• Cell phone protection that covers up to $800 per claim¹, including cracked screens, after a $50 deductible when you pay your monthly eligible cell phone bill with your Amex Platinum Card
• Elevated loyalty status with select hotel and car rental programs
• Access to select airport lounges in the American Express Global Lounge Collection via the Amex Platinum Card, including Priority Pass lounges, Escape Lounges, Amex Centurion Lounges and Delta SkyClub lounges (on select tickets)
• A wide array of travel insurance and consumer protections

If you maximize these benefits, you can easily get over $1,000 in annual credits. Most of the value comes from the Amex Platinum. So, knowing how to maximize your American Express Platinum Card benefits will ensure that you are utilizing the full power of the Amex trifecta beyond the bonus categories.

Using the Amex Trifecta

By leveraging the three cards in the Amex trifecta, you can earn at least 2 points per dollar on all purchases up to $50,000 per year. But, you can also earn up to 5 points per dollar spent on other popular spending categories if you play your cards right.

Let’s say in a typical year you spend $10,000 on groceries at U.S. supermarkets, $5,000 at restaurants, $3,000 on flights booked directly with airlines and $25,000 on other purchases. You could earn 125,000 Membership Rewards on these purchases if you use the Amex Trifecta to its fullest potential:

• Groceries on the Amex Gold Card: $10,000 at 4 points per dollar = 40,000 points
• Restaurants on the Amex Gold Card: $5,000 at 4 points per dollar = 20,000 points
• Flights on the Amex Platinum Card: $3,000 at 5 points per dollar = 15,000 points
• Other purchases on the Blue Business Plus Card: $25,000 at 2 points per dollar = 50,000 points

There are so many ways to use Membership Rewards points for epic travel redemptions. Best of all, the points you earn with each of the three Amex trifecta cards can be linked into a single account, making it easier to track and redeem your points.

Transfer Partners

One of the best ways to use your points is by transferring your rewards to one of the 20 Membership Rewards transfer partners.

Many of the transfer partners offer an instant 1:1 transfer rate. The ability to transfer rewards to partners at this ratio makes the Amex Trifecta better than many airline and hotel credit cards since you’ll likely earn more rewards on your purchases. Plus, you can transfer Membership Rewards points to valuable transfer partners like Air France/KLM Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Having the ability to transfer your Membership Rewards to a wide variety of partners provides a tremendous amount of flexibility when searching for award travel since you aren’t locked in with just one loyalty program.

Amex Offers

Another benefit that American Express cards provide is access to Amex Offers. Once you register for an Amex Offer, you can get statement credits or bonus points when you make purchases with certain vendors.

Each Amex card gets its own set of Amex Offers, which are targeted to you and may be different from what other cardholders see. With the Amex trifecta, you have more opportunities to be targeted for the most lucrative Amex Offers since you’ll have multiple cards.

How Much Does the Amex Trifecta Cost in Annual Fees?

At first glance, the cost of the Amex Trifecta might seem high. The Amex Platinum Card has a $695 annual fee, the Amex Gold Card’s annual fee is $250 and the Blue Business Plus Card has no annual fee. That means the Amex Trifecta will cost you $945 in annual fees.

You might doubt whether the Amex Platinum is worth the annual fee. But if you can take advantage of most of the credits and benefits the card has to offer, then yes, the Amex Platinum Card can easily be worth its annual fee. Likewise, the Amex Gold Card can easily be worth its annual fee if you can use the monthly dining credits and 4 points per dollar bonus categories.

The Amex Trifecta Without a Small Business

You can still use the Amex trifecta strategy even if you don’t qualify for a small business credit card like the Blue Business Plus Card. In this case, you’ll earn slightly fewer bonus pointson spending that would have fallen in the Blue Business Plus’ 2 points per dollar spent category.

One personal card you might consider to round out your trifecta is the Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card*. This card earns 50% extra points when you use your card 30 or more times in a billing period, which essentially lets you earn 1.5 points per dollar on non-bonus category spending.

The Amex EveryDay Preferred Card also offers bonus categories, including 3 points per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 in purchases per year) and 2 points per dollar at U.S. gas stations.

You can boost your earnings in these bonus categories by 50% if you make at least 30 purchases with your card each billing period. When you do so, you’ll earn 4.5 points per dollar at U.S. supermarkets (up to $6,000 in purchases per year) and 3 points per dollar at U.S. gas stations. It does have a $95 annual fee, which would increase the overall cost of your Amex trifecta to $1,040.

If you don’t want to increase the cost of your Amex trifecta, you could consider the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card*. This card earns 20% extra points when using your card 20 or more times in a billing period. So, you could earn 1.2 points per dollar spent on all purchases if you make at least 20 purchases with your card each billing period.

Amex Trifecta Vs. Chase Trifecta

The Chase trifecta is a classic card trifecta that lets you earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.

The Chase trifecta offers a wider variety of bonus spending categories than the Amex trifecta. It also beats the Amex Trifecta by offering a higher top bonus category of 10 points per dollar on Lyft rides and hotel and car rentals booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal (assuming you opt for the classic version of the Chase trifecta with the Chase Sapphire Reserve).

The total cost of the classic Chase Trifecta with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is $550 per year in annual fees. This cost is less than the Amex Trifecta on paper. But depending on how well you utilize all of the credits and perks on the Amex trifecta cards, the Amex trifecta could still come out ahead.

The Amex Trifecta succeeds with the highest bonus for purchases that don’t fall into a particular category, purchases at U.S. supermarkets and flights booked directly with the airline. It earns 5 points per dollar on flights and 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals when purchasing travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3 points per dollar on other travel and dining and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

Both trifecta strategies offer many ways to boost your points balance by taking advantage of each card’s bonus categories. It’s important to know your spending habits and consider what bonus categories you’ll be able to use most.

When comparing the Amex Trifecta to the Chase Trifecta, you should also compare the Chase Ultimate Rewards® and American Express Membership Rewards® programs to see which points you value most.

Bottom Line

The Amex trifecta is a rewarding strategy that helps you earn as many Membership Rewards points as possible for every purchase you make by taking advantage of each card’s bonus categories. It also provides several credits that can offset the annual fee.

The key to the Amex trifecta combination is having the ability to earn more than 1 point per dollar on all of your purchases. Your Amex trifecta might include a different combination of American Express Membership Rewards cards. But, the winning trio for you should offer the highest bonus spending categories that you will be able to maximize most.

Using the trifecta strategy goes beyond looking for the single-best travel rewards card. Instead, the trifecta strategy encourages you to search for the best combination of cards that will earn you the most points in the same point family.

To view rates and fees for The Platinum Card® from American Express please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for the American Express® Gold Card please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express please visit this page.

¹Coverage for a Stolen or damaged Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone is subject to the terms, conditions, exclusions and limits of liability of this benefit. The maximum liability is $800, per claim, per Eligible Card Account. Each claim is subject to a $50 deductible. Coverage is limited to two (2) claims per Eligible Card Account per 12 month period.
Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply. Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details. Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.